5 Things you didn’t know about online advertising

Online advertising is a growing business – it’s estimated to be a $15 billion industry. That’s larger than the TV advertising industry by leaps and bounds! I’m the lead digital strategist at Digiboost, which works with small businesses and SaaS startups in San Antonio. I’ve learned a lot about digital advertising in a short period. There are a few secrets that most don’t know.

Google’s Largest Advertising Network in the World

Google’s become the largest advertising platform in the world. They control not only Google Search Ads, YouTube Video ads, but have millions of websites using Google Adsense. Through the Adsense platform, I’m able to place digital billboards across thousands of sites based on audience demographics and retargeting.

Most Advertising is done through AIs

Programmatic advertising is the process where AIs buy and sell ad space through real-time bidding. Most online ads are done through this process. Humans simply load the ads into the software like Google and let the computer match your ads with the best person. Little is done after the graphics are designed, and the ads are uploaded. Advertisers still have lots of optimzations, reporting, and strategy todo, but most of the small repetative tasks are done with robots.

Ad Networks provide hyper targeting

We are all aware that every site is tracking us with a series of cookies, but what you don’t know is how in-depth these platforms can get. In most networks, your ability to filter based on users’ interests, income levels, job titles, gender, and even what websites you’ve visited before. What’s even more targeting, is advertisers can upload your information (email, phone numbers, and names) to platforms like Facebook and Google. Then advertisers can match your information to an audience where you can run ads for that list of people.

Small Businesses spend on average of $9,000 to $10,000 a month on digital ads

Digital advertising is a big business. Still, you’d be surprised that most small businesses spend between $9,000 and $10,000 a month on digital advertising. Most of this is spent on Google and Facebook, but other small networks sometimes get money put towards them.

There are other networks other than Facebook and Google

There are different platforms other than Facebook and Google out there. Linkedin, Twitter, Buy Sell Ads, Carbon Ads, AdRoll, and more are some of the smaller but more robust ad networks online. LinkedIn and Twitter are social networks but also run their own ad networks to buy ads within their walled gardens. Buy Sell Ads, Carbon Ads, and Ad Roll all allow you to advertise on websites online, similarly to Google’s Display network.