Image via CrunchBase

If you follow this blog, you know that we’ve been questioning the “above the fold” v. “below the fold” theories of buying and placing ads. We have put forward the theory that placement is not as important as whether an ad is “in view” of a reader, and have developed a new product called the InView slider, which only appears when it is seen. It is especially appropriate for the long pages used by most newspaper sites, and for pages optimized for mobile devices.

Now Google has weighed in, announcing that it will penalize pages that have too many ads above the fold.

We’ve heard complaints from users that if they click on a result and it’s difficult to find the actual content, they aren’t happy with the experience. Rather than scrolling down the page past a slew of ads, users want to see content right away.

So sites that don’t have much content “above-the-fold” can be affected by this change. If you click on a website and the part of the website you see first either doesn’t have a lot of visible content above-the-fold or dedicates a large fraction of the site’s initial screen real estate to ads, that’s not a very good user experience.

Such sites may not rank as highly going forward.

Danny Sullivan, who writes SearchEngineland, the premier resource for SEO information, goes on to say that Google’s AdSense people sent him an email explaining how to place ads on a page.

The image in the email suggests that Google thinks content pretty much should be surrounded by ads.

Of course, if you watch the video that Google refers me (and others) to in the email, it promotes careful placement, that user experience be considered and, at one point, shows a page top-heavy with ads as something that shouldn’t be done.

Related articles

• Ads As An SEO Factor: Oh No, Do I Have Too Many Ads? (stateofsearch.com)
• Page Layout Algo : Too Many Ads Above Fold Bad for SEO (shoutmeloud.com)

Image via CrunchBase

For a newspaper publisher, everything starts and ends with revenue. As print has moved online, more and more of that revenue has had to come from online display advertising. Yet advertisers are reluctant to spend money on media buys they can’t measure. This has produced a problem at both ends of the equation: newspapers have lost revenue, and advertisers have lost confidence in their media plans.

That is because historically, the value of online ads to advertisers has been judged by where and how many times they were served. But there’s a big difference  between whether an ad is served online and whether it is actually seen by a reader rapidly scrolling down the page, as startups like AdXPose have pointed out. Increasingly advertisers will want to know if their ads are seen.

We’re on it. Last year, we partnered with AdXPose, which was acquired by Comscore. Now we can document for our partners when we serve an ad and it is seen. Comscore has shared with us numbers that validate our intuition that above and below the fold have become meaningless because of reader habits, and that new ad units can help generate new revenue for publishers.

For example, last year  one in four ads above the fold was never seen, and 32% of  all ads were delivered but never seen. This means ads below the fold, while traditionally less costly, were almost as effective as those in the traditional “best” spots above the fold.

Because we have been serving ads for over a decade, we were in a position to spot this early, and to do something about it.

We’ve come up with some new, best-in-class products that can be used by any publisher, whether they use our ad server or any other. They’re aimed at creating additional revenue for publishers, while assuring brands and advertisers their ads will be seen (we can prove it) in a brand-safe environment. As far as we know, we’re the first to do this.

We started as the infrastructure for our publisher partners when we served the ad. As we evolved, we became more of a full service outsourced ad operations company. This enabled us to learn more about how online advertising technology really works to help marketers, and therefore to help publishers.

This year, we have begun to launch new best-in-class products for all publishers whether they use our ad server or not. The best-in-class InView format, for example, will appear only if we know the user will see it – and that can be measured. This InView product is designed to meet the new ways readers consume publications.

We will also offer other best-in-class products for all publishers (regardless of which ad server they use). “TVAds OnPage” is a best-in-class video ad format. Ad Ops services from ZEDO are also best-in-class because we are a US company with high standards and because as the only ad ops company that builds an ad server we are a true technology expert that can run any ad server perfectly.

During the course of this year, we will roll out three more products for all publishers that are best-in-class.

We continue to move forward in product development, knowing we operate in a very fast-moving environment and we must continue to prove our value

Related articles

• As Ad Networks Grow, So Does Demand for Ad Verification (marketingvox.com)
• Publishers: Now You Can Monetize Below the Fold (zedo.com)
• Inview Slider Ad Format Gains Acceptance (zedo.com)

• Inview Slider Ad Format Gains Acceptance (zedo.com)
• Publishers: Now You Can Monetize Below the Fold (zedo.com)

ZEDO, the leading advertising technology partner for publishers, has announced the roll-out of several new services and its expansion of its US arm into a new San Francisco Headquarters.

ZEDO’s new services, launched in 2011, include rich media, ad operations, the inView Slider format for monetizing below the fold inventory, and ZINC Exchange, a premium  exchange launched in India last summer and coming out of US beta in Q1.

Publishers interested in beta testing the new exchange can sign up at http://zxi.zedo.com/.

Eleven-year-old ZEDO, which was launched before the dot-com bubble and has grown in both India, Russia and the US, now has 250 employees worldwide.

As a result of its growth, ZEDO will be moving out of the offices on 2nd Street in San Francisco that it has occupied for most of its existence. Starting January 3, ZEDO’a new address will be 850 Montgomery Street, Suite 150, San Francisco CA 94113. The phone number will remain the same, 415.348.1975.

ZEDO is constantly trying to find new ways to help its partners. Having navigated the rough waters of print to digital with more than a thousand customers, we now have the honor of helping them grow their revenue in the new environment. We look forward to releasing even more new products in 2012.

Watch ZEDO in 2012 here, and on twitter at www.Twitter.com/ZEDOinc

Because we have been in the ad tech business longer than just about anyone else, people think they already know ZEDO. And yet they may not. Over the past eleven years, we have constantly changed our offerings and our companies to serve our clients and guide them through what has been a decade of turbulent change for online publishers.

Yes, we started as an ad server. But that’s just where we began. As we move into our new US headquarters on Jan.3, and finalize the plans to launch our American version of ZINC Exchange, we look back on how we have  evolved into a full-service advertising technology partner for our customers.

Our current suite of products includes:

Yield optimization

Innovative rich media formats for publishers’ direct sales teams,

Full featured ad serving for mobile, web, and video

Behavioral targeting data built into the ad server,

Outsourced ad operations,

An exchange-like platform for publishers to sell behavioral and DMA targeted inventory at high CPMs,

And ZINC Exchange, a self service platform that allows advertisers to buy directly from a publisher.

These products are integrated into one technology platform for advertisers and publishers to choose from, or use seamlessly together. ZEDO has been in the internet advertising industry for over 10 years, and is the most successful independent ad server in the US and the market leader in India.

In 2012, we hope to continue to make our brand the most trusted ad tech partner for publishers, and to demonstrate through the use of such new formats as the inview Slider that we can raise the revenue of publishers as the market shifts again — this time to mobile.

No advertiser wants to pay for an ad that isn’t seen. In fact, until recently, advertisers who bought both directly and through through exchanges were very focused on ads that “performed” — ads that caused the reader to respond. Google is built on the Pay-per-Click model: the advertiser doesn’t pay unless the consumer clicks on the ad. Most traditional display advertising, however, wasn’t like that.

And the PPC model isn’t appropriate for every brand in every circumstance; more sophisticated advertisers now understand the utility of online advertising for “brand lift,” or “social engagement,” or just sheer visibility. While the call to action may not involve a direct activity on the site where the ad is shown –  “order now” vs. “visit your Ford dealer to see our 2012 models,”– most advertisers now agree that branding itself is a worthwhile use of online advertising dollars.

This type of advertising is judged by its cost per thousand impressions, known as CPMs. (Wonder where the M comes from? It stands for Mille, which is thousand in French.)

If you are a publisher, you know you only have a certain amount of screen real estate “above the fold,” — at the top of your site. Below the fold, where users must scroll, is traditionally viewed as inferior placement.

But those areas can now be monetized through CPM ads– especially if the ads are striking. Readers do come to read stories below the fold on most newspaper and magazine sites (if you want some good examples, Take a look at Huffington Post, which offers almost limitless scrolling, but has ads only on the top right sid of the home page,  and the Daily Mail, where Verizon runs ads both above and below the fold.) Verizon will be paying less for the ad below the fold, but that ad will  nevertheless be seen, because readers do scroll down. Huffington Post has lost an opportunity here; and now it’s possible to prove that to an advertiser.

There are now several services that help advertisers verify that below-the-fold ads are not misspent money and make publishers more aggressive about offering inventory below the fold, after educating advertisers about how often those ads get viewed.

DoubleVerify provides online advertising verification. The company seeks to increase online advertising accountability and transparency by providing agencies, marketers, publishers and ad networks with real-time audit and verification of online advertising transactions, while Adxpose focuses on both “ad verification” and “ad safety.” It tells advertisers if anyone actually saw their ad online (was the ad above the fold or below the fold on any given webpage and how many people actually scrolled down to look at it?), and in what context the ads were shown. For instance, most major brand advertisers don’t want their ads shown next to porn or other content not deemed to be “brand-safe.” With Adxpose, and other available tools, an advertiser knows.

It will take a while for new, “in-view guaranteed”, below-the-fold advertising to become accepted, but in the mean time it will give the most adventurous advertisers an edge, and because of superior analytics, there’s not much actual risk.

We’ve been experimenting with better below-the-fold formats, and Zedo has some pretty original and compelling formats we’d be happy to show you if you are interested.

Related articles

• ComScore Picks Up Adxpose For $22 Million (techcrunch.com)

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Advertising generates the money publishers need to continue offering readers information. Since most online content is free, advertising revenue helps publishers afford to create and publish information. Television programming has commercials for the same reason. In print and in broadcast, consumers tolerate ads, and in some cases actually admire them for their creativity. On the Internet, however, that hasn’t been the case.

As the advertising technology partner to many publishers for the past decade, we’ve borne the brunt of consumers’ anger and intolerance toward advertising. We keep listening, and trying to come up with better solutions. What can we do to help our publisher partners generate revenue without annoying their readers?

Banner ads alone cannot support quality publishing. Since the supply of banner ad space is high, their rates have come down significantly, which forces publishers to look at innovative means of generating online advertising revenue without disturbing readers unduly. But readers let publishers know loud and clear that popups weren’t the answer. Nor, of course, do readers want anything installed on their computers. We listen. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be the largest independent advertising technology player worldwide.

The pressure from readers keeps us innovating. Now we think we have something truly “great” in the InView Sliders. The InView Slider ads, because they are unobtrusive, bridge the gap between insufficient high quality advertising space available and the publishers’ revenue requirements. They help make up the revenue gap, and protect free content produced by quality writers.

The InView Slider glides across your field of vision without obstructing much content, then allows itself to be viewed, and then quietly retreats. It’s a “friendly” form of advertising.
If you are seeing InView Sliders from ZEDO, it’s because you visited a website that uses our ad delivery technology to generate revenue. It means you have helped a publisher provide unrestricted access to the content you want to read, without sacrificing your privacy and security. We are getting great feedback about the new format. For the first time ever we have received an email from a newspaper to say that she loves the format and the ads she sees “sidling up to her”.

To provide as much content as possible to as many people as possible, publishers use advertising to keep the cost of access low or free. It’s the time-honored way of doing business for newspapers, magazines, and now online websites. This great innovation in advertising from ZEDO allows consumers to get more great content for free. And it allows advertisers to tell consumers about their great new products in a fun friendly way.
Welcome the new InView Sliders from ZEDO.

In a global online publishing environment, all  advertising laws and regulations are not the same. How do you ensure that content appears accurately in hundreds of  locations? And how do you monitor your advertising policies to make sure you comply with the laws of each country?

Large publishers with a worldwide presence have had difficulty enforcing compliance with the laws and regulations of different jurisdictions. We’ve been especially aware of this because we have been serving the online publishing industry  with ads almost since it began.

Now we think we have found our publishing clients an effective solution. ZEDO has partnered with GeoEdge Ltd., the leading geo-visibility solution provider, to give our publishers have clear visibility into  their global ad inventory and enforce compliance. This should also help you maximize your SEO and SEM globally. After all you can’t measure what you don’t monitor.

GeoEdge, an advanced geo-location toolset, helps publishers, advertisers, ad networks and SEO/SEM experts  view web content on a geographical basis – from virtually any location in the world. Its tools will give our publishers unrivalled compliance enforcement and the ability to monitor entire global ad inventories on one screen, ensuring that ad policies and rules are not breached. Publishers can check that content appears accurately in different markets around the world, comply with governmental and organizational policies in each country, and reduce hassle with more effective and efficient QA.

GeoEdge will now be a part of our platform, providing even more value to our existing publishers and helping us grow our US customer base. Traditionally recognized as a partner for publishers,  we offer our customers more advertising technology options, more visibility of analytics and data, and more ways to cut cost and increase revenue. ZEDO’s feature set is specialized for the needs of publishers with growing inventory, a growing user base, and an urgent need for more efficient ad inventory management.

A new report from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism reveals that the impact of the tablet computer, introduced to consumer markets as the IPad only 18 months ago, has already been transformative for journalism. 11% of American adults already own a tablet of some kind.

Most people who have tablets not only use them every day, but spend up to 90 minutes a day with them. Tablet owners surf the web, read email, consume news, read books, and watch video.

Of those tablet owners, about half get their news on their tablets every day, reading long articles as well as headlines. This is wonderful for the publishing industry, which has long been anxious about the future of long form journalism.

Here is the most important for publishers: reading news is right up there with surfing the web in general and reading email as a way to spend time with a tablet. Journalism is not going away. In fact, many tablet owners say they read more news on their tablets than they read before. They are willing to try different news sources. And 4 in 10 say they read long form articles and analyses

Most remarkable: once someone gets a tablet, they are more likely to prefer it over print and TV news sources.

However, sentiment about what users are willing to pay for has not changed, with a majority of tablet users still saying they were not willing to pay for online content. Only 14% say they pay directly for online content, while 25% say it is included with their print subscriptions. The New York Times has had moderate success with its paywall, the Wall Street Journal has had a subscription model since it originally went online, and the New Yorker appears to have some success with a hybrid subscription-advertising model. Others, including many other Murdoch publications, have not fared so well.

For publishers and advertisers, this means the advertising model will not go away, and there will continue to be a need for innovative online advertising technologies such as the ones ZEDO has been testing with great success. The good news for advertisers is that tablet readers will scroll down below the fold, and also jump to inside pages. The challenge is to develop ads that engage and interact with consumers, and produce a call to action.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Related articles

• 1 out of 10 American adults own a tablet computer (digitaltrends.com)