SITE: Different Advertisers Drive Online Spending

Tracking purchased impressions, Nielsen//NetRatings reports that the brunt of online ad buying is shifting, moving from intellectual property, like books, software, movies and music to telecommunications and services, such as online grocery ordering. A NetRatings representative told ClickZ that it indicates that online media is now large enough to be affected by shifts seen in the greater economy. But at the same time, the methodology for tracking paid banner impressions has always been weak, as many ads turn out to be either barter placements - where media companies trade ads - or sites exploiting affiliate arrangements, where they get a percentage of sales.

Both barter and affiliate ads are enormously weighted toward media properties and companies that sell intellectual property. Small shifts in the way "paid" ads are tracked can have industry tilting effects.

NetRatings will present its data today at AD:TECH, and MarketingVOX will pose the question the questions of whether or not the counting method has changed, or if not, if the implications have more to do with a shift in inventory allocation, rather than which industries are buying. The session will be fully covered on our AD:TECHblog.