• by Tameka Kee , March 4, 2008

Intergi has emerged as the latest contender in the vertical ad network space, as the gaming and entertainment-focused ad network has hit the 9 billion mark in terms of monthly impressions--and boasts average campaign click through rates (CTRs) of 0.5% network-wide.

Barely a year old, Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based Intergi has grown to include more than 500 properties, including independent sites devoted to massively multiplayer online (MMO) games like Blizzard's World of Warcraft, as well as properties under the Sony Online Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast umbrellas.

Aimed at game enthusiasts, including core and casual gamers, sites within the network are broken down into more than 20 channels, segmented by console (like the Nintendo Wii or Sony's PS3), genre and demographic. Advertisers can also purchase run-of-network ads or create their own customized channel, and there are display ads, rich media and options like site skinning available. While advergame or in-game ad units are not currently on the roster, Intergi President Jayson Dubin said that the network has been working to test those options with select partners.

Each Web site is surveyed before it gets accepted into the network to verify factors like content quality and in- and outbound links, and the Intergi team also offers personalized campaign optimization. "It's up to us to make sure that the most relevant ads get served on each site, because it all comes down to performance," Dubin said. "If you get a campaign to do well then buyers have no problem coming back to you. We had a MMO campaign that ended about a week ago, and after our optimization efforts the average CTR was 1.7%. On its own, the advertiser's rate would have been about 0.3%."

Intergi's network also includes entertainment properties like blogs and sites devoted to movies and comics, though gaming enthusiast sites make up the bulk of the available impressions.