Here’s our report for the biggest Display advertisers in Q2 2015. (see Q1 here)
#1: Zulily.com
Background:Zulily is a daily deals clothing site targeted mainly at women. Zulily hit $1.2B in sales in 2014 and shows no signs of slowing down.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $15.8M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Taboola, Casale
- Top 3 Publishers: playbuzz.com, blogspot.com, simplyrecipes.com
Top Ad:
#2: Fidelity.com
Background: Fidelity is one of the largest mutual fund and financial service providers in the world.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $10.4M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Direct Buy, Google, 24/7 Media
- Top 3 Publishers: msn.com, kiplinger.com, fool.com
Top Ad:
#3: VerizonWireless.com
Background: Verizon Wireless is one of the largest wireless companies in the United States. They advertise on Display with multiple domains. This particular domain sends traffic to landing pages advertising their wireless phone service for small businesses.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $8.9M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Direct Buy, Google, Advertising.com
- Top 3 Publishers: moviefone.com, huffingtonpost.com, answers.com
Top Ad:
#4: HP.com
Background: Hewlett-Packard manufactures computers, laptops and other electronic devices/software.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $8.8M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Direct Buy, Turn
- Top 3 Publishers: wimp.com, reshareworthy.com, ehow.com
Top Ad:
#5: Chevrolet.com
Background: Chevrolet is an American car manufacturer.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $7.2M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Advertising.com, Direct Buy, Google
- Top 3 Publishers: ehow.com, msn.com, huffingtonpost.com
Top Ad:
#6: Weebly.com
Background: Weebly.com is a web-hosting service that offers a drag-and-drop website builder.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $7.1M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Direct Buy, TribalFusion
- Top 3 Publishers: survley.com, monster.com, salon.com
Top Ad:
#7: Lifelock.com
Background: Lifelock is an online identity protection service. We covered their Display advertising strategy in detail in a previous blog post.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $3.8M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Advertising.com, Direct Buy
- Top 3 Publishers: chacha.com, reshareworthy.com, guff.com
Top Ad:
#8: Amazon.com
Background: Amazon.com is the largest eCommerce site in the world.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $3.6M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Direct Buy, BingAds
- Top 3 Publishers: yidio.com, goodreads.com, answers.com
Top Ad:
#9: Norton.com
Background: Norton has been one of the biggest distributors and creators of anti-virus software since the beginning of time.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $6.1M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Conversant, Direct Buy, TribalFusion
- Top 3 Publishers: discovery.com, survley.com
Top Ad:
#10: LowerMyBills.com
Background: LowerMyBills is a lead generation advertiser focused on mortgage refinance, auto insurance and life insurance.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $3.6M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, AOL Sponsored Listings, Outbrain
- Top 3 Publishers: zimbio.com, leanrightamerica.org, wedmd.com
Top Ad:
#11: Google.com
Background: Google needs no explanation.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $4M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Direct Buy, TribalFusion
- Top 3 Publishers: answers.com, chacha.com, androidcentral.com
Top Ad:
#12: Answers.com
Background: Answers.com is a crowdsourced Q&A platform. It appears they’re running large scale ad arbitrage campaigns through Native Ad Networks.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $3.6M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Outbrain, Taboola, Yahoo Gemini Native
- Top 3 Publishers: bleacherreport.com, ew.com, radio.com
Top Ad:
#13: Verizon.com
Background: Verizon.com is another domain Verizon uses to advertise their products. This particular domain sends traffic to pages selling their Verizon FiOS internet service.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $5.6M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Advertising.com, Google, Direct Buy
- Top 3 Publishers: aol.com, huffingtonpost.com, yahoo.com
Top Ad:
#14: BestBuy.com
Background: Best Buy is one of the largest online + brick & mortar electronics retailers in the United States.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $5.1M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Advertising.com, Direct Buy
- Top 3 Publishers: bizrate.com, macrumors.com, petapixel.com
Top Ad:
#15: TheCrux.com
Background: TheCrux.com is a financial news publisher similar to The Motley Fool.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $5M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Taboola, Google, Yahoo Gemini Native
- Top 3 Publishers: yahoo.com, weather.com, go.com
Top Ad:
#16: AmericanExpress.com
Background: American Express sells financial services, specifically credit cards and debit cards.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $4.8M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Direct Buy, Advertising.com
- Top 3 Publishers: msn.com, ebay.com, bankrate.com
Top Ad:
#17: MLB.com
Background: MLB.com is the official site of Major League Baseball.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $4.6M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Direct Buy, Pulsepoint
- Top 3 Publishers: go.com, livesoccertv.com, yardbarker.com
Top Ad:
#18: Target.com
Background: Target is a large department store and online eCommerce shop.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $4.6M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Direct Buy, MediaMath, Google
- Top 3 Publishers: babycenter.com, weather.com, cafemom.com
Top Ad:
#19: LiveCellResearch.com
Background: Live Cell Research is a nutraceutical company that specializes in anti-aging supplements. Their two main products are “Niagan” and “Krill Oil”.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $4.4M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Google, Adblade, rev:content
- Top 3 Publishers: zimbio.com, tickld.com, answers.com
Top Ad:
#20: Fool.com
Background: Fool.com is the official site of The Motley Fool, a financial news site.
- Estimated Q2 Ad Spend: $4M
- Top 3 Traffic Sources: Taboola, Outbrain, Google
- Top 3 Publishers: yahoo.com, weather.com, go.com
Top Ad:
I am guessing Direct Buy is the best place to buy some advertising from as I see it on most of their Traffic Sources list?1
I read all your articles and fully appreciate them. This one is outstanding. Thank you.
thank you so much Mike for dropping these jewels on me. I really appreciate this.
Thanks Mike/Brad – very helpful. Looking at this from the publisher side – how would you advise publishers to court those direct buys?
Hey RT,
One way is to look at who advertises on publishers similar to your own site. If you know a certain advertiser spends a fair amount with a someone similar, you can be pretty sure this specific audience works for them. You can point that out and make a pretty good case for why they should buy ads on your site as well, assuming you have a similar audience.
Thanks for your comment!
Appreciate the reply, good tip! Keep up the great blog posts!
Hey Mike and Brad, I appreciate you sharing this invaluable info. Always delivering
high quality value.
I need your help in terms of traffic sources and maybe publishers who may
be great for an ecommerce store selling gemstones and gemstones jewelry.
I’m starting out and the client for the ecommerce store are my first and
would love to boost sales and revenue.
I was thinking of trying out with Facebook, advertising.com, yahoo stream
ads and revcontent.I was also thinking of doing Direct buy in my industry. How can I know the ideal publisher for my market(gemstones and gemstone jewelries). Obviously, the audience of such a publisher has to be a high-income audiences and a host of other ways that can ensure that I only attract high quality buyers to the ecommerce store.
Your guidance would be much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Kevin
Hey Kevin,
Great question.
The best way is to analyze what your competitors are doing. Specifically, find out which networks, publishers, ad copy, landing page styles, etc. are working best for them. You then model your strategy off of what they’re already doing. You can get this information by looking at who advertises on sites where your target market hangs out — or by using a competitive intelligence tool like Adbeat.
Thanks for your comment!
Brad