Brands Move Down the Long Tail to Niche Nets

Summary: Brands try to reach consumers on smaller websites, such as fashion blogs, by trying out campaigns on focused ad networks. Ad agencies attempt to gather as many niche sites as possible to match their clients' needs.

First paragraphs:

When Levi Strauss launches a new online campaign next week, its ads will be found in the usual portals such as MSN and Yahoo. But the ads will also find their way to some new environments with names not well-known outside fashionista circles, sites like Kaboodle, SheFinds and Zafu.

Levi's is relying on a niche ad network distributed by Glam Media for a campaign running on about 200 small fashion sites. While Glam's 350 sites focus on fashion, other ad networks have popped up to cater to advertisers in niches large and small, from travel and auto enthusiasts to hard-core endurance athletes. The focused networks hope to capitalize on advertisers' desire to find niche audiences most likely to have an affinity for their products.

"There's going to be thousands of these," predicted Russ Fradin, CEO of Adify, a technology company that provides the infrastructure for three-dozen niche networks for gay, health-conscious, tech and other audiences. The company is powering networks for both individual entrepreneurs and established media companies like NBC Universal, Comcast and The Washington Post.

The mushrooming of networks focused on small sites, according to Samir Arora, CEO of Glam Media, is an inevitable spillover from the "de-portalization" of the Web as users visit dozens of sites tailored to their interests rather than a handful of broad destinations. Only networks can balance advertisers' need to reach these disparate audiences with advertisers' need for efficiency in buying media, he said.

Read the full article at AdWeek