Ad exchanges have been flooded with weather-adjacent display ad inventory this week as people sought out fresh information on Superstorm Sandy — first its onslaught and later its aftermath. But just how big was this weather event from an ad volume standpoint?
Pretty huge, according to data provided to AdExchanger by Media6degrees and presented in the charts below. Exchange-based inventory on three of the biggest weather sites – Weather.com, Accuweather.com, and Wunderground.com — was already climbing steadily as of Thursday Oct 25. Volume increased through the weekend and peaked on Sunday/Monday as the brunt of the storm hit the East Coast in New Jersey. On Monday Oct 29, Weather.com experienced a nearly 7,000% increase in in ad volume compared to the previous Monday, as observed by Media6degrees. Accuweather.com and Wunderground.com saw far smaller increases of 195% and 21% on that day, respectively. The intense growth in ad traffic on all three sites subsided considerably on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Of these three sites, Weather.com was the major beneficiary in terms of growth in RTB ad impressions measured by Media6degrees. That’s consistent with self-reported data The Weather Company shared with us earlier this week.
Meanwhile CPMs did not change appreciably on any of the three websites, according to Alec Greenberg, Media6degrees’s VP Media Operations.
WEATHER.COM
| DATE | 7-DAY LIFT | PREV. DAY LIFT |
| Thu Oct 25 | 1327% | 1528% |
| Fri Oct 26 | 3187% | 173% |
| Sat Oct 27 | 2166% | -40% |
| Sun Oct 28 | 3748% | 83% |
| Mon Oct 29 | 6719% | 197% |
| Tue Oct 30 | 3200% | -71% |
| Wed Oct 31 | 827% | -78% |
ACCUWEATHER.COM
| DATE | 7-DAY LIFT | PREV. DAY LIFT |
| Thu Oct 25 | 49% | 24% |
| Fri Oct 26 | 59% | -2% |
| Sat Oct 27 | 198% | -1% |
| Sun Oct 28 | 333% | 67% |
| Mon Oct 29 | 195% | 52% |
| Tue Oct 30 | 43% | -56% |
| Wed Oct 31 | -22% | -41% |
WUNDERGROUND.COM
| DATE | 7-DAY LIFT | PREV. DAY LIFT |
| Thu Oct 25 | 63% | 14% |
| Fri Oct 26 | 69% | 12% |
| Sat Oct 27 | 163% | 75% |
| Sun Oct 28 | 134% | 9% |
| Mon Oct 29 | 21% | -43% |
| Tue Oct 30 | -10% | -42% |
| Wed Oct 31 | -31% | -15% |
Source: Media6degrees
