Media Buyers: Bookmark these sites NOW (demographics + research tools

Media buying can be a tricky game if you don’t know what you are doing. The #1 factor for media buys is demographics. So any offer you are promoting should match the target demographics. This yields higher conversions without having to test so much to figure what is working.

There are some important sites you need to know of when going into media buys and these are what I suggest (Ya, I know these sites are already known, but do you use them the way you are supposed to?):

Google Ad Planner – This site allows you to search sites that have media available for purchase by demographics or by URL. Excellent resource.
Quatcast – Type in any URL into Quantcast and get demographics. You can then look at the affinity sites that Quantcast gives you and look at those demographics. Quantcast is a kick ass demographics research tool. You can then take these demographics and use their planner (or Google’s) and find more sites for the target market you are going after.
Compete – Very similar to Quantcast except they give you keywords. Compete also has a paid version where you can do more in depth analysis
Alexa – Alexa is unique in that it has been around the longest and it may just have “better” and more accurate data than the others. I could be wrong here, so someone correct me if I am.
Now that you have your demographics and target URL’s you want to figure out which Media Agency’s have that demographics. This is probably the more important website of all time when doing media buys and market research. Not many people know about this website and you should. comScore’s services are a bit expensive, but if you got the money, USE IT on this.

comScore - This website IS the all encompassing website for media buys, market intelligence, media planning, tracking, and everything.

Every month they release reports that analyze the whole internet marketing scene. Be sure to watch their Press Releases section at http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases

Make sure you download their “comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for October 2009″ report. They have a new one every month. This thing is amazing. Shows you upcoming trends, what’s hot, and where media is being bought.

Table 2 shows you “Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors.” Now who wouldn’t want that?

Below is the one from October. It basically says that eCards is a upcoming trend along with other markets. Get your Christmas campaigns up NOW!


Total Unique Visitors (000)
9-Sep 9-Oct % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience 198,378 198,218 0
e-cards 19,023 21,867 15
Flowers/Gifts/Greetings 26,162 29,953 14
Automotive -Manufacturer 23,150 26,501 14
Business/Finance -Online Trading 10,347 11,383 10
Retail -Apparel 58,135 63,434 9
Career Services & Development -Training and Education 8,971 9,770 9
Technology -News 59,694 65,005 9
Retail -Toys 18,870 20,546 9
Gay/Lesbian 3,699 3,969 7
Business to Business 37,777 40,292 7










Table 4 is what particularly interests me. This is probably the BEST table to use when starting out with media buys. This list is a list of the Top 50 companies that own media on the internet. The table below is a copy of it. Why not start contacting these companies and negotiating deals?

Building relationships with people at these companies will only help you. It’s 90% of how low the rate on your media buy can go. Seriously. Search for them on LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. IF you have a chance to go to Ad:Tech – GO and meet these people. Become friends with them, tell them what you do, then tell them to hook you up. Simple right?



Rank Property Unique Visitors (000) % Reach
Total Internet : Total Audience 198,218 100
1 AOL Advertising** 180,422 91
2 Yahoo! Network** 174,007 87.8
3 Google Ad Network** 171,881 86.7
4 Tremor Media -Potential Reach 165,310 83.4
5 ValueClick Networks** 163,023 82.2
6 FOX Audience Network** 158,390 79.9
7 Yahoo! Sites 158,251 79.8
8 Specific Media** 157,564 79.5
9 Google 156,620 79
10 Microsoft Media Network US** 155,368 78.4
11 BrightRoll Video Network -Potential Reach 152,694 77
12 24/7 Real Media** 150,133 75.7
13 YuMe Video Network -Potential Reach 141,803 71.5
14 Traffic Marketplace** 140,104 70.7
15 Tribal Fusion** 137,633 69.4
16 AudienceScience (formerly Revenue Science)** 137,157 69.2
17 Collective Network** 134,162 67.7
18 SpotXchange Video Ad Network -Potential Reach 133,903 67.6
19 interCLICK** 132,198 66.7
20 Adconion Media Group** 132,196 66.7
21 Casale Media -MediaNet** 130,305 65.7
22 Advertising.com Video Network -Potential Reach 125,463 63.3
23 Turn, Inc** 125,100 63.1
24 Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) -Potential Reach 121,453 61.3
25 AdBrite** 119,846 60.5
26 Burst Media** 119,550 60.3
27 CPX Interactive** 104,925 52.9
28 YOUTUBE.COM 100,691 50.8
29 TidalTV -Potential Reach 100,279 50.6
30 AOL Media Network 98,515 49.7
31 FACEBOOK.COM 97,372 49.1
32 Adify** 97,244 49.1
33 MSN 95,181 48
34 ADSDAQ by ContextWeb** 91,901 46.4
35 Undertone Networks** 91,422 46.1
36 Ask Network 88,073 44.4
37 Vibrant Media** 87,813 44.3
38 Pulse 360** 85,781 43.3
39 NNN Total Newspapers: U.S. 80,606 40.7
40 ScanScout Network -Potential Reach 80,388 40.6
41 IB Local Network 79,372 40
42 Centro -Potential Reach 77,975 39.3
43 Monster Career Ad Network (CAN)** 77,906 39.3
44 ITN Digital -Potential Reach 74,576 37.6
45 Kontera** 73,576 37.1
46 Windows Live 73,036 36.8
47 IAC Ad Solutions 68,283 34.4
48 Turner Network + Y! Partnership 67,738 34.2
49 Six Apart Media -Potential Reach 67,098 33.9
50 Bing 65,666 33.1