Real Media Gets Vertical

The Real Media advertising network,
which, until now, has pursued a regional strategy, is announcing a new
vertical network structure.

Many of Real Media’s biggest US clients are newspaper sites The Los Angeles Times, Boston.com, The Chicago Sun-Times and Washingtonpost.com so the
company has focused on selling advertisers regionally-targeted
opportunities.

Now the company is creating eleven verticals sports,
travel, personal finance, small business, news and information,
multi-cultural, elite professionals, home and living, big events and
syndication to offer advertisers more options.

“We decided to expand our portfolio primarily as a result of advertiser
demand,” says Real Media chairman Dave Morgan. “Many were buying our local
network in vertical segments and they frequently requested vertical sites
that could match specific types of content or lifestyles.”

The company bills the move as a response to the success of its strategy in
Europe, but acknowledges that the vertical-oriented networks sold by
leaders like DoubleClick are
having an impact on advertisers.

“There’s no question that the market is being shaped by how the players are
acting in it,” says Morgan.

As part of the strategy, the company is trying to sign up new sites to join
these vertical networks, and it’s been restructuring its sales force to put
together packages of both regional and vertical opportunities.