Online advertising representation network UpTrend Media is trying to tighten its hold on the Canadian female demo by partnering with more niche indie sites. Last week UpTrend hooked up with fashion and beauty website Stylehog.com, and children’s directory HelpWeveGotKids.com.
Duke McKenzie, president of Toronto-based UpTrend, says it’s trying to follow the changes in media consumption by women 18 to 44, and he believes they are attracted to independent publishers like Stylehog.com, which is created by Toronto-based stylist Julia Seidl, launched in June 2008 and has about 20,000 unique visitors per month.
‘Now we’re finding that Canadian women are very hard to reach. The traffic on traditional sites has been very stagnant,’ says McKenzie. But there’s a small evolution in Canadian publishing as indie sites, because of their rich, targeted content, are gaining a devoted core audience, he tells MiC. Another surge in popularity is mom sites like HelpWeveGotKids.com, which lists a directory for Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary, and gets about 15,000 unique visits per month.
‘Even though their audiences are very small, they’re extremely passionate. When we put media on there it performs significantly well,’ he says, adding that the ads on smaller sites can have three or four times the click-through rates of larger ones. Attracting larger advertisers in turn helps the smaller sites compete – UpTrend saw LaineyGossip.com burgeon from small beginnings into a 600,000-visitors-per-month site. It also works with American clients like CBS.com and TheStyleSpy.com.
The online advertising industry in Canada is worth more than $1.2 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada.
