Taylor Communications launches online division

Taylor Communications on Sept. 4 launched OzarksAdNet, a division focused on online banner advertising with local media.

Advertisers interested in the program contact OzarksAdNet, www.ozarksad

net.com, which places the company’s ads on participating Web sites. The program already has 25 participating media sites, including www.ky3.com, www.news-leader.com and www.sbj.net.

Traditional format

President David Taylor said the system functions in much the same way that advertising agencies have worked for decades with traditional media. The cost for the advertiser is identical to what the company would pay by going directly to the media outlet’s site, and the site owners pay an agency commission to OzarksAdNet in exchange for the service.

“I’m just bringing those buying tools and expertise to the very specific world of the Internet,” Taylor said.

Advertisers buy space per thousand ad impressions, which can be spread across all 25 member sites or sent to specific members that better reach the advertiser’s target audiences, Taylor said, adding that he expects up to 15 million ad impressions per month. Rates range from $6 to $20 per 1,000 impressions, depending on the media outlets selected.

Mark Gordon, general manager for TV stations KOLR and KSFX, said the agreement to add the stations’ online news presence, www.ozarksfirst.com, was a natural extension of Taylor’s existing business with the stations.

“I look at it the same as any other business he places (on our TV stations),” Gordon said. “We recognized that it could create more business.”

Net growth

Taylor is positioning his firm, which opened in 1991, to capitalize on a rapidly growing advertising outlet. A study released in August by national media research and private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson predicts that spending on Internet advertising, including digital extensions of traditional media, will surpass newspaper advertising as the nation’s largest ad medium with $62 billion in sales by 2011.

“I’ve talked with all the Web publishers (involved with OzarksAdNet), and their belief is that they will see high double-digit growth in their Web traffic” in coming years, Taylor said.

Gordon said that www.ozarksfirst.com already has experienced tremendous growth; the site, launched in January, boasts 3 million page views a month.

The Web sites of Clear Channel Communications’ Springfield radio stations also are showing growth.

Clear Channel Market Manager Paul Windisch said that 2007 numbers for both site traffic and Web revenue are double what they were in 2006, though he declined to disclose exact figures.

OzarksAdNet’s immediate plan is to focus on local advertisers and Web sites, but Taylor said the network could serve to boost impression numbers and attract regional or national advertisers.

Windisch said he has no problem with keeping the focus local.

“National companies have opportunities, on Yahoo! or Google, to get millions of hits across the country,” he said. “If a local advertiser who may not have a huge ad budget can get their logo or brand on several local sites with high traffic, it will be a benefit for the local advertiser and for us.”

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