What would I change?
Transparency
First, I would like to see more transparency. We execute a campaign and all we know is that the online ad network performed or didn't. I have yet to see reporting and intelligence down to the category or site level that shows performance. I realize that the networks may not wish to, or are not able to, share this data, but the advertiser is missing out on tons of marketing intelligence data that could be useful for future campaigns. Along with the transparency issue would be a desire to understand the online ad network's optimization process more completely. Again, this is part of the black box that is proprietary to the network, but to understand things like real-time or manual optimization is important when determining the optimization time needed by the network to get the campaign to perform (or not).
View-thru conversions
Second, I'd like the online ad networks to provide more data on the view-thru conversion question. It's no secret that the larger ad networks rely on view-thru conversions for a "successful" campaign while the reality is that they are cookie-bombing the online universe and taking undue credit for some of these conversions. While the larger advertisers can afford research studies to understand this, the online ad networks have been slow to even discuss or provide guidance in this area.
Proximity to questionable content
Third, there needs to be more attention paid to the risk of running adjacent to objectionable content within the thousands of sites on most online ad networks. Many of our brands get nervous about the lack of network transparency at the site level (No. 1 above) and the network's ability to avoid placing advertising in these environments. This is getting more tricky as user-generated content is exploding such that overall a site may be OK (i.e., MySpace), but individual pages within the site may not. The degree of monitoring and policing (both manual and automated) vary all over the place, and I wish there were more standardized and secure ways to minimize this issue.
Branding metrics
Fourth, I'd like to see the networks provide more branding metrics, similar to current branding research providers (i.e., Insight Express, Dynamic Logic). While the online ad networks have perfected the direct response reporting and optimization process through great technology, they have not delved deep into the branding side of the equation.
What makes the perfect ad network?
The perfect ad network consists of deep and broad media distribution, as well as great technology to target exactly who we want to reach. The combination of the two is key, as the deep and broad media inventory gives the advertiser lots of different ways to reach an audience (contextually, demographically, behaviorally) and the technology makes this happen. The technology should also be able to provide great intelligence on what works and what does not and auto-optimize the campaign (by message, by site, by placement, by geography, by time of day, et cetera). The technology really is a targeting feature, as optimization is just another way of targeting.