Re: AM: Value of user demographics?

[mike@localeyes.com]

Interesting threads of questions and answers on the ad market,
search engine positioning, user demographics, ad targeting, and 
more.

The latest set of threads are concerning the value of user 
demographics.  There are a lot of very well funded companies
focusing on the break down of user demographics, interpreting
ip addresses without registration, and targeting ads to 
physcographic profiles.  DoubleClick, IPRO, Infoseek and others.  
  
If someone, could truly and accurately (95% and higher) represent
the zipcode and user demographics of a surfer, my analsyis of 
value would be the following based on our experience:

1.  Generic advertising (no demographics or interests) $5-20 CPM
(depends on brand power)
2.  Topical Targeting (no geography or user demographics) $20-35 CPM
(variation also depends on brand power)
3.  Geographic and Topical Targeting at the zipcode level $35-50 CPM
4.  Other Demographic targeting (gender, income, profession) $50-100 CPM

The missing component which is provided by the surfer him or herself
by their actions (keywords, paths that are taken, etc.) is what they 
are actively looking for at that time. The zipcode can get translated using
ad databases such as PRISM into the probable user demographics of the 
user.  

To be beneficial to live Web sites, this would have to be an extremely
fast conversion of technical data to demographic data so that an ad
can be viewed instantaneously by users.  You have to prove to someone
like myself that even though 70%+ of IP addresses are dynamic that you
could accurately reflect the correct zipcode for a user.  The demographics
vary widely from zipcode to zipcode.  

In my view, over time users will register with valuable content sites 
that have brand identity.  Much like they will register with a magazine.
Studies have shown that the brand of the Web site (not the ad) has almost 
as much to do with the success of the campaign as the actual ad itself.
For example, Infoseek and Yahoo surfers buy more products than any other 
brands on the internet.  

Mike Simon
LocalEyes Corporation
301-581-0105
301-581-0101 fax
mike@localeyes.com
We know where it's @ --> www.localeyes.com
  
   

>Andrew Forbes (andrew.forbes@redbridge.com)
>Thu, 8 Jan 1998 09:17:34 -0500:
>
>I'm working on a business plan, and I'm in the process
>of refining the revenue numbers. I'm having a difficult
>time deciding on the value of one of the services, and
>I'm hoping for some feedback from this group.
>
>For those of you running web sites and doing ad banner
>insertion systems:
>
>What would you be willing to pay for an IP address to
>user demographics conversion service? In other words,
>if I could provide you with the capability, in real time,
>to "know" the demographics of the surfer behind the
>IP that is requesting pages from your web server (or ads
>from your ad server), what would this be worth to you?
>
>Note that this service would not require site registration,
>cookies, any modifications to your web site or any action=20
>on the part of the consumer behind the IP address.
>
>For the web site operators, this service would also allow
>you to develop survey level broadcast style (market=20
>segment/daypart/etc) reports.
>
>What is this worth on a per surfer per month basis?
>Any opinions would be welcome.