AKA TV: DoubleClickFounder Will Apply Aggregation Model to Digital-Signage Market
This article originally was posted on October 20, 2006 at AKA TV.
Jeff Dickey, founder of Internet ad-sales pioneer DoubleClick, is applying the same concept to digital signage with the launch of content and advertising aggregator SeeSaw Networks.
SeeSaw will match the unused advertising inventory of pre-qualified digital networks to advertisers, agencies and media buyers – a similar approach to Artisan Live’s new MAAP project.
Dickey believes that the digital-signage industry is still struggling to define itself and its metrics, confusing many agencies and ad-buyers, and hopes that SeeSaw’s aggregation service will deliver a consistency familiar to media buyers.
And while the industry does need to move toward new measurement models, according to Dickey, in the meantime he says it must also provide measurements based on established cost-per-thousand (CPM) and cost-per-impression metrics – which will be provided to potential buyers by SeeSaw.
“Ignoring the traditional CPM, cost-per-impression and gross-rating-point metrics simply makes the medium a tougher sell,” Dickey told aka.tv.
SeeSaw will secure inventory from a range of network operators and sell it on its own ratecard, compensating operators on a commission basis.
Individual network operators can apply to participate at any time, and there is currently no joining fee or membership cost. The service is now operational and Dickey anticipates a steady growth over the next year.
Dickey was one of three founders of DoubleClick in 1996. The company originally helped Websites to sell advertising during the years of the first dotcom boom, but has since narrowed its focus to concentrate on ad-serving technology. At one point listed on the NASDAQ, it is now held by a private-equity firm.
