• by Kate Kaye , November 12, 2002

As the Online Publishers Association announced last week, despite the sluggish economy, the top online publishers are experiencing year-over-year boosts in ad sales revenue , which indicates that advertisers are becoming more receptive to the idea of spending online.

“The question is no longer ‘should we be online?’” explains OPA executive director Michael Zimbalist, “it’s ‘what should we be doing online?’”

Compared to last year, for instance, ad sales at NYTimes.com have risen more than 30%, and jumped a whopping 50% at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. What’s driving this shift?

Jason Krebs, VP of sales at NYTimes.com cites the value of the site’s readers as a main selling point. Over the past seven years, NYTimes.com has established trust among its readers, all of whom must register with the site before accessing content. Coupled with this trust factor, the data captured through registrations enables NYTimes.com to “sell” its readership, rather than mere impressions, to advertisers.

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive’s CEO and publisher, Christopher Schroeder, believes that “The Internet is all about audience,” but stresses the importance of guiding advertisers along the right path. “I can’t think of one meeting I’ve had where people don’t see the need to go online, but they don’t know what to do. They need guidance.”

They also need proof. Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive is working to compile examples of campaign success and hard, analytic proof of ROI to online ad novices. Still, it’s difficult to get advertisers to spill the beans about successful online campaigns. “They don’t want competitors to know; that means it’s working,” concludes Schroeder.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is helping out in this department by educating sales people on how to use research to both sell, and assure marketers that they’re getting value from their online ad spends. Its Cross Media Research methodology measures each medium, individually or in combination, relative to branding or sales. A Cross Media Optimization Study done in conjunction with McDonald’s found that the fast feeder would have seen an 8% rise in product awareness had it put 13% of its ad budget online for a particular campaign.

IAB president and CEO Greg Stuart believes that promoting this research has inspired the better reception online publishers are getting among advertisers. “What you’re hearing from them is there’s a better selling environment out there.”

iVillage’s SVP sales, Vanessa Benfield also stresses the “need to be able to articulate the research” to advertiser clients, and mentions that the IAB will take part in training the iVillage sales staff soon.

Although the female-focused property “leads with learning,” Benfield believes that iVillage’s audience is key to its success with advertisers. “We leverage our knowledge and experience gained through our relationship with women. This is a new approach.”

The OPA’s Zimbalist considers the shift to be “part of the maturation of the medium,” affirming, “The change is moving away from selling impressions towards moving audiences.”