The extensive reach of a true online advertising network presents several media planning options and solutions for brand marketers, depending on the specific campaign objectives and the target audience. Most true networks have a team of media planning professionals on staff to help both agencies and independent clients to strategically identify a solution or a segment of the network to best reach the intended audience and to ensure optimal performance. A true network will offer scalable, complementary reach to any plan and therefore must be included.
User targeting: While targeting options vary slightly by network, most have the ability to segment their audience using AiM or @Plan data to identify the sites most likely to reach the highest composition of users based on specific demographic or psychographic criteria. Most networks also offer behavioral targeting capabilities, either by re-targeting users who have visited an advertiser's site or by audience segments who have exhibited a specific type of behavior elsewhere on the network.
Run of network: Run of network (RON) is the fastest way to accomplish a high degree of awareness on a massive scale. While RON is an effective way to build awareness quickly, it is usually complemented by other media strategies within the network. These strategies often include full transparency of segments or categories within the network, custom channels of sites designed specifically to reach the target audience, or single sites that offer more unique and customizable "big splash" opportunities.
Roadblocking: Roadblocking a network is also possible, although because an ad network does not typically control all of the traffic on each site, the end-user experience is not a true roadblock of the advertiser's message. Some of the most notable network roadblock successes have come from the complete takeover of single sites where a network may have a deeper representation agreement to sell all of a site's inventory on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis.
