One robust platform for creating display ads is Impact Engine. Publishers can choose from an ad library that includes a selection of exotic ads, like peel downs and floaters, as well as traditional IAB ad units and widgets.The ad catalog also has seasonal themes.
Here are some functions that make the software more useful:
*After ads are launched, changes and edits can be made in real time.
*The A/B testing module allows testing of two or a hundred versions of an ad at once.
*The reports module generates customized campaign performance reports, over specific periods of time for trend analysis. Daily and hourly performance metrics are available for each ad running in a campaign.
More newspapers are signing up with platforms like this one in part to reduce online display advertising costs. Media News Group is the latest to join Impact Engine's client list.
Small newspapers using the system include Louisiana’s St. Tammany News, published once a week and with just a 4500 print circulation. The company wanted to create display ads on its revamped website but had no in-house resources. Utilizing the library of modifiable ad templates, STN needed only one employee to sell, design, and publish dynamic online display ads (no technical knowledge of Flash was needed).
Online ad revenue doubled, and one of its advertisers reported a national click-through response three times the national average. “Impact Engine has helped double our online ad revenue,” says Chad Ruiz, STN’s Internet ad rep.
In California, another small paper, the Marin Independent Journal had no in-house resources for creating online display ads and sought a simple, non-technical solution. Using Impact Engine, the Journal now has two team members to design, publish, and report metrics for all display ad clients. The paper also created self-service advertiser accounts, so advertisers such as banks and restaurants can manage, make changes, and use the metrics for ads they place.
According to Corin Mannik, the Journal’s Interactive Sales Consultant, “With this one program we can build dynamic personalized spec ads for potential advertisers, edit live ads “on-the-fly,” and get real-time reporting of the ad’s performance.”
Other publishing clients include The Daily Herald (Everett, WA), The Sioux City Journal, The Herald (Monterey, California), St. Louis Suburban Journals, newspaper chains Gannett and Media News Group, and many more.