With 25 user contributions each minute and more than 8 million submitted traveler photos, Trip Advisor is the acknowledged leader in the travel recommendation space. Now, the site is attempting to become a leading destination for Canadian advertisers.
The travel site formally launched its Canadian sales office in January and recently debuted what it claims is a first for the travel advertising industry with its “delayed ad call” technology.
TripAdvisor’s Canadian sales were formerly handled out of the company’s Boston office, but increasing advertiser interest led it to establish the Canadian office led by digital ad sales veteran Laura Fischer, who previously handled sales for NHL.com and CTV Digital Media.
TripAdvisor.ca has been growing steadily, said Fischer, and is currently attracting an estimated 3 million unique visitors and delivering more than 100 million ad impressions each month.
“The business was growing at such a fast speed that they decided they needed to have a native Canadian manage the business – someone that knows the market and has worked in it for a while,” said Fischer, whose formal title is sales manager, Canada.
The introduction of the “delayed ad call” technology is intended to increase clients’ confidence in the value of display advertising said TripAdvisor. The technology works by only making an ad call to the server when a user arrives at a point on a TripAdvisor page where the ad unit is in view.
According to a 2012 study by AdSafe Media, half of all ads bought directly on publisher sites are never seen by the user; that number jumps to 60% when considering ads purchased via networks and exchanges.
TripAdvisor’s intent is to ensure that advertising clients only ever pay for ads that are in view, said Fischer. “This is bringing huge value for advertisers, who are only paying for ads that are seen by a user,” she said.
Fischer acknowledged that TripAdvisor has lost “a certain amount” of inventory with the introduction of the technology, but said the payoff is increased advertiser confidence in the site. “The move to do this was really to make sure we were delivering real value to our advertisers,” she said. “Not only are they in the context, but their ads are actually being seen.”
TripAdvisor has not increased its ad rates as a result of the new technology, said Fischer. “It’s just an advantage of advertising with the site,” she said.
The technology has been endorsed by IAB Canada, with president Chris Williams saying it offers the potential for “extremely high viewability metrics.” Added Williams: “The IAB Canada applauds any developments that lead to higher return on media investment through better metrics.”
While TripAdvisor appeals to what Fischer calls “endemic” clients like airlines, hotels and resorts, it is popular with other clients including automotive, telco and financial services she said.
TripAdvisor was launched in 2000 as part of the Expedia family before being spun off as a separate unit in 2011. TripAdvisor.ca was launched in 2009.
