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Banners. Cheap.
Hot site hawks unsold inventory at bargain prices
By Marty Beard
Love them or hate them, banner ads still make up a significant proportion of the online ad inventory.
But thanks to the infamously weak ad market, as much as 75 percent of banner ad inventory is going unsold, according to a recent study by research company eMarketer.
And one tiny ad-serving company, BannerMania.com, aims to help small to medium online publishers and webmasters take advantage of all that empty space.
For the week ending August 19, BannerMania was the No. 22 ad domain, delivering 14.2 million impressions and reaching 0.15 percent of the online population, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
"Would you like to earn revenue with your unsold banner ad space? Smart move! You're one of millions whose ad space could be generating revenue for you in only a few minutes from now," proclaims the BannerMania.com web site.
The company, which is based in Pompano Beach, Fla., employs just four people. The small staff size, a BannerMania spokesperson says, helps keep the company profitable amid the shakeout.
BannerMania pays small online publishers, which it refers to as the "average webmaster," to run advertisers’ banner ads. The company outsources most of its ad sales to large firms such as DoubleClick and Engage and focuses on the publisher side.
The standard banners run at the top of the page, and publishers are paid after the first 90 days with a $50 minimum payout, according to the company. After that, BannerMania clients receive payments every month.
BannerMania has been in existence since its first incarnation in 1995. It transformed itself from a link exchange program into an advertising company in December of 2000.
Yet BannerMania says it hasn’t weathered the dot.com shakeout, bleary ad market and the down-in-the-dumps economy unscathed.
According to the spokesperson, BannerMania has delivered a maximum of 150 million ads per month. But corporate downsizing and slow ad sales mean that the company is running roughly 30 million ads per month right now.
Shakeout or no, web users are still interested in making a quick buck. A case in point is the emergence in the Nielsen//NetRankings charts of an internet casino company as one of the top online advertisers.
Cassava Enterprises has been the No. 9 online advertiser for the past two weeks, as it has carpeted the web with ads for its gambling site, Casino on Net.
For the week ending August 19, the Casino on Net ads netted 130 million impressions and were seen by a unique audience of some 16 million people.
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Top 25 Properties |
|||
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Property |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time (hh:mm:ss) |
|
1. AOL Time Warner |
37,730 |
50.7 |
0:16:07 |
|
2. Yahoo |
30,382 |
40.8 |
0:29:25 |
|
3. MSN |
29,149 |
39.2 |
0:21:58 |
|
4. Microsoft |
10,091 |
13.6 |
0:05:04 |
|
5. Excite@Home |
8,453 |
11.4 |
0:11:39 |
|
6. Lycos Network |
8,165 |
11.0 |
0:09:21 |
|
7. eBay |
7,968 |
10.7 |
0:39:52 |
|
8. Walt Disney Internet Group |
5,983 |
8.0 |
0:14:52 |
|
9. eUniverse Network |
5,759 |
7.7 |
0:08:11 |
|
10. About-Primedia |
5,665 |
7.6 |
0:06:16 |
|
11. Google |
5,284 |
7.1 |
0:06:52 |
|
12. Amazon |
5,269 |
7.1 |
0:07:59 |
|
13. CNET Networks |
4,369 |
5.9 |
0:06:08 |
|
14. InfoSpace |
4,185 |
5.6 |
0:04:31 |
|
15. ClassMates Online |
3,916 |
5.3 |
0:04:12 |
|
16. AT&T |
3,658 |
4.9 |
0:11:11 |
|
17. Vivendi Universal |
3,563 |
4.8 |
0:08:59 |
|
18. Ask Jeeves |
3,207 |
4.3 |
0:04:36 |
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19. iWon |
3,155 |
4.2 |
0:25:59 |
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20. EarthLink |
3,130 |
4.2 |
0:06:47 |
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21. Gator.com |
2,787 |
3.7 |
0:08:44 |
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22. GoTo.com |
2,755 |
3.7 |
0:02:16 |
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23. EA Online |
2,632 |
3.5 |
0:55:59 |
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24. Viacom International |
2,507 |
3.4 |
0:11:44 |
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25. NBC Internet |
2,495 |
3.4 |
0:05:30 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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Top 10 Advertisers |
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Advertiser |
Impressions (000) |
Unique |
Active Reach (%) |
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1. Microsoft |
504,204 |
22,350 |
30.02 |
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2. Yahoo |
296,966 |
18,770 |
25.21 |
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3. AOL Time Warner |
296,303 |
24,855 |
33.38 |
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4. Providian Financial |
201,673 |
23,471 |
31.52 |
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5. Classmates Online |
190,962 |
20,634 |
27.71 |
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6. Nextcard |
189,470 |
12,672 |
17.02 |
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7. Sony |
167,337 |
22,999 |
30.89 |
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8. Bertelsmann |
142,998 |
9,520 |
12.79 |
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9. Cassava Enterprises |
130,546 |
16,082 |
21.6 |
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10. J.P. Morgan Chase |
111,839 |
13,039 |
17.51 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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Top 25 Domains |
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Domain |
Unique |
Reach % |
Time (hh:mm:ss) |
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1. yahoo.com |
28,088 |
37.7 |
0:30:16 |
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2. aol.com |
27,197 |
36.5 |
0:14:04 |
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3. msn.com |
26,261 |
35.3 |
0:19:35 |
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4. passport.com |
14,567 |
19.6 |
0:02:57 |
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5. microsoft.com |
9,619 |
12.9 |
0:05:04 |
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6. ebay.com |
7,090 |
9.5 |
0:41:19 |
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7. geocities.com |
7,087 |
9.5 |
0:05:49 |
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8. netscape.com |
6,466 |
8.7 |
0:08:50 |
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9. go.com |
5,821 |
7.8 |
0:15:05 |
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10. google.com |
5,273 |
7.1 |
0:06:52 |
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11. excite.com |
5,248 |
7.1 |
0:14:03 |
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12. amazon.com |
4,904 |
6.6 |
0:07:35 |
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13. classmates.com |
3,916 |
5.3 |
0:04:11 |
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14. lycos.com |
3,605 |
4.8 |
0:10:10 |
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15. about.com |
3,168 |
4.3 |
0:03:42 |
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16. iwon.com |
3,155 |
4.2 |
0:25:59 |
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17. compuserve.com |
2,852 |
3.8 |
0:16:03 |
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18. tripod.com |
2,805 |
3.8 |
0:04:06 |
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19. gator.com |
2,760 |
3.7 |
0:08:11 |
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20. goto.com |
2,716 |
3.7 |
0:02:17 |
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21. earthlink.net |
2,712 |
3.6 |
0:07:10 |
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22. msnbc.com |
2,711 |
3.6 |
0:06:26 |
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23. angelfire.com |
2,482 |
3.3 |
0:04:02 |
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24. weather.com |
2,349 |
3.2 |
0:04:48 |
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25. cnet.com |
2,342 |
3.2 |
0:04:30 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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Top 25 Advertising Domains |
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Domain |
Impressions (000) |
Active Reach (%) |
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1. yahoo.com |
1,261,052 |
32.58 |
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2. msn.com |
989,561 |
31.60 |
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3. aol.com |
352,976 |
28.85 |
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4. ebay.com |
183,625 |
6.31 |
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5. lycos.com |
102,521 |
3.89 |
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6. netzero.net |
51,749 |
2.03 |
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7. netscape.com |
93,574 |
7.24 |
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8. att.net |
41,401 |
2.53 |
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9. musiccity.com |
96,255 |
1.49 |
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10. monster.com |
63,733 |
1.74 |
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11. pogo.com |
67,913 |
2.48 |
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12. excite.com |
55,202 |
3.86 |
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13. cnn.com |
28,854 |
2.48 |
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14. compuserve.com |
24,126 |
2.72 |
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15. go.com |
45,859 |
5.15 |
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16. aimster.com |
23,246 |
0.48 |
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17. cnet.com |
23,059 |
2.61 |
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18. fastclick.net |
21,524 |
5.03 |
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19. server.com |
18,758 |
0.11 |
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20. audiogalaxy.com |
44,975 |
1.21 |
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21. msnbc.com |
20,218 |
3.48 |
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22. banner-mania.com |
14,207 |
0.15 |
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23. mapquest.com |
24,779 |
2.93 |
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24. valueclick.com |
13,061 |
1.02 |
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25. zdnet.com |
10,798 |
1.45 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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Top Ten Banners |
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Advertiser |
Impressions (000) |
Unique Audience |
Active Reach (%) |
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1. Classmates Online |
100,617 |
12,956 |
17.40 |
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2. DietSmart |
29,737 |
9,287 |
12.47 |
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3. Classmates Online |
24,797 |
8,365 |
11.23 |
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4. Debticated Consumer Counseling |
31,212 |
7,210 |
9.68 |
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5. Providian Financial |
29,604 |
6,996 |
9.40 |
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6. EDiets.com |
12,640 |
6,963 |
9.35 |
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7. Debticated Consumer Counseling |
29,810 |
6,329 |
8.50 |
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8. Providian Financial |
22,811 |
6,084 |
8.17 |
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9. Columbia House |
12,548 |
5,790 |
7.78 |
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10. Columbia House |
15,209 |
5,729 |
7.69 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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Average Usage |
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Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
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Number of Sessions per Week |
6 |
6 |
0 |
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Number of Unique Sites Visited |
6 |
6 |
0 |
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Page Views per Week |
229 |
229 |
0 |
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Page Views per Surfing Session |
36 |
37 |
-2.7 |
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Time Spent per Week |
3:20:07 |
3:19:47 |
0.17 |
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Time Spent During Surfing Session |
0:31:45 |
0:31:52 |
-0.37 |
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Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:53 |
0:00:52 |
2.4 |
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Average Click Rate for Top Banners |
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0 |
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Total Internet Audience Sample |
55,689 |
56,320 |
-1.12 |
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Active Internet Universe |
74,459,192 |
74,576,376 |
-0.16 |
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Current Internet Universe Estimate |
167,436,218 |
167,423,027 |
0.01 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
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August 28, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Marty Beard is a staff writer for Media Life.
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