The leader in conducting internet researches - comScore, Inc. on Monday (April 27, 2009) released the results of a study of vertical ad networks, which target ads to specific audiences online according to demographic or category content. Vertical ad networks include entities such as Adify Media, Federated Media, Glam Media and Travel Ad Network, among numerous others.

The comScore study showed that the collective reach of vertical ad networks tracked by comScore has increased substantially in the past year, from 21.5 percent of the total U. S. Internet audience in March 2008 to 57.1 percent in March 2009.

"comScore research indicates that vertical ad networks are a growing phenomenon in the online advertising space, in part because of their ability to deliver engaged, targeted audiences. As more vertical ad networks prove their ability to effectively reach specific target audiences by aggregating mid-tail publisher sites, the industry will likely give greater consideration to these emerging ad delivery channels," said Lesle Litton, VP, Media at comScore.

The study revealed that vertical ad networks were effective in reaching people with significantly higher than average engagement in their respective content categories. Of the five segments studied, people reached by vertical ad networks spent at least 60 percent more time in those site categories than the average category visitor. For example, people reached in the Gaming segment spent 423 minutes per visitor on sites in that category, 123 percent higher than the average visitor.