Doubleclick to power vertical ad networks

DoubleClick plans to offer its DART for Publishers (DFP) clients the ability to create their own vertical ad networks, a merchandising model that's been widely embraced over the past year as a means for ace (or not) media trade name to addition saleable stock list.

The company, which is still wait for European regulators to clear its acquisition by Google, set up a new concern unit to house the ad web product along with several of its other publishing house solutions. Called DoubleClick gross Center, the division is partially borne of a selling decision to nowadays DoubleClick's publishing house solutions as a holistic platform for all forms of site monetisation rather than a set of unrelated products. In add-on to the ad web tools, it will house the company's nascent ad exchange, its flagship DFP merchandise, and enhanced versions of its work flow management and prediction tools.

Jonathan Bellack, VP publishing house products at DoubleClick, said the ad web solution will support financial coverage, pay-outs, and a portal for spouse sites to manage their activities. It's expected to launch in the sec half of 2008.

"We're going to be edifice a lot of capableness in time," he said. "Media marketer want to be able to do this that works with their existing products and sales teams."

The merchandise will put DoubleClick into directly competition with Adify, the web infrastructure participant that has supported publishers such as Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, Warner Bros. Telecasting Group, Shelter Media, and environmental/green lifestyles publishers substance Network and SustainLane.

The vertical network attack has been peculiarly successful in the women's publishing class, with sites like Glam, Martha Stewart life Omnimedia, and NBC Universal's iVillage all attempting to congeries audiences by partnering with like-minded sites.

Time will tell how many vertical networks the online ad purchasing community will support however. In its Digital Outlook report issued last month, global agency Avenue A/Razorfish said it consolidated its ad network spending considerably during 2007. While network billings were up 34 percent, nearly all the new money went to the top five ad networks, while spending on small and vertical networks was flat.

"The window's closing on the second tier," said Jeff Lanctot, SVP of global media at Avenue A/Razorfish. "It'll be increasingly tough to break into the top tier."

Bellack said despite the rapid proliferation of ad networks in the U.S., courtesy of Adify, Glam, and independent network play, there's plenty of room for expansion overseas. "We're operating very much on a global basis. The network picture is developing in all parts of the world. There's a lot of opportunity," he said.

He also suggested the trends toward online ad liquidity and media planning automation may alleviate the fragmentation that's torturing agencies. He drew an analogy between the current state of ad networks and the state of financial markets in the 1970s.

"The phase this business is in is sort of where financial markets were 30 or 40 years ago," he said. "You had to work with a large bank. [Now] the tools have become so available you're at the point where two guys can start a Bloomberg account and start a hedge fund," he said, adding he expects the online ad marketplace will evolve "to the point where everybody is a trader of inventory."

Keith Pieper, director of performance media for UniversalMcCann in San Francisco, said the offering sounded promising, but only if it gives birth to high-value niche networks such as that offered by Hachette Filipacchi-owned Jumpstart Automotive Media.

"We don't need more choice, we just need more value," he said. "I'd hazard to say the networks are growing faster than the inventory is."