Breaking from the standard models of online ad network and ad exchange, The Ad Database — a search engine that compiles online ad opportunities by cost, ad size, demographics and location — has recently launched.
Founder Dan Simmons explained that his goal is to provide a simple view of the ad inventory for marketers.
“I think the principal benefit will be for small and midsize businesses who are not yet savvy about online advertising,” he said. “[They can] get a feel for the online ad landscape without having to sign up or commit to an ad network without even knowing who their pubs were.”
The company does not serve or host ads and does not have a direct monetization model yet. “Longer-term, we’d like to find a niche for either ad agency media buyers or especially small businesses who like our no-frills approach.” Simmons explained.
The Ad Database is free for publishers to list information and for advertisers to search among — it currently has more than 1,000 publisher sites indexed including TheStreet.com, Wired and Ziff Davis.
Simmons and his team are compiling the database themselves based on publically available media kits, however publishers can enter and maintain their own information online via a self-serve back-end area.
“There are hundreds of ad networks out there that compete [with what we do], but many of them do not expressly list who their publishers are up front,” Simmons said.
