NEW YORK, Nov. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Online publishers who use audience extension expect their revenues from this practice to at least double in the next 12 months. Moreover, digital ad buyers increasingly leverage the technique as a substitute for ad networks to assure that their brand advertising is associated with premium content. These are just two key findings from an extensive study of audience extension conducted by Digiday and commissioned by Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL).

Findings from the full study – based on insights provided by 678 brand, agency, and publishing players in the increasingly automated world of digital advertising – were presented at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Miami Beach. The full white paper may be downloaded here: http://rocketfuel.com/industryoverview.

Audience extension, a term coined by Forrester in 2010, describes the process of using programmatic advertising techniques to allow marketers to buy ad inventory targeted to a particular publisher's premium site audience elsewhere on the Internet. Nine out of ten publishers who practice audience extension cited several positive impacts on their revenue, including winning more money on proposals (46%), winning new business (42%), keeping business that would have otherwise been lost (38%), and meeting campaign goals that were otherwise unattainable (36%).

Summary of findings:

• Of the more than 300 publishers who participated in the study, 90% are aware of audience extension, and 50% offer it to their advertisers. Of those publishers who do offer audience extension, the majority has been doing so for more than two years.
• The practice is growing rapidly; 29% of participating publishers say they've started offering audience extension just within the last year.
• Audience extension is most effective when responding to a request for data-driven, audience-based buys, or when additional reach is needed to meet an advertiser's campaign goals.
• 38% of publishers surveyed expect to offer audience extension in campaign proposals either "always" or "often" over the next year.
• One in four (26%) of publishers surveyed ask higher CPMs for audience extension campaigns, as compared with their on-site inventory – a more common practice for large publishers.
• More than half (55%) of ad buyers surveyed have partnered with a publisher offering audience extension in the past, with two-thirds rating their experience as either "good" or "excellent." 58% thus regard audience extension favorably.
• Advertisers are not only likely to use extension if presented to them, but more than a third (37%) are more likely to allocate more budget to publishers offering audience extension solutions.
• Advertisers tend to associate extension buys with reaching a unique audience in a high-quality, brand-safe environment—albeit one that offers greater audience customization and reach. When evaluating a proposal that includes audience extension, brand safety is still the top concern among advertisers, followed by concern over the likelihood that extended inventory will provide the same performance as premium-content site inventory.

Among a range of programmatic media campaign allocations for 2014, including retargeting platforms, private exchanges, DSPs, networks and premium content sites, audience extension ranked highest for 2014 investments in tactics targeted for increased spending by participating advertisers.

ABOUT DIGIDAYDigiday is a media company and community for professionals who work in the digital media, marketing, and advertising industry. Its mission is to connect that industry with insightful analysis and perspective, as well as each other. It provides key insights and unbiased information through its online publications and conferences that cover the changes and trends shaping digital media – and why they matter. Digiday's focus is on quality, not quantity, and honesty instead of spin. For more information, visit Digiday.com.

ABOUT AUDIENCE ACCELERATORRocket Fuel's Audience Accelerator group provides full-service audience extension capabilities, customer support, analytics and insights. Rocket Fuel delivers a leading programmatic media-buying platform at Big Data scale that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to improve marketing ROI in digital media across web, mobile, video, and social channels. Rocket Fuel powers digital advertising and marketing programs globally for customers in North America, Europe, and Japan. Customers use Rocket Fuel's Advertising That Learns® platform to achieve brand and direct-response objectives in diverse industries from luxury cars to groceries to retail. Rocket Fuel currently operates in 19 offices worldwide including New York, London, Paris, and Hamburg.

CONTACT: Emily Wilcox, (646) 448-4962, emily@digiday.com

SOURCE Digiday

RELATED LINKShttp://www.digiday.com