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ESPN Turns Off Ad Nets to Protect Brand, Content

I’d bet there are some nervous ad sales managers & reps within ESPN’s interactive division.  Assuming ESPN is going to beef up their sales staff & efforts, as well as commit the resources necessary to determine the true value of their content, this could be successful.  Or, it could be something temporary like eBay’s hiatus from Google Adwords.  Anyway you look at it, there is considerable investment required to pull off something like this. 

• Premium brands with popular online destinations with plenty of unsold advertising inventory. 
• The desire to possess absolute control over the brand & price of inventory vs. the potential to make money off otherwise unsold space. 

Personally, I can’t imagine this working within the current interactive space’s economic climate.  The need to generate revenue now is vital. 

Not everyone interacts with all online content for extended periods of time.  Checking scores, power rankings, & injury updates do not take a whole lot of time.  And, similar to how they add analysts to pre-game & post-game shows, I notice more & more content going up on ESPN.  As their site grows, so does their available inventory.  In dealing with many different clients, I have come to learn that online media can be a hard sell.  Existing advertisers are not going to buy that much more space.  Even if they can sell all available inventory, can they target as well as the networks?  It doesn’t add up.

On the flip side, if ESPN & other top publishers succeed, it would certainly add a few more jobs across the board.  Agencies, publishers, & clients alike would all have to staff up to maintain such a focus on the digital world.  That would be good for the economy, wouldn’t it?