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What is an Ad Server?

Ad servers are the systems that automate the request, bidding, and serving of those ads as well as the reporting on the performance of the campaigns executed. Within the ad server realm, there are 2 types: first and third party ad servers.

Because the goals of publishers and advertisers are so different, the first and third party ad servers were created to support each one of their unique needs. Whereas publishers required an ad server that could maximize and optimize yield for their given amount of traffic, advertisers/agencies require an ad server that conduct effective buys for the advertising dollars spent. Although there are some inherent similarities, there are some key differences between first and third party ad servers.

First-Party Ad Servers	Third-Party Ad Servers
Used by a publisher’s ad ops department to manage an advertiser’s campaigns on the publisher’s own website.	Used by advertisers and agencies to store and manage ad codes, and to deliver, track, and interpret the results of ad campaigns shown on publishers’ websites.
Simplifies the process of managing ads and allows publishers to directly sell ad slots to advertisers.	Verifies certain metrics (e.g. impressions and clicks) from campaign data provided by publishers.
Decides which creative assets (from an ad network or third-party ad server) should be displayed in an ad slot based on audience targeting data if no direct campaigns are being run.	Optimizes creative by testing various ads used in a campaign. (Targeting and ad tags are still loaded by first-party ad servers.)

How Does a First Party Ad Server Work?

How Does a Third Party Ad Server Work?

Features of Ad Servers

• Ad creative upload: Supports all standard creative sizes and formats, such as text, image, video, animation, audio, games, interactive, native, rich media, in-app, mobile and others.
• Campaign scheduling: Determines the dates by which the campaign has to run.
• Automatic optimization: Chooses the best performing ads and serves more of those.
• Delivery speed: Determines how often impressions are delivered (evenly or as fast as possible). Location-based targeting: Targets by country, state, province, metro area, city, zip code, language.
• Technical targeting: Delivers ads to the web, mobile, tablet or TV screens and offers various operating system and cross-device targeting.
• Time targeting: Schedules ads to a specific time of the day when users are most active. Socio-demographic targeting: Focuses on age, language, gender, nationality, income, employment status, etc.
• Behavioral targeting: Targets consumers by their online behavior, search history and interests.
• Retargeting: Analyzes consumer engagement with the brand in the past and displays the ad to draw more attention and trigger more interaction such as clicking, subscribing and purchasing.
• SEO: Allows bidding on keywords and ensures ads appear on search engine results pages.
• Creative sequencing: Allows setting a specific order for ads to appear, usually under the same creative concept.
• Frequency capping: Controls how many times the ad is shown to the same user and limits it to the number of impressions per hour, day or a specified period.
• Ad tracking: Monitors whether the creative content is generating desired results and the proper traffic of ads happens and guarantees the advertising content is shown in front of intended audiences in the correct time and place.
• Reporting: Offers real-time, dashboard, notification alert, custom reports and provides granular reports on clicks, impressions, costs, ROI and eCPI.

Notable First Party Ad Servers

• Google Ad Manager (Previously Google DFP)
• OpenX
• Broadstreet

Notable Third Party Ad Servers

• DoubleClick Campaign Manager (Display and Video 360)
• Sizmek

Sources

• https://blog.ad-juster.com/how-to-choose-the-right-ad-server-plus-10-ad-servers-reviewed/
• https://clearcode.cc/blog/what-is-an-ad-server/
• https://martech.zone/what-is-an-ad-server/
• https://smartyads.com/blog/what-is-an-ad-server/

Money has no grey areas. You either make it or you lose it.
— Kevin O’Leary

What are Publishers?

The term “Publisher” can refer to a variety of things. It can refer to the company the publishes the musical album of a singer or songwriter. It can refer to a company that publishes books for writers. But in the world of ad tech, publishers refer to those individuals or companies that create digital content which online visitors can consume. The publisher is the ultimate end goal for brands. Advertisers go through the many loops that are agencies, DSPs, SSPs, ad exchanges, etc. just to get to the publishers. Whereas brands want to get the biggest bang for their advertising dollars by spending on the best quality publishers and targeting the right user at the right time, publishers are interested in maximizing yield while maintaining site quality.

Goals of a Publisher

• Maximize revenue yield for the given amount of site visitors in a given amount of time.
• Show ads that are not harmful to the user experience. Harmful ads include:
  • Drugs, alcohol, violence, suggestive images, terrorism, etc.
  • Ads that slow down the user’s browser.
  • Auto – sound on ads are generally frowned upon.
  • Ads that deal with politics or other controversial subjects.

Below are the top 50 properties in terms of unique visitors, courtesy of comScore.

Rankings – comScore, Inc

# Property Unique Visitors/Viewers (000)

1 Google Sites 242,375
2 Microsoft Sites 211,156
3 Oath 209,875
4 Facebook 209,519
5 Amazon Sites 198,651
6 Comcast NBCUniversal 165,424
7 CBS Interactive 158,476
8 Twitter 151,918
9 Apple Inc. 151,203
10 PayPal 148,026
11 Turner Digital 138,757
12 The Walt Disney Company 137,311
13 Meredith Digital 134,123
14 Hearst 133,573
15 Snapchat, Inc 132,972
16 Wikimedia Foundation Sites 128,341
17 Weather Company, The 121,975
18 Linkedin 121,706
19 Wal-Mart 121,379
20 USA TODAY Network 119,792
21 Conde Nast Digital 115,726
22 Pinterest 110,748
23 CafeMedia 109,217
24 Yelp 106,243
25 Zillow Group 104,834
26 eBay 103,520
27 Penske Media Corp (PMC) 101,702
28 Netflix Inc. 95,858
29 TripAdvisor Inc. 95,253
30 Fox News Digital Network 90,773
31 PANDORA.COM 85,236
32 Reddit 81,680
33 New York Times Digital 79,514
34 Vox Media 78,456
35 Insider Inc. 78,105
36 Spotify 76,878
37 WebMD Health 76,512
38 Freestar Media 76,461
39 WASHINGTONPOST.COM 72,925
40 Discovery Inc 71,536
41 VICE Media 69,681
42 Expedia Inc 68,565
43 tronc 66,699
44 Fusion Media Group 65,967
45 Dropbox Sites 65,323
46 NYPost Network 63,273
47 Forbes Digital 63,222
48 Dotdash 62,719
49 BBC Sites 61,753
50 Verizon Communications Corporation 61,163

Sources

• https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings

Action is character.

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

What is a Supply Side Platform?

A supply side platform is a layer in ad tech where which acts on behalf of the publishers in order to sell publisher inventory and maximize yield. Publishers can utilize multiple SSPs in their monetization strategy. SSPs can monetize display, video and mobile ads across many device types. An SSP is essentially the advertiser/agency equivalent of the DSP.

What can an SSP do?

• Monetize leftover data that a publisher’s sales team did not sell. This has generally been long tail inventory that is less premium, but premium inventory is being increasing monetized here with the advent of Private Marketplaces (PMPs).
• Enables publishers to automate an (Real Time Buying) RTB based selling system which is not traditionally possible via the manual direct sales process.

Blurred Lines

With more and more companies wanting to take a larger piece of the pie, it’s becoming very common for companies these days to act as both an SSP and Ad Exchange. Some companies even act as a full stack solution. One key difference of the SSP as compared to the ad exchange is that the SSP can connect to many different ad exchanges but the ad exchange can connect to many different DSPs.

Benefits of an SSP

• Manage a complex inventory through an automated system
• Brings in more traffic than possible via the manual route
• Eliminate the need for you to manually cater to marketers
• Ability to do everything in real-time

DMPs and SSPs

Although DMPs are commonly used on the buy side for advertisers/agencies to make targeted purchases towards data driven audiences, DMPs can also play an important role with SSPs. It houses information on a publisher’s visitors such as their online behaviors. SSPs can then utilize this data from the DMPs to decide where is the most effective place to send the publisher inventory.

Criteria for Evaluating an SSP

• Ad Quality Standards. No publisher wants harmful or malicious ads on their site. Does the SSP have a good way to filter out these types of creatives?
• Auction Protocols. What kinds of auction methods does the SSP support? Does it have access to open marketplace, private marketplace, and header bidding?
• Customer Service. Does the SSP provide support through email, phone, or even a dedicated account manager?
• Integrations. How many and which exchanges is the SSP linked to?
• Data Collection. Can the SSP collect and analyze real time data?
• Ad Quality Metrics. What type of measurement does the SSP provide? Viewability, fraud, location?

Notable SSPs

• Google DoubleClick for Publishers (Google Ad Manager)
• OpenX
• One by Aol
• MoPub
• Pubmatic
• Brightroll
• Yieldbot
• AppNexus

Sources

• https://digiday.com/media/wtf-supply-side-platform/
• https://martechtoday.com/martech-landscape-what-supply-side-platform-ssp-168375
• https://www.g2crowd.com/categories/supply-side-platform-ssp
• https://smartyads.com/supply-side-platform
• https://www.mobidea.com/academy/supply-side-platform-ssp/
• https://www.edigitalagency.com.au/best-supply-side-platforms-ssp/

Leaders don’t look backwards to condemn what has already been done; they look forward to create a better future.
— Mark Cuban

What are Ad Exchanges?

An ad exchange is a digital marketplace that enables advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space, often through real-time auctions. They’re most often used to sell display, video and mobile ad inventory.

They can be seen as a big marketplace where buyers and sellers can interact in millions of split-second real-time auctions.

What’s the Difference between Ad Exchanges and SSPs?

Publishers use supply-side platforms (SSPs), in part,  to make inventory available for programmatic buying, and multiple publishers can plug into an SSP. Multiple sellers on one platform — sounds like an ad exchange, right? The lines between the two are blurring as the technology has advanced and SSPs have attracted a critical mass of publishers.

In addition to facilitating ad transactions, however, SSPs are designed to connect to multiple ad exchanges, ad networks or any combination of open exchanges and private marketplaces and offer tools designed specifically for publishers to optimize their sales efforts and improve fill rates (sell more ads) at the highest CPMs.

More and more companies operate what are essentially ad exchange-SSP hybrids. And going a step further, there are now a growing number of companies that offer a “full stack” of ad tech with products including for sellers to auction impressions and buyers to bid on those impressions. Rubicon Project, DoubleClick and ONE by AOL are among the examples of companies that offer products for both parties.

Open Marketplaces vs Private Marketplaces (PMPs)

They are exactly as they sound. In an open marketplace environment, anyone is eligible to buy the publisher’s inventory that they have posted in the open exchange. This inventory would be sold in a real world RTB environment with fewer restrictions than PMPs.

In a private marketplace environment publishers make select inventory, usually of higher quality, available to a select pool of buyers. This inventory is generally more expensive due to the high quality nature. PMP inventory may be above the fold (ATF), have higher viewability, or have higher CTRs. Publishers can also set price floors for this inventory to ensure this premium inventory does not get sold for too low of an amount.

Types of PMPs

• Preferred Deal. One buyer buys an inventory package from one publisher at a fixed price, ahead of the open Exchange. Bidding is optional.
• Private Auction. Multiple invitation-only buyers bid on an inventory package, subject to a specified deal floor price, ahead of the open exchange.
• Programmatic Guaranteed. A buyer buys an inventory package from one publisher at a fixed price, ahead of the open Exchange. Bidding is mandatory.

Notable Ad Exchanges

• DoubleClick Ad Exchange (Google Ad Manager)
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: 20 million page views per month (Google may directly contact you)
  • CPM Rates: 30 cents for worldwide traffic, USD 1 and above for tier 1 traffic
• OpenX
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: 10 million page views per month
  • CPM Rates: 20 cents for worldwide traffic, USD 1 and above for tier 1 traffic
• AppNexus
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: 10 million page views per month
  • CPM Rates: USD 1.5 and above for tier 1 traffic
• One by AOL
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: 3 million page views per month
  • CPM Rates: USD 1 and above for tier 1 traffic
• Smaato
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: No minimum monthly page views limit
  • CPM Rates: 20 cents for worldwide traffic
• Rubicon Project
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: Estimated 5 million page views per month
  • CPM Rates: USD 1 and above.
• Mopub
  • Minimum Traffic Eligibility: No minimum monthly page views limit
  • CPM Rates: 15 cents and above for worldwide traffic for in-app banner ads. Expect good fill rates.
• Pubmatic
• Kargo
• Sovrn

Sources

• https://digiday.com/media/what-is-an-ad-exchange/
• https://martechtoday.com/martech-landscape-what-is-an-ad-exchange-161947
• https://blognife.com/2018/05/08/top-10-ad-exchanges-publishers/
• https://www.centro.net/blog/blogwhat-you-should-know-about-ad-exchanges-private-deals/
• https://smartyads.com/blog/what-is-an-ad-exchange/

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
— Henry David Thoreau

What is a DMP?

In simple terms, a data management platform is a data warehouse. It’s a piece of software that sucks up, sorts and houses information, and spits it out in a way that’s useful for marketers, publishers and other businesses.

What is a DMP used for?

A DMP houses important consumer and customer data. DMPs utilize for first and 3rd party data in order to provide agencies and advertisers a better picture of their target audience. Agencies can then use this data to see actionable insights and drive effective ad spend. An agency can have a relationship with a DMP which houses all of their data. The DMP would then plug into the DSP so that the collected audience data can be targeted and purchased via the DSP.

Publishers can also plug their DMPs into SSPs in order to gain important data about their website. They can discover insights about their sites such as what kind of users like to visit which pages, user dwell time on each page, and what percent of users go below the fold, etc.

What Criteria can I use to Evaluate DMPs?

• How in-depth is it able to track customer behaviors beyond just transaction records. In essence, how granular is the data?
• How well it tracks and records across different platforms such as mobile, PC, tablet, and payment devices such as Paypal, and direct check outs.
• How flexibly it can merge second-party and third-party data.
• How well can it run customer-level analysis to predict purchases?

How do I launch with a DMP

• Organization
  • Organize your 1st party data into the relevant categories and taxonomies
• Segmenting and Audience Building
  • Segment the data into targetable audiences. This will allow more effective ad targeting into users that are more likely to respond a certain ad stimulus.
• Insights and Audience Profile Reports
  • After the data has been gathered, utilize the DMP’s audience insights and reporting to determine the different purchase behaviors, inclinations, and other actionable insights of your target audience.
• Activation
  • Agencies can now connect their DMPs to the DSPs in which they want to conduct buys from. This can be done either through a direct API integration from DMP to DSP or a more manual onboarding process.
  • Publishers can utilize this data to determine which content to show depending on which segmented audience is viewing their sites.

Example DMPs

• Adobe Audience Manager
• BlueKai
• Krux
• Lotame
• Salesforce DMP
• MediaMath
• Google Audience Center
• Liveramp

Sources

• https://digiday.com/media/what-is-a-dmp-data-management-platform/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultalbot/2018/05/15/data-management-platforms-selecting-the-best-dmp/#60372847cdc0
• https://www.lotame.com/what-is-a-data-management-platform/
• https://www.g2crowd.com/categories/data-management-platform-dmp

We’re entering a new world in which data may be more important than software.
— Tim O’Reilly