“We must shift from an asset business to an audience business.” – AdNews, November 2nd, 2015
Advertising networks, like those with ad spots or billboard locations to sell, have long been an inventory business. More inventory (thus, the invention of the 22 minute TV show) and higher value inventory (ie, Times Square billboard) has been the recipe for growth. But in today’s multi-channel world with mobile and multi-tasking consumers, it may be less about inventory than it is about audiences. They may be able to quantify how many people walk through Picadilly Circus each day or would pump gas at a particular gas station during a particular month, but those aren’t audiences. Those are statistics.