Print Media1/28/08
Post on 28 January, 2008 by Justin Moresco Break, a popular web site for young men, launched on Monday three related sites and formed an advertising network with other web publishers aimed at 18- to 34-year-old males, a highly sought-after demographic group. Break and its new sister sites - Cage Potato, Chickipedia, and Holy Taco - are unabashedly for young men. Break offers games and hosts videos and photos, much of it user-posted and appealing to its target audience. "We help solve a fundamental problem for marketers - how to achieve mass reach in an integrated fashion to a hard-to-reach demographic," said Keith Richman, chief executive of the newly formed Break Media, which includes the web properties and new ad network. Chickipedia seeks to be a repository of user-generated information about famous female celebrities, and Holy Taco is a men's lifestyle blog. Gordon Borrell, chief executive of research firm Borrell Associates, said any online ad network that successfully captures the 18-34 demographic should be popular with advertisers because these men are so hard to target using traditional media. He said their attention span is short, and they don't listen to the radio or read newspapers. When they do watch TV, he said, they often use a digital video recorder to skip ads. Break said its ad network gets 25 million unique North American visitors per month, a large number that could not be verified by comScore. But there are 42.5 million U.S. males between 15 and 34, according to SRC statistics, meaning - if Break's numbers are correct - the new ad network is attracting more than 58 percent of the demographic. That's unlikely, said Mr. Borrel. "Often, these networks add together the unique visitors from each of the sites represented and come up with a big number that's not unique at all," he wrote in an email. And Break will have more than accurately counting unique visitors to contend with. IDC analyst Karsten Weide said Break will face stiff competition in attracting ad dollars. "There are a lot of ad networks that are bigger and that can target the demographic," said Mr. Weide. He said AOL, Advertising.com, and Specific Media were better placed for advertisers focused on 18 to 35 year olds. In addition to Break's own sites, 12 others - focused on gaming, finance, comedy and sports - have joined the ad network. They include Fretplay, LifeOnTop, The Bachelor Guy, BubbleBox, and MMOABC. Entertainment company Lions Gate is an investor in Break. |
New Ad Network Targets Young Men