Premium Publishers Drive Greater Ad Performance

LONDON, August 10, 2011 -

A study by The Guardian, Sky, Channel 4 and Criteo shows premium publishers deliver a unique audience and increased performance for advertisers

A recent study by The Guardian, Sky and Channel 4 in conjunction with Criteo, the global leader in expanding search advertising to display, found that premium publisher websites deliver a unique audience and higher response rates for performance-led advertising campaigns than non-premium sites.  The study showed that 20% of the users could only be found on these three premium sites.  Furthermore, the click-through rates from users who were unique to the premium publishers were up to 4 times higher than users who never visited these sites and conversion rates were also higher than on non-premium sites.  The results are testament to the ability of premium publishers to deliver an attractive environment for performance as well as brand advertisers.

Criteo worked with 3 of its partners, The Guardian, Sky and Channel 4 and a major multi-channel retailer on a one week study in June this year.  The advertising response rates (clicks and conversions) of users to the retailer’s website were measured as they navigated across various sites on the web including the three partner sites.  The study aimed to measure the effectiveness of premium publisher sites for performance based campaigns.  

Users were divided into 3 groups:

• Users who only saw ads on the three premium publisher sites
• Users exposed to ads across non-premium sites (primarily outside the comScore top 100)
• Users who saw ads across both sets of sites

The study showed compelling results.  The premium publisher sites delivered:

• A unique audience - 20% of users to The Guardian, Sky and Channel 4 were only present on these sites.
• 4 x increase in click-through-rate -the average click-through rate (CTR) of visitors to the premium publishers was four timeshigher than the CTR of users who never visited a premium publisher during the test period.
• 16% higher conversion rate - personalised retargeting increases overall conversion rates due to the highly relevant nature of the creative.  The study showed that users to premium publisher sites had a higher propensity to purchase than those that only visited non-premium sites.    

“Criteo’s findings are proof that premium content and brand trust can contribute significantly to the response rates of performance-based advertising. Advertisers on Channel 4 have access to a unique audience and a real opportunity to grow brand and deliver on performance.  We’re delighted with the results and will continue to work with Criteo in driving value for advertisers.”  Chris Hulme, Advertising Operations Manager Future & Digital Media Advertising, Channel 4.

Thomas O’Donnell, Advertising technology and partnerships manager, Sky Media added to this saying, “Sky Media have been working with Criteo for around 2 years.  They are a trusted partner and their re-targeting product has proven highly successful in engaging our premium audience with relevant ads.”

“Criteo has always believed in building mutually beneficial long-term partnerships with premium publishers. This study demonstrates the ability of premium publishers to deliver great results,” said Michael Steckler, MD Northern Europe, Criteo.  ”This is what will drive up CPM’s on premium content and continue to bring new demand from advertisers who are looking to expand their search campaigns but have traditionally shied away from display.”

Tim Gentry, Head of Optimisation and Effectiveness at Guardian News & Media, concluded, “Guardian digital properties are well recognised as superb environments for brand advertising, and over recent years we’ve invested heavily to ensure that advertisers are also able to leverage our unique audience engagement for communications throughout the funnel.  We’re delighted that our relationship with Criteo demonstrates the advantages of our premium environments for performance advertising too.”

About Criteo

Criteo expands the search budgets of the largest ecommerce advertisers across 20 countries.  Every day Criteo generates millions of high-quality leads by serving relevant ads to people who have left clients’ websites without completing transactions. Criteo is measured purely on its post-click performance. Criteo offers a turnkey pay-per-click model including extensive real-time bidding tools, keyword level optimisation and even an in-house creative studio. For more information, please visit www.criteo.com/en

Contact Information

Mihiri Bonney
Criteo
UK Marketing Manager
+44(0)203-170-5835
m.bonney@criteo.com

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