Lycos Taps myGeek For Ad Management Platform

The Lycos portal is expected today to launch a new proprietary ad management and tracking system, provided by advertising network myGeek.com, and to merge the two company's networks--allowing myGeek and Lycos advertisers to buy ads throughout both networks' sites.

myGeek will provide a custom-built version of its AdOn ad management platform, dubbed AdBuyer, which allows for cost-per-click and cost-per impression ad campaigns, ROI tracking by traffic source and keyword, and real-time ad management.

"The biggest differentiator that myGeek offered was to allow advertisers to look at, on a real-time basis, what their ROI was like on the affiliate networks, and the ability in real time to change the mix of advertising on specific sites based on ROI," said Lycos Chief Operations Officer Brian Kalinowski. "They could be looking at a hundred sites they've got their ads on, and in real time modify the mix."

The ability to buy both cost-per-impression and cost-per-click ads through the same management platform, and the ability for publishers to choose which sorts of payment schemes to allow through the platform was also appealing to Lycos, Kalinowski said. With the implementation of AdBuyer, Lycos publishers can set up their sites for either CPC or CPM, or both, and then advertisers can choose from among the models that the publishers approve.

In addition to the deal to provide the AdBuyer system, the pact also includes a near-merging of the two company's ad networks. Lycos buyers will be able to purchase inventory from myGeek's network through the AdBuyer system, and myGeek's advertisers will be able to purchase inventory on the Lycos network through their own system, Kalinowski said.

Lycos.com--the largest site within the Lycos network--currently reaches about 16 percent of Web users, according to recent data from Nielsen//NetRatings.

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