Integrent, a media services firm in Chicago, launched a local online media buying service yesterday that allows ad agencies to purchase advertising across more than 1,300 branded local Web sites, including newspapers, television stations and business magazines.
Agencies OMD, Timberlin McClain Advertising, MRM Partners, Critical Mass and several others are already on board, said Integrent president Shawn Riegsecker. The service, Centro, is the first media buying service of its kind. Most current services don’t focus on local display advertising and most place ads only on sites in their network, Riegsecker said. Centro allows ad agencies to choose on which sites ads should run, depending on their client needs and campaigns.
The overall local online advertising market is a lucrative one, projected to account for $5.7 billion worth of ad spending in 2006, according to research firm Borrell Associates, Portsmouth, VA. But the local online ad market has not been monetized in the past, Riegsecker said.
“The local market never established its value. Even if they [marketers] agreed local publications were the best place, it was virtually impossible to do a plan at the local level, because of the cost,” he said.
So, Integrent built a platform of 1,300 local Web sites from each of the top 100 markets in the United States. It has relationships with media companies such as Cox, CBS Television, Advance and Hearst.
Integrent has been providing local online media buying services for clients such as Dell and American Airlines since 2001.
Christine Blank covers online marketing and advertising, including e-mail marketing and paid search, for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters.
