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Continental Airlines to Sell Ads on Continental.com

Continental Airlines plans to begin selling ad space on its website.

The airline company signed a deal with Winstar Interactive Media to sell advertising on Continental.com. The two entities hope the airline’s reach - 10 million unique monthly users - will be appealing to marketers. The move is an extension of other media platforms - such as in-flight magazines and in-flight video - which Continental offers to advertisers during the trip itself, the companies say [pdf].

Winstar will also be able to facilitate integrated exposure into those other media platforms.

According to the U.S. Travel Association, at least 76 percent of all U.S. travelers are using the internet to make travel plans. Frequent travelers are even more likely to make their travel plans online.

“This is an ideal opportunity for advertisers to put their marketing message directly in front of a valuable and highly targeted audience,” says Winstar Interactive CEO Adam Guild.

Winstar Interactive also sells internet advertising for Fodors.com, NASDAQ.com and Zagat.com, among others.

Airline passengers are a “captive group of upscale consumers,” according to the Airline Advertising Bureau (the advertising sales agent for United Airlines). In addition to being frequent business travelers, this audience skews toward levels of upper management that make and influence important business decisions every day.

It is also an audience that consumes products from select categories at disproportionately high levels, the AAB says. These categories include fine wine and spirits, restaurant meals, theater tickets (movie and stage), financial products, books, emerging high-tech products, hotel nights, rental cars and real estate. The audience has an unusually high amount of discretionary income, buys luxury cars, owns second homes, plays golf and is active in his/her community to a greater degree than are average adults.