Is ESPN.com Booting (Some) Ad Networks?

Michael Learmonth | March 24, 2008 10:34 AM

espnlogo.jpgESPN.com told MediaWeek it is dropping its third-party ad networks, including Specific Media and several others left unnamed. "We're heading down a path where it no longer suits our business needs to work with ad networks," says sales exec Eric Johnson.

But ESPN (DIS) didn't say whether its cutting ties with one of the world's biggest: AOL's Quigo (TWX), which claims ESPN.com as one of its highest-profile clients. As of this morning, Quigo was still selling ESPN.com inventory.

ESPN would understandably like the world to believe that it has no cut-rate or remnant ad inventory -- or that its brand is so pristine that letting ad networks sell on its site will sully its reputation. But unless the company is going to drop all third-party networks, it's hard to take that argument seriously.

 

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4 Comments

Me said:
The whole point of ESPN using Quigo was so that it could charge a premium. Quigo is a premium network.
Jack said:
There's a big difference between allocating space at the end of articles for text links, which every publisher does, and running a 728 x 90 leaderboard on the top of your page pushing University of Phoenix. Not sure why they are making the move but I would bet it has something to do with the exchanges.
In the know... said:
What it has to do with is the $100 million order one of the booted networks got from a major car company. ESPN and other "name brand" sites are more than a bit miffed that what they think of as "their" money went to some "low-class" network. As in most cases, follow the money.
As Vice President of Marketing at Specific Media, I felt compelled to submit a brief clarification regarding the reference to the ESPN Specific Media relationship. Specific Media has not had a business relationship with ESPN since 2005. The statements the Mediaweek writer made regarding ESPN recently dropping Specific Media are simply not true. Our two organizations have not even spoken about doing business together at all in the past few years. It is unfortunate that this Mediaweek article was reprinted considering the inaccuracy of this information.

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