Three major websites in as many weeks have opened their doors to third-party advertisers, with recruitment firm Monster the latest to tap into the booming online ad market.
Earlier this month, Media Week revealed that Thomas Cook has appointed Channel 4's online sales house 4DS to sell display ads on its top two sites - thomascook.com and flythomascook.com - as it battles for online spend against pure-play rivals lastminute.com and Opodo.
Meanwhile, Amazon is talking to media agencies and ad networks, including eType, about bringing advertisers on board.
The explosion in online advertising of all types has been fuelled by publishers looking to generate new revenue streams, particularly where advertising can be introduced without affecting users' experience.
Jamie Galloway, head of online at COI, says: "The IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) has been talking for some time now about a tipping point, when online advertising becomes a must-have, and I think we've approached that point over the last one to two years."
Money-spinner
Publishers are waking up to advertising as a way to make money from a ready-made audience. Amazon is thought to gain up to 40% of its sales from affiliates that direct customers to the website. And record labels such as Universal Music are now accepting advertising in a bid to make money out of the vast amount of traffic on artists' websites.
But display in particular, long dismissed as the poor relation of online advertising, is on track for a revival, according to Richard Sharp, UK manager at advertising network ValueClick.
"Of search and display, display has greater potential for growth. Search has reached a certain point now, even though it is still the predominant marketing tool for many clients," he says.
Sharp believes a significant number of advertisers, particularly FMCG companies, are set to up their internet spend as the response from traditional media dries up. Radio, for instance, has seen a drop in advertising spend, but an increase in online listeners, prompting a strategy rethink among marketing directors.
Robert Gay, managing director of eType, agrees that as the likes of Procter & Gamble migrate online, they will turn to display advertising as the most effective way to boost brand awareness, offering digital media owners a lucrative revenue stream.
"For branding, you can't beat display. Marketers are realising that, especially the more traditional marketers that have used television for the past 20 years," he says.
Display advertising has evolved in recent years to include data capture, lead generation and cookie-dropping, all of that enable sellers to communicate directly with consumers, and in a more targeted way.
"Display is no longer about just banners, buttons and skyscrapers; it now has links to sponsorship and advertorials. Search, on the other hand, is still very defined," COI's Galloway says.
Robin Caller, managing director of sales house Goallover, believes media owners can use display to capitalise on a fundamental flaw in the search model - namely that advertisers pay multiple times for the same person. A customer browsing online for a particular album could visit the same music site numerous times before making a firm decision to purchase.
Nevertheless, there is a general consensus among the advertising networks that clients see better results using search and display together than either in isolation.
Integrated platforms
Khalil Ibrahimi, managing director of advertising network Unanimis and chairman of the Internet Advertising Sales House, predicts the two models will converge completely within three years, as agencies and ad networks offer publishers more integrated marketing platforms.
"Until recently, most clients compartmentalised performance advertising, search advertising and display. It was only a matter of time before they joined up the writing," he says.
The fact that Google has acquired DoubleClick, the online advertising firm, is evidence of the potential to combine search and display.
For third-party sales houses such as 4DS and eType, the recent spate of tie-ups is testament to their advertising expertise. Sharp maintains that outsourcing ad sales removes the risk and cost of selling in-house, while freeing up publishers to concentrate on the website itself. If anything, the barriers to entry are too low, which may lead to consolidation as the larger, premium sales houses swallow up some of the smaller outfits struggling with poor margins.
One thing for certain is that online advertising, both search and display, will continue to attract big advertisers - and big bucks for those sites with the clout to capitalise RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THIRD-PARTY SALES
July 2007 - AOL launches third-party sales arm, Networks@AOL
July 2007 - Thomas Cook appoints 4DS to sell ads on its top two sites
July 2007 - Monster looks for a sales house to sell ads on its site
May 2007 - Amazon enters talks with sales houses to sell ads on its UK site
February 2007 - Orange launches its-third party sales house
January 2007 - Channel 4 launches its sales house 4DS
August 2006 - Sky Media enters third-party sales with acquisition of Aura Sports.