eBay Builds TV Ad Auction Site
Advertisers band together to set up online marketplace for commercial air time.
A group of major TV advertisers teamed up with eBay on Friday with plans for an online auction marketplace where they can bid on commercial air time to gain leverage against TV channels that charge exorbitant prices to run their ads.
The site, which will be called e-Media Exchange, will begin selling air time in January on a cable TV network as a way to pilot-test the service, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Nine advertisers, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Wal-Mart, Toyota’s Lexus unit, Home Depot, and Brown-Forman have kicked in a total of $50 million for the test. They have also opened a site where buyers and sellers can sign up to participate in the media marketplace pilot test.
As they enlist more buyers in the service, the cost of the project may go upwards of $100 million.
The advertisers initially approached Google with the idea of building the site, but grew uncomfortable with the search king becoming a possible competitor to the site, as Google expands its own efforts to sell ads on radio and magazines. On Wednesday, for example, Google announced a deal with XM Satellite Radio to sell ads.
eBay was enlisted for its expertise in handling online auctions.
“This group of advertisers wants to test out the creation of an online marketplace for buying and selling online advertising,” said Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesperson. “We’ve been talking to them for some time, and they have apparently chosen us to help build out this pilot program. We’re excited about it. This is fundamentally what eBay does better than anyone else.”
He pointed out that eBay has experience building other standalone private marketplaces for companies such as Sam’s Club and Continental Airlines.
“An electronic marketplace tends to go to the conclusion pretty quickly,” said Roger Kay, president of the market intelligence firm Endpoint Technologies Associates. “The market price gets established pretty fast.”
The advertising industry has traditionally been based on the upfront buying period, when advertisers reserve time with the TV channels for ad time. The bulk of TV ad time is usually sold during the upfront period, but an online marketplace could prove to be effective for the scatter market when the rest of the time is sold.
“It used to be based on relationships, but the power was artificially in the hands of the outlets,” said Mr. Kay. “Advertisers were getting mad about it. If they put a bunch of money together, it would be hard for the media to resist participating.”
Source link: redherring.com...
A group of major TV advertisers teamed up with eBay on Friday with plans for an online auction marketplace where they can bid on commercial air time to gain leverage against TV channels that charge exorbitant prices to run their ads.
The site, which will be called e-Media Exchange, will begin selling air time in January on a cable TV network as a way to pilot-test the service, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Nine advertisers, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Wal-Mart, Toyota’s Lexus unit, Home Depot, and Brown-Forman have kicked in a total of $50 million for the test. They have also opened a site where buyers and sellers can sign up to participate in the media marketplace pilot test.
As they enlist more buyers in the service, the cost of the project may go upwards of $100 million.
The advertisers initially approached Google with the idea of building the site, but grew uncomfortable with the search king becoming a possible competitor to the site, as Google expands its own efforts to sell ads on radio and magazines. On Wednesday, for example, Google announced a deal with XM Satellite Radio to sell ads.
eBay was enlisted for its expertise in handling online auctions.
“This group of advertisers wants to test out the creation of an online marketplace for buying and selling online advertising,” said Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesperson. “We’ve been talking to them for some time, and they have apparently chosen us to help build out this pilot program. We’re excited about it. This is fundamentally what eBay does better than anyone else.”
He pointed out that eBay has experience building other standalone private marketplaces for companies such as Sam’s Club and Continental Airlines.
“An electronic marketplace tends to go to the conclusion pretty quickly,” said Roger Kay, president of the market intelligence firm Endpoint Technologies Associates. “The market price gets established pretty fast.”
The advertising industry has traditionally been based on the upfront buying period, when advertisers reserve time with the TV channels for ad time. The bulk of TV ad time is usually sold during the upfront period, but an online marketplace could prove to be effective for the scatter market when the rest of the time is sold.
“It used to be based on relationships, but the power was artificially in the hands of the outlets,” said Mr. Kay. “Advertisers were getting mad about it. If they put a bunch of money together, it would be hard for the media to resist participating.”
Source link: redherring.com...
mljevar - 8. Aug, 00:01