• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 17, 2006

Media executives persist in purchasing inventory at the last minute, according to recent research conducted by MediaPost in conjunction with Deutsche Bank (See related OnlineMediaDaily story, "Online Ad Spend Surpasses Expectations").

Almost three-quarters--73 percent--of the 60 media buyers and planners surveyed earlier this month said they committed to buying inventory just three months or less in advance of a campaign. Throughout four quarterly surveys last year, that figure has been consistently high--ranging from 67 percent to 76 percent.

Deutsche Bank attributes this short time frame to publishers, speculating that while the market remains strong, they're unwilling to commit to longer lead times. "Despite increased demand by some advertisers for longer lead times, we believe that publishers are becoming less willing to commit to longer lead times in order to maintain pricing flexibility in what has become a very strong pricing environment," states the report.

Deutsche also predicted that in the future, longer lead times could emerge as a trend. Such a development could be positive "from a visibility standpoint," but "will also force the publishers to manage pricing more strategically, as they will likely have to set pricing in advance of knowing how 'spot' market dynamics are going to play out 6-12 months down the road."

Overall, 47 percent of the respondents reported purchasing online media less than two months in advance of a campaign, while 27 percent purchased between two and three months before a campaign. Eighteen percent said they purchased inventory between three and six months of a campaign, and 8 percent bought more than six months in advance.

The duration of campaigns remained flat, with 70 percent of respondents reporting that the length of campaigns managed remained the same quarter-to-quarter, while 22 percent reported longer campaigns and 8 percent said campaigns were shorter in the fourth quarter than the third.