Dennis Interactive publishes around 20 magazines and 30 websites across motoring, technology, lifestyle, and current affairs verticals. They sell advertising solutions to clients through media agencies. Their key websites are a platform for advertising but are also user-centric. To make online advertising pay, Dennis focuses on delivering value to clients and agencies, developing relationships, always delivering on campaigns, using targeted but scaleable pricing, and diversifying their market segments. While CPM models are declining, the future may involve new models like cost per engagement, influence, or eyeball-minutes. Dennis will need to diversify but also manage large risks from premium solutions, user data harvesting, and demand side platforms.

1. Free and easy How Dennis Interactive makes ad-funded websites pay

2. Hi, I’m Paul Lomax What does Dennis do? How do we make ads work? But aren’t CPMs dead? What about the future?

3. What does Dennis do?

4. We publish around 20 magazines and 30 websites In motoring, technology, lifestyle and current affairs verticals

5. We publish around 20 magazines and 30 websites In motoring, technology, lifestyle and current affairs verticals

6. We sell advertising solutions to clients via media agencies In motoring, technology, lifestyle and current affairs verticals

7. Our key websites are a platform for advertising (But that doesn’t mean they’re not user-centric)

8. How does Dennis make online advertising pay?

9. #1 Make the agency look good Make sure your site is the ‘no brainer’ on the media plan

10. #2 Offer value (added, or otherwise)

11. #3 Befriend the client (without pissing off the agency)

12. #4 Always deliver. Always. (and don’t be a pain in the arse)

13. Targeting requires a balance #5 (scale isn’t a dirty word)

14. #6 Competitive pricing (whilst maintaining yields)

15. #7 Beware backfill (although consider it for international traffic)

16. #8 Don’t compete on demographics (You’ve got ABC1 males 35-55? Great, so has Facebook)

17. #9 Shape your traffic (it’s about context, not just target audience)

18. #10 Diversify market segments (hopefully it’ll level things out)

19. But aren’t CPMs dead?

20. For display advertising: Cost per click? No. Cost per engagement? No. Cost per action (lead/sale)? No. Cost per influence? Cost per eyeball-minute?

21. What is the future for the free and ad-funded model?

22. Risk of premium solutions becoming the base-line Behavioural targeting

23. Risk from demand side platforms Eroding barriers to entry

24. Risk from 3rd party data harvesting Cutting out the middleman

25. Hybrid models “not ruling anything out”

26. Of course we need to diversify (but it’s either sprats and mackerels or massive risk)

27. “Quality journalism has to be paid for” Can capturing user data be payment in kind?

28. Thank you http://twitter.com/paullomax paul_lomax@dennis.co.uk