Analysis of Internet Advertising resources using Tetra Threat Framework

Tetra Threat Framework

The Tetra Threat Model was proposed by Ghemawat. It tries to identify what factors are significant in each threat category and how their impact can be reduced. This model was selected to identify what are the threats to the business as it grows and tries to sustain itself among the other forms of advertising media. It is valuable to analyse internet advertising using this model to look into what impact each threat category has on the business.

Threat of Imitation

This occurs due to the possibility of copying of the competitive advantage sources by the rival firm. The business model for online advertising is susceptible to imitation. Similar architectures can be used by competitors for their advantage. The resources required to imitate is blocked by the resource and knowledge investment required to be made. The economies of scale forces can also deter imitation as the mechanism becomes more efficient and profitable when used for large repository of websites and per website effort goes down. Due to the expertise in various areas like server technology, cloud offerings etc., the scope economies also deter the imitation of web advertising efforts

Threat of Substitution

The substitution of the anti-malware practices at Google and Microsoft is lowering in importance as the audience gets more receptive about online protection. The supply side volumes keep on increasing as more and more websites are put for review. It has a direct correlation to the popularity of the platform. There is a strong demand side pressure from publishers and other ad networks which want to display ads serviced by the publishers. There is a broad focus on catching all kinds of malware attacks through the online advertisement vector. Also the offering is for all kinds of customer groups.

Threat of Slack

The threat of slack appears when the resources of the web advertising system are left idle and not used to their full capacity. This may happen due to the bottlenecks in the system e.g. the system waits for user intervention, manual reviews, publisher to make changes to the website, waiting for the publisher to respond to a system generated request etc. Slack may also occur if the hardware committed to the system is not utilized to its full potential. Slack can be blocked by increasing the frequency in which the scans are run, increasing the depth of scanning of websites, integration of scoring from automated systems, allowing to factor in the finding of independent malware protection sites, reducing dependency in manual review by automation, SLA for publisher or advertiser responses after which some default action can be initiated etc.

Threat of Holdup

This threat can occur when the key resources of the system can be held up by other stakeholders without adding to the productivity and possibly in a loss for the whole system.  The threat is low at the supply side as all the ads created in the system are candidates for an automated review process. In the demand side, holdup can occur when the primary consumers of ads i.e. the publishers and other ad networks prefer competitor offerings compared to Ad Center and apply pressure to control prices, influence policies etc. This can be blocked by signaling research initiatives and significant online protection advantage by building strategic partnerships by industry leaders in malware protection, alliance with online malware clearing houses, gathering public trust by publicizing these initiatives etc.