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A little while back [x+1] launched a release in regards to Media+1 growing 8X in Q4 2008. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to catch up with Ted Shergalis, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of [x+1] in order to get insight on Media+1. Check out our conversation below.
[Manoj]: Please give our readers a quick background on Media+1 and how it ties back to [x+1]
[Ted Shergalis]: Marketers are trying to reach specific audiences when they purchase online display advertising. Media+1 helps marketers reach the right audience for the right price by micro-targeting audience segments and predicting their value. With Media+1, marketers are able to more efficiently spend their media dollars and improve the efficiency of the media they purchase.
Media+1 is powered by [x+1]’s proprietary Predictive Optimization Engine (POE™). POE™ identifies attributes correlated with positive response to a marketer’s advertising, such as household income, time of day, the type of content read online, and past product exposure, and uses this information to generate target audience profiles. POE™ then forecasts audience size and value and allocates spending accordingly. This price optimization analysis enables marketers to buy only those segments with proven performance, and to create a campaign that dynamically refines targeting over time. While traditional solutions employ simple behavioral and contextual targeting, Media+1 creates customized audience segments for each client based on responses to its specific advertising. This sophisticated analytical approach optimizes media delivery producing the maximum ROI for every campaign.
Media+1 is one part of [x+1]’s comprehensive solutions platform. Just as Media+1 uses predictive analytics to determine that the right advertisement is delivered to the right person at the right time (and at the right price), Site+1 and Search+1 use predictive analytics to determine that the right content—on a homepage, landing page, or search page—is delivered to the right person at the right time.
[Manoj]: How did Media+1 experience an 8X growth in Q4 2008 amidst the global recession?
[Ted Shergalis]: As CEOs and CFOs demand that CMOs get more efficient and effective with tightening marketing budgets, performance marketing has been somewhat insulated from the global recession. Overall marketing budgets have been cut and as a result performance marketing has had to work harder. Media+1 is the premier performance marketing platform for online display advertising and has therefore benefited from this trend.
[Manoj]: How important is it to accurately segment and target media campaigns before launching them?
[Ted Shergalis]: Accurate segmentation and targeting, coupled with the knowledge of how much ad exposure to each audience segment is worth, can drastically improve the efficiency of a digital media campaign. In many cases, an optimized campaign will realize 95% of conversions by serving only 40% of impressions. Media+1 both pre-segments audiences before campaigns are launched and dynamically refines segmentation as campaigns run to ensure accurate and effective targeting.
[Manoj]: What are your plans for 2009 in terms of improvements for Media+1?
[Ted Shergalis]: We’re very excited to be releasing a number of new additions to the [x+1] solutions set over the next few quarters. We’re keeping things under wraps for now, but expect improved tools for managing and optimizing media campaigns to be forthcoming in Q3 2009.
[Manoj]: What kind of target audience is Media+1 designed for?
[Ted Shergalis]: Media+1 is perfect for both marketers and advertising agencies looking to optimize their digital media spending. Anyone who wants to get more from less and sees the value of data and analytics to speak to each of their unique customers segments with a targeted, relevant and authentic voice will love Media+1.
how is this better than similar services DoubleClick and Avenue A provide? Can you share a comparison?
Our solution rides on top of DoubleClick and Avenue A ad serving solutions. Advertisers and agencies continue to use their preferred media buying, planning and serving solutions and Media+1 provides advanced segmentation and targeting.
We found there is tons of data that is being left unanalyzed within existing systems and Media+1 unlocks its power with predictive modeling and optimization to determine which users, sites, sections, time of day, day of week, frequency, etc. are the most likely to convert and also calculates the optimal price to pay for each ad impression.