Public Address readers are generally understanding about the appearance of advertising on this site. But one thing that bugs me -- and, I suspect, many readers -- is the auxillary ads.
When the fine people at Scoop Media haven't sold a particular space via agencies, the ad-serving system still has to serve something -- and, at the moment, that something is generally cost-per-click advertising, which tends to be ugly and irrelevant, and doesn't actually earn much.
I'd like to try something different. We'll sell banners and skyscrapers directly at a very low CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Essentially, advertisers will buy a week's worth of impressions (we guarantee 60,000 but usually exceed that), with the caveat that those impressions will only be served when there is not a booked ad in that space. So you might get your week's worth over a week, or a month, depending on booked ads and how many others have auxillary ads running with us. No guarantees.
Obviously, it's not the solution if you're promoting a play or a gig or a launch, but it should be a good solution for branding over time. I'm hoping we can attract more ads that look like "us", both in terms of the nature of the business, and the quality of the advertising creative.
As an advertiser, you'd be responsible for providing that creative to the appropriate spec, but I'm happy to hear from third-party designers who can provide attractive, original ad creative at a modest price. (Designers are, naturally, welcome to create ads for their own businesses. That would be cool.)
As I said, the CPM rate is very low at present, which is the logical way to start. If you're interested, hit "Reply" below, and I'll forward your email to Renee, our salesperson. She also handles the small display ads on the site.
And, of course, if you'd like to explore conventional advertising, with its timely appearance guaranteed (banners, skyscrapers and text ads), you should contact Chloe at Scoop Media here.
Meanwhile, the video from this week's Media7 is online. This programme looks at the reporting of health and medicine -- and where the news media get it right, and wrong -- with Rae Lamb, a former Radio New Zealand heath correspondent and now the deputy health and disability commissioner; 3News reporter, and practising doctor, Lillian Ng; and former Auckland District Health Board chair Wayne Brown.
The big ondemand version is here, the Windows media clips of the show are here, the podcast is here and the YouTube channel will be updated any moment now.
3News has a launched a new website, which loads a great deal faster than the old one. The video is now in Flash format, rather than the former, increasingly broken, Windows Media. It's loading okay for me, but others are reporting stalls waiting for the stream to start.
Oh, and I've just resigned my Listener column. A couple more of them will appear, then that will be it. It's a little bit sad -- I've been filing copy under one heading or another for the last 17 years -- but also something of a relief.