Oct 27 2012

2012 Best Ad Networks

By Rich Gorman 15 Comments

The internet is powered by advertising dollars. If it wasn’t for advertisers like us, the top 3 most-visited websites on the internet, Google, Facebook, and YouTube, wouldn’t have a viable business model!!!

There’s hundreds of Ad Networks out there that collectively deliver billions of impressions every month. I’ve tested many but have found few that are geared toward Direct Response Marketers.

Based upon the insights of our audience, friends, and my own biases, below are the 2012 winners!!!

Managed Media Buys

#1 US Inventory

Wam is opening its doors to the public in November. They’re a small group of highly experienced media buyers that have been around for 4-5 years. I highly recommend Wam!

Wam! has massive domestic reach and can get ads approved on the fly. Nearly all of the inventory serving is on direct buys. Wam! also works with a lot of publishers on a CPA basis!!!

#1 International Inventory

Ted Dhanik, owner of EngageBDR, is the largest affiliate in the world. He is a Direct Response advertiser, affiliate network owner, and media buyer. Ted’s team knows how to blow an offer up internationally!!!

EngageBDR is also the #1 display network in CA, AU, UK, FR, IE and BR per http://quantcast.com/bnmla.com.

CAUTION: before starting a managed media buy with EngageBDR, make SURE your offer is backing out. They can blow through the min. spend of $25k in an hour! I suggest you start with First Impression, the self-serve solution.

Technology Top 3

#1 Media Math

#2 Dataxu

#3 Appnexus

DISCLAIMER: I recruited both Wam! and EngageBDR to sponsor Direct Response. I felt that these Ad Networks would add enormous value to our audience. It took some pushing, but I got the commitments. Their ranking is not based on their sponsorship. Before I take a sponsor live, I personally vet them to make sure it’s the best fit for our audience.

Mike

Rich, great post. And there’s nothing wrong getting sponsors, it’s your blog, you should monetize it. BTW, why don’t you include adsdirect? I thought it’s the number 1 traffic source for health and beauty offers,
- http://www.DirectResponse.net Rich Gorman
  
  Ads Direct is a CPA Affiliate Network, I listed them under CPA Networks. This list is for Ad Networks
John

Can you please explain in further detail how the three ‘technology’ companies that are featured in this list are used by you, and recommendations to other online direct-response marketers?

All three companies highlight non-DR case studies, clients that are non-DR, and almost all of their messaging and website copy is centered around a completely different audience. I am a bit confused here, but would love to here your perspective.
- http://www.DirectResponse.net Rich Gorman
  
  I don’t use MediaMath, AppNexus, or DataXU, however a number of the biggest affiliates that I personally know do use it.
  
  MediaMath is #1 per our audience.
  
  What are your thoughts?
  - John
    
    My thought is that these Mediamath, Appnexus, DXu are fancy UI’s that plug into either RTB, Facebook, and/or Adwords APIs, and are unnecessary middle-men that don’t provide value.
    
    From my experience in especially PPC-world, all of these sorts of solutions are great for reporting, but by the mere fact that they’re plugging into API’s, they are lacking in terms of said ad-platforms new features, they end up functioning more as an unnecessary middle-man, when you could simply buy and manage inventory from the network directly. I bet they produce great looking reports though
    
    If your an online advertiser that doesn’t know Excel, needs hand-holding and an account rep to boost your ego, and likes out-of-date APIs, I bet these programs work great. But otherwise I’d just prefer to use Adwords/Facebook/RTB directly.
Son I am confuse

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly do these technology providers do?
- http://www.DirectResponse.net Rich Gorman
  
  they let you buy media
Joe Burton

thanks for the kudos Rich. Its great to hear that what we are building hear is making advertisers happy. our mission is to change the way adnetworks do business and we are well on our way. If anyone has specific questions i am happy to answer them here on through emails joe@wammediagroup.com
- http://www.DirectResponse.net Rich Gorman
  
  congrats on your success Joe. You’re one of the best media buyers I know!
Dave Warner

Wam hasn’t even opened to the public yet and they are #1? Sounds like someone got paid for that one…
- http://www.DirectResponse.net Rich Gorman
  
  Wam has been a private ad network for a few years now. their #1 based on the fact that they are by far the best at backing out DR offers domestically at the lowest CPAs. I highly recommend them and worked hard to bring them on as a sponsor.
  
  Try them out at a very low spend and you’ll see what I’m talking about
- Joe Burton
  
  Dave,there has been a lot of work behind WAM CPC and i promise you we did not buying our reputation or this ranking. I am more than happy to prove this to you. I will waive our normal min investment and let you on our private network for a much lower commitment. After you spend your test budget if you are happy with results all i ask is that you go on here and say so. Fair enough? Hit me up joe@wammediagroup.com
John

You should start a forum or facebook group man. Having a place which is more conducive to your audience interacting with and between each other more, as opposed to just with you, will definitely strengthen the ties between everyone, and ultimately end up as a net positive for you. Just a thought.
- http://www.DirectResponse.net Rich Gorman
  
  that’s a great thought, I’m going to look at putting something into action. thx
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This discussion is very focused on
the topic and I’m satisfied with the researched material as is is authentic
and unbiased