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Dear Candidate,

Inviting you to walk-in for an exciting career with Accenture in Digital Marking, Adwords, Social
Media Marketing, Search Marketing .
Date: 14-April-2016
Venue: Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd. (Tower-B, Floor-6), Divyashree Orion,
Survey.No.66/1, Raidurgam Village, Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy
District, Hyderabad, Telangana 500032 (Near Raidurgam Police Station)
Timing : 11:00 AM
Contact Person: Pooja Chimnani
Job Description:

Graduates in any discipline are eligible.

Minimum 6 months to 4 years of experience in Digital Marking, Adwords, Social


Media Marketing, Search Marketing ,Ad Operation,Optimization,Display
Advertising, Ad Trafficking.

Good communication skills

Willing to work in night shifts/rotational shifts

Note: Please carry below sets of documents :


1)
2)
3)

Education (Originals + Photocopies)


Experience (Previous and Current Organization)
Photo ID Proof, Pan Card (Original and Photocopies)

Regards,
Sheeba Kabeer

Dear Candidate,
Inviting you to walk-in for an exciting career with Accenture with experience in Technical
Troubleshooting
Date: 16-April-2016
Venue: Accenture Services Pvt Ltd., Building No 1A, 6th Floor Raheja Mindspace, Hyderabad
Timing : 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Contact Person: Pooja Chimnani
Requisites:
Graduates in any discipline.
Excellent knowledge in HTML, java script, CSS Ad-operations.
Minimum 6 month to 3 years of experience in technical support/application support.
Should be flexible with working in rotational/night shifts.
Job Description:
Investigate and troubleshoot issues related to ad serving on live web pages
Work on an Ad serving tool
Provide email based support to the clients
Follow the workflow & work in accordance to the SLAs
Process and Escalation management
Maintain great customer satisfaction
24x7 NA Support
Note: Please carry below sets of documents:
1)
2)
3)

Education (Originals + Photocopies)


Experience (Previous and Current Organization)
Photo ID Proof, Pan Card (Original and Photocopies)

Regards,
Pooja Chimnani
Dear Candidate,

Inviting you for your F2F Interview with AccentureDate

28 May 2016

Time

10:00 AM-3:00 PM

Contact person:

Pooja Chimnani/Hitesh Kumar

Requisites:
Graduates in any discipline.
Excellent knowledge in HTML, Java Script, CSS Ad-Operations.
Minimum 6 months to 3 years of experience in technical support/application support.
Should be flexible with working in rotational/night shifts.
Job Description:
Investigate and troubleshoot issues related to ad serving on live web pages
Work on an Ad serving tool
Provide email based support to the clients
Follow the workflow & work in accordance to the SLAs
Process and Escalation management
Maintain great customer satisfaction
24x7 NA Support
Venue- Accenture Services Pvt Ltd., Building No 1A, 6th Floor Raheja Mindspace,
Hyderabad
Please carry the following documents:
Education all documents (Originals + Photocopies)*
Experience or Employment documents (Previous and Current
Organization,Payslips)*
Photo ID Proof, Pan Card (Original and Photocopies)*
Resume*
All the best!

Regards,
Pooja C.
Accenture Operations Recruitment Team

DBM (DoubleClick Bid Manager) DFA (DoubleClick for Advertisers) and AdWords
DFA is an ad server which is used to track impressions and clicks for your creatives.
Youcan't buy inventory through DFA. You can only track the performance of your
campaigns. Main functions of DFA is trafficking and reporting.
DBM is a DSP where you buy inventory through AdExchanges in real time.
There are lots of advantages if you use DFA as your ad server and DBM as your DSP.
AdWords is a tool though which you can advertise your text ads on Google search page
and other sites in their network, you can also run display ad campaigns through
AdWords.
Considering the list of product choices you gave in the question. You have only two
options either you should go for AdWords or DBM.
If you want to buy inventory in real-time you should go for DBM
Double Click has 3 services : double click for publishers (DFP), double click for
advertisers (DFA) and Double Click Ad Exchange

DFP : this is for publishers. If they orefer to manage themselves the ads
which will be broadcasted on their websites, they use DFP.
DFA : DFA is a tool campaign management for the advertisers. You can
create and manage campaign and have reporting. But to buy, there is the ad
exchange.
Ad exchange: as it is a bit difficult for buyers and sellers to contract, ad
exchange is a market place where advertisers can easily buy (bid) the places for
their ads. It's used to ease and optimize the whole ecosystem DFP/DFA.
And Adwords ?
When an ad appears on the Adwords display, they have been through the Ad exchange
and maybe the DFP. Adwords is one of the buyers on the ad exchange market place and
bid like other agencies.
Lots of acronyms.. confusing I can imagine, especially if you add DFP, GTM, GA, WMT
and some of the others used by Google.
DFA is just an adserver - considered the industry standard - but it is not a
way to buy media.

DBM is a demand side platform. Buying display media in a programmatic


manner.
Adwords is the PPC product from google, with some display advertising
options as well.
If you are after display media in a serious way, use a DSP and usually not Adwords. If
you want to do PPC advertising, Adwords is your choice. To serve your ads and have
centralized reporting for display buys you do directly with publishers, DFA is your best
bet.
GDN (Google Display Network) is only the ad network
GDN uses Doubleclick inventory as it ad exchange.
DFA
Can serve & upload your GDN or other ad network banner.
Make plan for media plan, trafficking ads, targeting,
Optimize your Budget
Reporting your display ads campaign with DFA.
DBM (DoubleClick Bid Manager) is a demand-side platform (DSP) from Google.
DSPs help advertisers to access into vendor-neutral RTB ecosystem.
Target based on audience behavior
It all depends on your requirements,
DFA is used by only top agencies for their Branding Campaigns for big clients,
DFA generally refers to a Tracking product for Display campaigns,
Just like Google Analytics tracks Websites visitors, DFA record impressions, Clicks and
various other metrics for banner advertising,
Adwords mainly refers to Text ads or PPC ads from Google Search Partners,
In this too they provide an option for Banner Advertising in Adsense sites,
So choose what you want on the whole,
So I understand what an ad exchange is, what a serving platform is, and what a
advertising network is, but when it comes to GDN (Google Display Network) Vs. DBM
(Double Click Bidding Manager) Vs. DFA (Doubleclick for Advertisers), am getting lost
with all the terminologies & names & what each one offers/features.
So GDN has 1 ad exchange that is called Double Click Ad exchange? (Is that true?)
DFA only functions as ad serving platform? Or does it also contain an ad exchange that
we can reach through it?

DBM, Does it contain Double Click Ad exchange + other Ad exchanges? (More reach
than GDN?). Does it get served through DFA?
Can you please help me organize my thoughts around these points? I am so lost with all
the namings and features.
Just want to share a bit of knowledge about GDN, DFA and DBM.
As i know GDN (Google Display Network) is only the ad network, and GDN uses
Doubleclick inventory as it ad exchange.
For DFA, it is an ad management and an ad serving platform. You can serve and
upload your GDN or other ad network banner through DFA. Even if you have direct
placement banner to specific website, you can serve it also on DFA. You can planning
your media plan, trafficking ads, targeting, serving the creative banner, optimization and
reporting your display ads campaign with DFA.
And for the last, DBM (DoubleClick Bid Manager) is a demand-side platform (DSP) from
Google. Most DSPs are similar to GDN in that they are used to create ad campaigns.
But, DSPs provide advertisers access into the vendor-neutral RTB ecosystem, whereas
GDN AdWords only allows campaigns to run within the Google network.
With DSP you can targeting your campaign based on behaviour from your audience
wider than GDN can do.
ust want to share a bit of knowledge about GDN, DFA and DBM.
As i know GDN (Google Display Network) is only the ad network, and GDN uses
Doubleclick inventory as it ad exchange.
For DFA, it is an ad management and an ad serving platform. You can serve and
upload your GDN or other ad network banner through DFA. Even if you have direct
placement banner to specific website, you can serve it also on DFA. You can planning
your media plan, trafficking ads, targeting, serving the creative banner, optimization and
reporting your display ads campaign with DFA.
And for the last, DBM (DoubleClick Bid Manager) is a demand-side platform (DSP) from
Google. Most DSPs are similar to GDN in that they are used to create ad campaigns.
But, DSPs provide advertisers access into the vendor-neutral RTB ecosystem, whereas
GDN AdWords only allows campaigns to run within the Google network.
With DSP you can targeting your campaign based on behaviour from your audience
wider than GDN can do.
DoubleClick and GDN also have different bidding systems. (Adwords has a component
of quality, while other Ad-exchanges focus on price);
The first think of Google AdWords is user satisfaction and quality not just pricing. This is
only one platform to ensure user satisfaction and always think about how to be gainer
an advertiser

ADWORDS HELP

Fix placement issues


Occasionally, you may find that your ad isn't showing on websites or other placements
you added. Or, it's appearing but not where you expected it to appear. If your ad isn't
showing, doing a placement diagnosis can explain why and give you steps to improve
your performance. For more information, you can review our list of common issues and
fixes.
If your ad doesn't seem to be appearing on Display Network placements, you can do a
placement diagnosis to see what's going on. Here's how:
1.
2.

Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.


Click the Display Network tab, and then click the Placements or Topics tab.
Placements tab: Under the "Status" column, point to the speech bubble
icon
next to the status of one of your placements. Diagnostic information will
appear.
Topics tab: Under the "Status" column, point to the speech bubble

icon
next to the status of one of your topics. Diagnostic information will appear.
Compatible campaign types
To diagnose and fix your placements, youll need to use one of the following marketing
objectives or campaign types:

"Display Network only" marketing objectives


See your ad
Visit your website
Buy on your website
Take an action on your website
Call your business
Visit your business
Engage with your mobile app
Install your mobile app
Campaign types
"Search Network with Display Select All features"
"Display Network only All features"
"Display Network only Mobile apps"
"Display Network only Remarketing"

Check your campaign's Settings tab to make sure you're using one of these types of
campaigns.
If you have a different campaign type from the ones listed above, you won't be able to
diagnose or fix your placements. Learn about AdWords campaign types.
Besides doing a placement diagnosis, you can also check these common issues and
find out what you can do to fix them. Click the link that fits your situation.
Ad isn't showing
Check your campaign setup
Make sure your settings, ad format, and targeting methods aren't preventing your ad
from showing. See more on campaign settings and where your ads can appear.

You don't have the right campaign type


If your campaign type isn't "Search Network with Display Select," "Display Network only
All features," "Display Network only Mobile apps," or "Display Network only
Remarketing," your ads can't show on the Display Network. Check your
campaign's Settings tab to make sure you're using one of these types of campaigns.

Your reach may be too narrow


Having too many targeting methods (like topics and keywords, in addition to your
placements) limits the number of webpages that meet all your criteria. For example, if
you've added managed placements and keywords, your ad will appear on those
specific sites on pages that match the keywords you've selected. This means your ad
may show on only a few pages, if it shows at all. If your ad isn't showing, try selecting
just one or two targeting methods to broaden your reach.

Your daily budget is too low


With standard delivery campaigns, if your daily budget is low in relation to yourcost-perthousand impressions (CPM) bidding or cost-per-click (CPC) bid, our system will
spread your ad delivery throughout the day to prevent you from exhausting the entire
daily budget too fast. In this case, your ad won't show every time that it could. To
maximize your ad visibility throughout the day, try increasing yourdaily budget to an
amount well above your CPM or CPC bid.

You can't find your ad because of ad scheduling


You may not be able to find your ad if you've scheduled it to only run at certain hours of
the day, or days of the week. See the scheduling you've selected for your ad.

Your keywords aren't relevant


It's possible that your keywords don't match the content of the placements you'd like

them to appear on. Your ads will show on websites when the content matches your
keywords. For example, if you've targeted an automotive supply website as a
placement, but your keywords are tulips and roses, then your ad probably won't appear
because your keywords arent related to the content of the placement.

Your placements don't accept your display ad format sizes


If you have a display ad that isn't showing, it may be that the format size you selected
for your ad isn't a size that some of your placements accept. For example, if you created
an ad that's a 250 x 300 rectangle, and the site you're expecting to see your ad on
doesn't offer ad space in that size, your ad won't appear. UseDisplay Planner to find
out what ad sizes your placements accept.
Review your managed placements

You targeted managed placements but forgot to check whether your ad is


showing on these placements
You may not see your ad if you've targeted your ad to appear only on specific
placements (managed placements) on the Display Network, and you're not looking on
those particular sites or pages. You can see which placements you've targeted by
following these steps:
1.
Go to the Display Network tab at the ad group level.
2.
Click the Placements tab and look for placements with the status
"Managed."

You don't have enough managed placements


If you target your ad to just a few managed placements, you narrow the opportunities for
your ad to appear. Try adding more placements on the same topic.

Your bids are too low


Bidding is very competitive on the Google Display Network. If you've chosen managed
placements that are very popular, but your ad group bid is very low, then your ad may
not appear in those placements. You can try raising your placements bid for the entire
ad group or just for the managed placement. Learn how to edit your bids.
Ad may be waiting for approval
Ads need to be approved per our advertising guidelines before they appear on sites in
the Google Network. If your ad is still awaiting approval, please be patient while we
work to review all ads. In the meantime, you can read our advertising policies and
guidelines to ensure that your ad is in compliance. Also, check a list ofpotential reasons
your ad may have been disapproved.
Ad is showing, but not where you expected

Ad is showing on contextually irrelevant placements


Sometimes your ads may show on placements that seem unrelated to the display
keywords that youre targeting. In cases like these its possible that your ads are being
shown to someone based on their recent browsing history, rather than the contents of
the page they're currently viewing. So, your ads are still relevant to the person seeing
them.
For example, someone could begin their browsing session by researching a car
purchase and then move on to reading the news. We might show your ad on the news
site theyre viewing, even though the page itself isnt about cars.
If you find that these placements arent performing as youd like, try the following:

Add keywords and related topics to the same ad group. Then, set your topic
targeting setting to "Target and bid." Combining keyword and topic targeting this way
narrows your targeting.
Exclude irrelevant sites and categories
Exclude irrelevant sites and other placements from your brand campaign
Exclude pages about irrelevant topics
Check your campaign setup
Make sure your settings, ad format, and targeting methods aren't causing your ad to
show where you don't want it to show. See more on campaign settings and where your
ads can appear.

Your keywords are too vague


If your keywords are too vague, or not as relevant as they could be to what you offer,
your ad may appear on placements that you think aren't the best fit. Here are a few
things you can do to get better results:
Use Keyword Planner to find additional keywords you may want to add.
Exclude keywords.

Exclude placements your ad is appearing on that you don't want the ad to


show on.

You can't target specific placements


If you find that you're restricted from adding managed placements to your ad group,
below are a couple of scenarios and potential reasons for each.

Don't have the option to add managed placements at all


Check your target languages: You can add managed placements
to an ad group if that ad group is part of a campaign that targets at least one of the
languages supported for Google AdSense publishers. This ensures that a significant
number of Display Network sites will be available. Find out what languages AdSense

supports.

If a campaign isn't targeted to at least one of these languages, you


also won't be able to add managed placements to new or existing ad groups in a
campaign. You can enable placements by changing the ad's target language in
your campaign settings. Your placement-targeted ads will only appear to customers
viewing content in the eligible languages you add. Adding a new language won't make
placement-targeting work for other non-eligible languages in that campaign.

Can add managed placements, but can't find the one you want in
Display Planner
Placement you want isn't in the Google Display Network: Your
ad can't show on sites that aren't in the Google Display Network.

Publisher has opted out of placement targeting: Publishers in


the Google Network can choose not to participate in placement targeting. If a site has
made that choice, you won't be able to target it.
Ad is showing on a placement you paused or removed
You can pause or remove a placement in any ad group at any time. If you have
keywords, interest categories, topics, remarketing lists, and other targeting methods in
the same ad group with your managed placements, your ads could potentially appear
on the same placements you paused or removed. This would happen if the websites are
relevant to your other targeting methods.
You can exclude sites or categories of sites to prevent your ad from appearing on them.
If you want your ads to appear only on placements you choose, and nowhere else, you
can create a new ad group with placements only.
Ad is showing on inappropriate or inaccurate sites
You can prevent your ad from appearing on any undesired site by excluding it from your
campaign.

Showing on inappropriate sites


We'd like to know about any inappropriate sites. Please use this form to report the
webpage to the Google AdSense Team. We'll perform an investigation based on the
information you report. If we confirm that the specified website violates our site policies,
we'll take immediate steps to remove it from the Google Network.
We have several systems in place to make sure websites don't feature content that
violates our Google Network program policies. Here are the different levels of
automated and manual review:

Initial review: Websites go through a combination of automated and


manual review before they're allowed to join the Google Network.

Review when an ad is served: Whenever a visitor arrives at a page in


the Google Network, our system looks at the page's content to determine which ads to
show. If our system detects content that violates our policies, no ads will be served to
that page. This review happens close to real time.

Automatic review: Our system continuously scans all the websites in the
Google Network looking for content violations. Whenever a possible violation is
detected, it triggers a human review. We'll remove the site from the network if we
confirm a violation.

Reactive review: We investigate all reports submitted by advertisers and


other Google users, prioritizing more significant potential violations. For serious cases,
we can stop all ad delivery to a site within five minutes.
Due the dynamic nature of website content, we don't always immediately detect content
changes that violate these policies. That's why any reports you submit help us maintain
the quality of the Google Network.

Showing on inaccurate sites


Occasionally, a publisher-defined ad placement doesn't display ads as described in the
placement name or description. If you notice that an ad placement is being inaccurately
represented, you can exclude it from your campaign to prevent your ad from appearing
there.
JOB DESCRIPTION
"Working with clients of Google using products [DFA/DBM]. Providing email support for
Google products [DFA/DBM].
Troubleshoot requests from Account Managers, Publisher/Network Development team,
related to Ad Campaigns and Networks trafficked.
Extensive knowledge of Trafficking & DFA application
Creating and optimizing the ad campaigns based on clients requirement and best
performing creative using CTRs
Reviewing, trafficking and analyzing the quality of the campaigns. Sending out the tags
to the appropriate publishers according to the requirement of the client.
Checking the creative and URLs in a systematic manner before implementing them in
the ad server. Also, troubleshooting any minor issues in the creative code format
Proficient knowledge in Rich media and third party ad serving redirects.
Proficient knowledge on IAB standard advertising graphic (creative) sizes
Generating and checking tags like standard, Java script, iframe, internal redirect (DFP),
click and impression trackers
Having exposure on reviewing, trafficking and analyzing the quality of the vast in -

stream and mobile ads


Suggesting best practices to clients on providing media plans and creatives."

AD SERVING
Ad serving describes the technology and service that places advertisements on web
sites. Ad serving technology companies provide software to web sites and advertisers to
serve ads, count them, choose the ads that will make the website or advertiser most
money, and monitor progress of different advertising campaigns. Ad servers are divided
into two types: Publisher ad servers and advertiser (or third party) ad servers.
Contents
[hide]

1Overview
2History
3Functionality
3.1Common functions
4Ad targeting and optimization
5See also
6References

Overview[edit]
An Ad Server is a web server that stores advertising content used in online marketing
and delivers that content onto various digital platforms such as; websites, social media
outlets and mobile apps. An Ad Server is merely the technology in which the advertising
material is stored and is the means of distributing that material into appropriate
advertising slots online. Ad Serving technology companies provide software to websites
and advertising companies to serve ads, count them, choose the ads that will make the
website or advertiser the most money and monitor the progress of different online
advertising campaigns. The purpose of Ad Serving is to deliver ads to users, to manage
the advertising space of a website and, in the case of third party ad servers, to provide
an independent counting and tracking system for advertisers/marketers. Ad Servers
also act as a system in which advertisers can count clicks/impressions in order to
generate reports which helps to determine the ROI for an advertisement on a particular
web page.

There are separate Ad Servers that Publishers and Third Party (eg. Advertisers,
Marketers) use. Essentially, there is no difference in the technology that the Ad Servers
provide the key difference being the accessibility of data in order for optimized tracking
and convenience. Advertisers and Marketers will use a centralized Ad Server that will
enable them to draw progress reports on-demand and update their creative content in
one place rather than using Individual Publisher Ad Servers in which they will have to
manage content across multiple Servers with different Publishers. Without this
centralized hub which controls advertisers rotation and distribution of content across
the web, there becomes issues around tracking and management of advertising
material. If an advertiser had to make contact with each individual Publisher whose Ad
Server they are using, this would mean multiple sets of data to track and would also
mean they need to update their creative content for each individual channel. This
provides less-accurate, less-timely, and ultimately inconvenient results for advertisers.
Publishers have separate Ad Servers to communicate advertising material across their
domains only. This enables convenience for the publisher, as they will have access only
to the advertising content they require for their publication rather that sort through an Ad
Server containing all the advertising content in which Marketers/Advertisers are using.
History[edit]
The first central ad server was released by FocaLink Media Services and introduced on
July 17, 1995,[1] for controlling the delivery of online advertising or banner ads. Although
most contemporary accounts are no longer available online, the Weizmann Institute of
Science published an academic research paper documenting the launch of the first ad
server.[2] The original motherboard for the first ad server, assembled in June 1995, is
also preserved.[3] Focalink re-launched the ad server under the name SmartBanner in
February 1996.[4] The company was founded by Dave Zinman, Andrew Conru and
Jason Strober, and based in Palo Alto, California. In 1998, the company changed its
name to AdKnowledge, and was purchased by CMGI in 1999.[5] The AdKnowledge
name was subsequently purchased by a company in Kansas City in 2004, which now
operates under the brand name AdKnowledge.
The first local ad server was released by NetGravity in January 1996[6] for
delivering online advertising at major publishing sites such as Yahoo and Pathfinder.
The company was founded by Tom Shields and John Danner, and based in San Mateo,
California. In 1998, the company went public on NASDAQ (NETG), and was purchased
by DoubleClickin 1999. NetGravity AdServer was then renamed to DART Enterprise. In
March 2008 Google acquired DoubleClick. Google has continued to improve and invest
in DART Enterprise. The latest version of the product was renamed and shipped as
DoubleClick Enterprise 8.0 on September 28, 2011.[7]

Another central or remote ad server was introduced by David Stein at Burst Media in
January 1996 for controlling online advertising or banner ads. The ad server/ad
management platform was renamed AdConductor and is still used by the company
today. The company was founded by Jarvis Coffin, David Stein and Bob Hanna, and
based inKatonah, New York. In 2006, the company went public on the London Stock
Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (BRST) and in 2011 was acquired by Blinkx .
Functionality[edit]
Common functions[edit]
The common functions of Ad Serving are as follows; to upload advertisements and rich
media, to traffic ads according to differing business rules, to target ads to different
users, or content, to tune and to optimize based on results and to report impressions,
clicks, post-click and post-impression activities and interaction metrics. All of these
functions are an integral part of running an online advertising campaign in making sure
that the advertising content is being displayed where it is intended and to whom it is
intended for. It also helps with analysis to see just how effective the campaign is doing
and whether or not the content is generating the desired results. Ad Serving also offers
more advanced functions for more sophisticated advertising campaigns. Advanced
Functions include: frequency capping, sequencing ads (also referred to as surround
sessions), search engine optimization and targeting (See Ad Targeting and Optimization
below). Frequency capping is limiting how many times a user will see the content.
Advertisers are also able to limit ads by setting a cap on money-spending.
Ad targeting and optimization[edit]
One aspect of ad-serving technology is automated and semi-automated means of
optimizing bid prices, placement, targeting, or other characteristics. Significant methods
include:

Behavioral Targeting - Using a profile of prior behavior on the part of the viewer
to determine which ad to show during a given visit. For example, targeting car ads
on a portal to a viewer that was known to have visited the automotive section of a
general media site.
Contextual Targeting - (also known as Semantic Marketing) refers to the
optimum ad placement as a result of analysing information from the entire web page
where the ad is being served. This concept was introduced as a way of improving
the keyword approach to ad placement where issues surrounding ambiguity in
relation to a words meaning in the prescribed context. The concept of analysing the
entire webpage in order to promote relevant advertising material is to benefit both

the viewer of advertising content and the source of the ad. Keywords (or Adwords)
are not always relevant in the context in which the word is intended. Therefore, by
analysing the entire page rather than just the keyword, the ambiguity is removed
and a more relevant and accurate ad is promoted into the advertising slot on the
web page.
Creative Optimization - Using experimental or predictive methods to explore the
optimum creative for a given ad placement and exploiting that determination in
further impressions.

What is an ad server and why could you need one?


Written By: Elise NANMEGNI
|
November 29, 2012
|

Posted In:
Online-Advertising

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What is an ad server?
This title might sound tricky for anyone that is already familiar with ad operations, but
since there is pretty much confusion about it and since weve s been repeatedly asked,
its time we wrote a 101 article
Heres a simple definition of an ad server: An ad server is a web server, that stores
advertisements used in online marketing and delivers them to digital support visitors (a
website, mobile apps, a mobile site,).
Thanks a user-interface, users are enable to manage their banners, e.g to put online the
creative & set the delivery parameters, (eventually) target , ad serve, monitor and

optimize their online campaigns.


Different types of banners ( text, banner, video, flash, HTML5,) can be supported.

As an ad server consists only of the technology, there is a prerequisite you might need
before starting using one: advertisers willing to advertise on your digital support & the
related creatives , even if an ad server can help building advanced banners (Smart
Adserver does it pretty well for instance) but not making them from scratch.

Why you would need an ad server?

If youre a sell-side actor (e.g you have inventory to sell) : you are a Publisher or
an Ad Network
Youre a publisher, i.e you create digital content that youre willing to monetize,
including with advertising. You can make revenues by directly advertising to direct
advertisers and agencies interested by your audience or through a third-party actor.
If you sell inventory directly to some advertisers, then youll probably need an ad
server to manage all your advertising campaigns.
If you dont have any direct advertiser, either because youre working with automatic
advertising platform, such as google adsense, or youre dealing with an ad network that
would sell you ad inventory on your behalf to advertisers, you dont have any interest in

managing yourself your banners with an ad server.

If youre a buy-side actor (e.g you have inventory to buy) : Advertiser or Media
Agency
Youre an advertiser, willing to advertise you banners to sell-side actors. You have
already built our media plan. Or you are an agency, ad serving banners on behalf of
your advertisers.
You might want to be able to track by your own the clicks, impressions, conversions of
the banners you deliver.

HOW DOES AD SERVING WORK?


September 3, 2010
Interactive ads are everywhere these days, but when it comes to the technical

process of getting an ad on the page and how publishers and marketers verify
it delivered, not many people outside ad operations can explain what actually
happens in detail. Read this article though and youll be one of them! Below
Ive detailed step-by-step how a browser gets from the initial call to a

publishers website to the final ad creative, and when and how each party

counts an impression. You can view a diagram of the ad serving process at the
bottom of this post the numbers in the text refer to the steps labeled in the
diagram.

So, without further ado


Calling the Publisher Ad Tag
When a browser navigates to a publisher website (1), the publishers web server
sends back a bunch of HTML code (2) that tells the browser where to get the
content (3) and how to format it. Part of the HTML code returned to the
browser (4) will include a coded link known as an ad tag.

Heres an example of what an ad tag from Doubleclick, one of the major ad


serving companies, looks like:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ABC/publisher/zone;topic=abc;sbtpc=def
;cat=ghi;kw=xyz;tile=1;slot=728x90.1;sz=728x90;ord=7268140825331
981?
Click here to read more about ad tags and how they are constructed.
The ad tag points the browser to the Publishers Ad Server (5), a system

designed exclusively for delivering and tracking advertising. In most cases, the
Publishers Ad Server is actually a network of cloud servers owned and

maintained by a separate company. In this case, the content server tells the

browser to fetch the ad from Doubleclick, a company owned by Google, that

then makes the very complex decision on which ad to serve using a program
called an Ad Selector.

The Ad Selection Process


In many cases the ad server is deciding among thousands upon thousands of
potential options in mere milliseconds. The computational power behind the

Ad Selector is mind blowing these systems handle tens of billions of decisions

a day and trillions in a year. The Ad Server makes a decision, and in most cases
sends back another ad tag (6), or redirects the browser by pointing it to the

Marketers Ad Server. These redirects are technically speaking 302 redirects,

which tells the browser the page has been temporarily moved. This allows Ad
Servers to count the 302 call as an impression and host the actual ad content
on a different server. Once the publishers adserver sends the browser a

redirect to the marketer, it counts a delivered impression in its own database

(star). The only exception here is if the publisher decides to deliver a house ad
or the marketer has asked the publisher to site-serve the ads, both of which
requires the publisher load the actual creative files into their ad server,

meaning the publisher is the final destination, and the browser can skip the
loop through the marketer side (steps 7,8,11,12).

Click here to read more about why Publishers and Marketers have their own Ad
Servers.

Calling the Marketer Ad Tag


The browser now calls the Marketers Ad Server (7), and is redirected yet again
to a Content Delivery Network, or CDN, (8) a global network of cloud servers

that actually house the raw creative graphics to fetch the actual ad. Why, you
ask? Well, as powerful as ad servers are, they just arent equipped to handle

the volume and bandwidth required to deliver content as heavy as image files.

Redirects are often nothing more than a 11 pixel requiring just a few bytes of
memory. Image files on the other hand are kilobytes or even megabytes in
size, could be called millions of times a day, and require a much faster and
robust infrastructure. Ad Servers might maintain three to six data centers

across the world, but a CDN can process the heavy bandwidth and deliver the
content faster because they operate hundreds of data centers and can route

requests to the one nearest to the user, no matter where they are on earth. You
can think of the ad server as the brain and the CDN as the brawn. Ad Servers
arent the only companies that use CDNs, in fact many websites host their

bandwidth intensive files in these cloud networks. A CDN is almost always

another independent company, such as Akamai, that hosts the heavy creative
assets so the Ad Server doesnt have to. There used to be a handful of these
companies out there, but Akamai has acquired almost all of them and is the
largest player by far in the space.

Heres what a CDN redirect to an Akamai server hosting a flash file looks like:
http://spe.atdmt.com/ds/ABCDEF12334/filename123_300x250.swf

In addition to sending back the redirect to the CDN, the Marketers Ad Server

also appends a second redirect (10) back to itself with a query string to fetch a

11 pixel (11) after the ad content has been called. When the browser fires this
last redirect calling a 11 pixel from the Marketers Ad Server (11), the Ad
Server knows the ad was successfully downloaded and it finally counts an
impression in its own database (star).

In many cases, your browser has to make at least four calls for site served ads
and six in the case of third-party served ads for this whole process to work, if
not even more, but shouldnt take more than a second regardless of the

number of parties involved. To visualize the process explained above, please


see the diagram below 302 redirects are highlighted in blue, and the ad
creative is highlighted in red.

How does third-party ad serving work?


Third-party ad serving happens when you visit a website like allaboutcookies.org where
the content of the site comes from the site , but the ads come from another server or
website. Your browser assembles the differing information fed from differing sources so
all items appear on the same page. For your browser to assemble the ads correctly, the
website directs your browser to collect information from a different site's ad server. The
third party website creates a cookie in your browser's folder as a result.
Why do websites use third-party ad serving companies?
Many websites, specially those providing free information or content, depend on
advertising to continue operations. Many of these sites don't have the technical and
business development infrastructure to recruit their own advertiser accounts and serve
their own ads. As a result, they rely on other websites, third party advertisement serving
companies, to recruit advertisers and serve those ads on publishers' sites. This
arrangement allows websites to focus on what they do best and save time and money.

So why do advertisers want to use cookies in this way?


Third-party ad serving cookies solve a lot of problems that normally arise in a situation
where the website's visitor loads content from the website but the ads come from
another site. Cookies help the ad serving website with the following:
* Cookies limit the number of times an ad is shown. This function comes in particularly
handy when dealing with potentially annoying advertising forms like popup ads. Cookies
ensure that a popup only shows up once per visit.
* Some ads are more effective when shown in a particular order or sequence. By
helping the website you're viewing remember the pages you've visited during your
browsing session, cookies enable ads to show up in a particular order.
* Advertisers need to know how many times their ads were shown on publishers'
websites. Cookies allow the third party ad serving website to collect this information.
* Cookies allow advertisers to keep track of how many people visited the advertisers'
websites through a click or a response on the ads shown by third party ad serving
companies on publishers' websites. This feature helps both the ad serving company and
the advertiser determine if a particular advertising campaign produced the desired
results.
Why do websites use third-party ad serving companies?
Many websites rely on advertising to survive to provide free content to visitors.
However, most do not have the infrastructure or resources to manage and run the
advertising on their web pages. Instead they turn to third-party ad serving companies to
provide the server space, campaign delivery and reporting facilities that they need.
So why do advertisers want to use cookies in this way?
Third-party ad serving companies provide useful, cost-effective services to websites that
cannot manage advertising campaigns in-house. Advertisers like cookies to be used in
the delivery of campaigns because they enable the following to happen without any
personal information being collected:

Cookies limit the number of times that an advertisement is shown. This is


particularly useful if pop-up ads are used, as cookies can ensure the same
browser is not shown the same pop-up over and over again.
Enable a sequence of advertisements to be shown in the correct order.
Calculate how many unique web visitors have been shown an advertisement.
Calculate how many unique people visited a site as a direct response to an
advertisement.

A Beginners Guide to Ad Servers (Plus: 8 Ad Servers Reviewed)

Running ads is one of the main ways websites monetize their content. And
advertisements need to be managed, replaced and tested constantly for improvement.
This where an ad server comes in. It helps webmasters manage all of their ad space on
one or more sites from one central console.
In this post, well explore some of the most popular ad serving platforms and help you to
decide which one is best for you.
But, first lets understand how ad servers work in a little more detail.
What is an Ad Server?
An ad server stores information about ads and delivers them to one or more web sites
for display to visitors. Ad servers also track ad displays, clicks on ads, and generate
statistical reports. Ad servers can also selectively display ads to site visitors based on
predefined criteria.
Ad server platforms are broadly of two types, hosted versions that are run and
maintained on an ad server companys site, and self-hosted versions that you install
and maintain on your own server.
Well be looking at DFP, OpenX, Broadsreet, adColt, Adzerk and AdButtler hosted ad
servers as well as Revive and OIOPublisher self-hosted ad servers.
Hosted vs Self-Hosted Ad Servers
Lets take a quick look at the pros and cons of both hosted ad server platforms and selfhosted ad servers.
Hosted Ad Server Pros

No Installation: Nothing to install. You just sign up for service and everything is
already installed for you.

Updates: All updates to the platform are installed for you.

Support: In general support is of a higher quality with hosted platforms and is


more readily available.

Speed and Reliability: Most hosted platforms are monitored for problems on a
continuous basis. So speed issues and problems are solved quickly. Usually,
before you are even aware of them.

Hosted Ad Server Cons

Price: The cost of a hosted ad server is higher than self-hosted.

Customization: Most hosted ad servers cant be customized to your exact needs.


A few do offer very limited customization.

Data Control: Your data is stored on the hosted ad server and is not 100% under
your control.

Self-Hosted Ad Server Pros

Price: The price of a self-hosted ad server script is a one-time fee. Your only
ongoing cost is that of the server you are running it on.

Customization: You can modify or hire a programmer to modify a self-hosted


script to meet your exact needs.

Data Control: Your data is on your server and under your control.

Self-Hosted Ad Server Cons

Installation: You need to install the ad server script on your server. This takes a
little technical knowledge.

Updates: You have to watch for updates and install them yourself.

Technical Issues: If a technical issue with the script or server arises, you have to
fix it yourself.

Now that youre aware of some of the pros and cons of hosted ad servers and selfhosted ad servers, lets take a look at some of the popular hosted ad server platforms
available.
Hosted Ad Servers
Here are the most popular hosted ad server platforms.

1. DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP)

DoubleClick for Publishers is owned by Google. Google purchased DART for Publishers
back in 2008 and renamed it DoubleClick for Publishers. DFP is free to use if youre
serving less than 90 million ad impressions a month. DFP also offers premium services
for publishers that have large sales teams who need more advanced features. This is
one of the most popular ad serving platforms currently available.
Pros

Free: Use is free for publishers that serve less than 90 million ad impressions per
month.

AdSense Integration: Easily integrates with AdSense. This is a big plus if you
heavily rely on AdSense revenue. While using multiple networks, you can
maximize your revenue by having your AdSense ads displayed in unsold ad
spots.

Intuitive User Interface: DFP is quick to learn and easy to use. The interface is
extremely intuitive and great for beginners.

Great Reporting: The reporting tools are robust and extensive. They are very
flexible and easy to configure just the way you want.

Targeting and Segmentation: With Googles extensive data collection practices,


DFPs targeting and segmentation features cant be matched by any other ad
serving platform.

Support: Google has always been known for great support. Their DFP support
team is top notch, helpful and friendly.

Cons

Price: When something is free, youre the product. And Google could also
suddenly start charging with little notice to publishers.

Owned by Google: Google is known for suddenly dropping products and


services. We dont think theyll drop DFP, but the possibility exists.

DoubleClick for Publishers is one of the easiest ad server platforms to use. Whether
youre just starting out with ad serving or if you need extensive reporting, this may be
the ad serving platform for you.
2. OpenX Ad Server

OpenX Ad Server started out many years ago as an open source self-hosted ad serving
script. Over the years, they moved away from being open source to being a paid hosted
service. The original self-hosted open source script was reborn as a free product named
Revive, which we look at that one a little later in this post.
OpenX is aimed at the larger publisher that serves a high number of ads per month.
They seem to be secretive about pricing, but we did manage to find a few quotes others
have received from the OpenX sales team.
The fees we heard are the following: $1,000 setup fee, minimum monthly fee of $1,200
(includes 50 million ad impressions), and $17.50 per 1 million ad impressions over the
50 million per month. Weve also heard that recent quotes are even higher. One source
said they were quoted a $20,000 setup fee and much higher monthly fees. As you can
see, OpenX is not an entry level ad serving platform.
Pros

Own Domain: This is a big plus. OpenX lets you use your own domain name with
their hosted ad serving platform. This way your ads are served under your brand
or company name and not the OpenX domain.

OpenX Ad Exchange: OpenX seamlessly integrates with their own ad exchange


where you can sell additional and unsold ad space.

Forecasting: Access up to 12 months of historical data to forecast traffic and


seasonal trends.

Targeting: OpenX has extensive targeting. You can target ad display by content,
geography, viewing device, value pairs, audience and more.

Platform Integration: OpenX easily integrates with third-party platforms through


its open API.

Cons

Support: 24/7 customer support.

Little Information: Little information is available on the OpenX website about the
actual ad serving platform product benefits. They do have online documentation,
but that mostly assumes that you are an experienced user.

Price: Extremely high priced compared to other ad servers.

Difficult to Order: They want you to sit through a 1-hour demonstration of OpenX
and then deal with a sales person to determine your needs.

If you are a large publisher that needs fast and extensive support, you may want to
consider OpenX Ad Server. If youre a small publisher or have a low ad budget, then
OpenX isnt for you.
One word of caution. If you read comparison articles about ad serving platforms, the
majority are comparing the old open source OpenX and not the new hosted incarnation
of OpenX Ad Server.
3. Broadstreet Ad Server

The Broadstreet Ad Server hosted service was designed for the needs of news sites. It
can also be used on other types of websites, though. This ad serving platform is an
affordable option for small publishers.

Pros

WordPress Integration: They have a WordPress plugin for placing ad zones in


the widget area of the theme you use.

CDN-Based Delivery: Ads are served from the closest cloud-based ad server to
the viewer. This helps to speed up load time.

Friendly User Interface: The Broastreet user interface is easy to use and fast to
learn.

Price: The price is reasonable. You can start with a free plan to see if it works for
you. Other Broadstreet plans range from $10 to $50 per month per 1mm served.
They have a price estimator on their site.

Cons

Shared Domain: All clients share the same domain for serving ads.

Limited Technical Support: They only offer a ticket based support system. You
cant pick up the phone and get live technical support.

Not Feature Rich: This could actually be a pro or a con. It does not have all the
features of the larger services but is easier to use.

If you are a small publisher or just starting out with ad serving, Broadstreet should be on
your list to check out. Sign up for a free account and see if it has the features you need.

4. adColt Ad Server

adColt is a white label ad serving platform. Their pricing is straight forward and the
service is feature rich. This one is suitable for both small and large publishers. adColt
also has click-fraud monitoring and live email reporting.
Pricing is a flat .02 CPM regardless of the number of ads you serve.
Pros

Ad Formats: adColt will deliver a wide variety of ad types. The types of ads
include banner, text, rich media, pop-unders, mobile, overlays, pre- and post-roll
video ads to name a few.

Technical Support: 24/7 technical support is available by phone, email, and chat.

White Label: You can customize the platform with your own logo and color
scheme. You can also use your own domain name.

Click Fraud System: adColts system will analyze each click and ad impression to
help determine if they are human generated or computer generated. Invalid traffic
is automatically reported to you.

Reporting Tools: Their reporting tools are real-time, extensive and give you the
stats you need to optimize your ad performance.

Cons

No Discounts: The flat rate pricing is nice for small publishers, but they do not
offer any discounts for larger publishers.

No Public API: adColt does not have a public API for third-party integration.

No Multilingual Interface: The user interface is in English only.

This ad server platform has a lot of features at a reasonable price. If you are a small or
medium size publisher or need a white label solution, we would recommend that you
check them out.
5. Adzerk

Adzerk is aimed at larger publishers or those that need extensive capabilities and
support. Plans start at $1,000 to $8,000 per month depending on the features and
technical support level you need.
Pros

Free Trial: Adzerk offers a free 30-day trial.

Own Domain: You have the option to use your own domain name with their ad
delivery platform.

Multiple APIs: Three APIs are offered. A Management API, a Native Ad API and
a Reporting API.

Asynchronous Ad Codes: You have the option to use asynchronous ad codes to


speed up ad loading time.

Real-Time Bidding: Adzerk has a real-time bidding option that enables you to
allow direct sold campaigns to compete against real-time bids.

Technical Support: Full account management support is available at an


additional cost.

Cons

Price: For small to medium sized publishers, the cost to use this ad server
platform could be prohibitive.

API Driven: Youre going to need a tech guy on hand for integration and
modifications.

Adzerk is highly scalable and extensible. It is better suited for large publishers that have
technical staff on hand. Adzerk is a major player in the ad delivery platform arena.

6. AdButler

AdButler has been in the ad serving business for over 14 years now. It boasts an
impressive list of clients that use their hosted service including Microsoft, MTV, IBM,
Hewlett-Packard, and Allstate. They have extremely fast ad delivery and can handle
custom ads of all formats.
AdButler has plans starting at $9.95 per month plus .25 per thousand ads delivered.
Pros

Price: Their ad delivery service is affordable for small publishers.

Text Ad Support: Text ad blocks are fully supported.

Multiple Ad Types Supported: AdButler supports all standard banner sizes,


Flash, CSS, pop-ups, text ads, videos, interstitials, as well as complicated script
ads.

30 Day No-Risk Trial: They offer a no-questions-asked 30-day trial. If youre not
fully satisfied at the end of the trial, they will give you a prompt refund.

Technical Support: They offer both ticket and phone support.

White Label Interface: You can brand with your own logo and colors.

Simple User Interface: The user interface is intuitive and easy to use.

Cons

No Ad Exchange: AdButler does not have its own ad exchange to help you sell
your unsold ad space inventory.

AdButler is a good choice for both small and large publishers. Small publishers can take
advantage of the scalability this ad delivery platform offers. Make sure you add this to
your list of hosted services to try.
Now that we have looked at hosted ad server platforms, lets move on and take a look
at some self-hosted options.
Self-Hosted Ad Servers
Here are the most popular self-hosted ad server platforms. Lets take a look at them and
explore the pros and cons of each.
1. Revive Adserver

Revive Adserver is a free and open source ad serving script. It has a long history and
has gone through several name changes. Its last name was OpenX Source. Even with
all its bugs it still remains as a popular choice.

This script was originally a fork of phpAds called phpAdsNew. Who knows how many
more name changes are in store for this script.
Pros

Price: Its 100% free.

Extensive Targeting: Revive offers extensive targeting features that allow you to
define rules for ad delivery. They include frequency capping, URL targeting, geotargeting and more.

Detailed Reporting: Detailed reports are available for ad campaigns. These


reports include click-through rates, conversion rates, revenue, eCPM and more.

No Ad Serving Fees: Your only cost is your server hosting and domain name.
There are no fees based on the number of ads delivered.

AdSense Ad Support: Revive supports the display of AdSense ads.

Cons

Support: The only support available is a community website. Many support


questions are never answered.

No VAST Support: VAST 2.0 and 3.0 is not supported directly.

Buggy: This script has been and most likely always will be buggy.

Server Resource Hog: This is a huge script that uses extensive server resources.
It needs to be run on a VPS at a minimum.

Slow Site Load Time: Many have reported that this script has greatly slowed
down the load time of sites displaying ads. Most likely this is because Revive is
not being run on a large enough server.

If youre technically inclined and can fix your own problems, you should give Revive
Adserver a spin. Just be prepared to dedicate an entire server to its use.
Revive Adserver is a powerful script but has a big learning curve. If you give it a try, be
prepared to have a few sleepless nights learning how to use it.

2. OIO Publisher

OIOPublisher can be installed as a standalone program or installed on a WordPress


site. It costs $47 and the license covers all of your websites.
Pros

Price: The price is extremely reasonable for what you get.

OIO Marketplace: You get access to their ad marketplace to sell your unsold ad
space.

Flexible Installation: Can be installed as a standalone program or a WordPress


plugin.

One Click Updates: Easy to update as new versions are released.

Cons

Limited Support: Forum and email support only. No telephone or priority support
is available.

Client Stats: Client stats are very basic.

If you need a basic ad server with just the basics, then OIOPublisher may be the best
choice for you.

Now all that is left to do is start comparing your choices and narrow it down to the best
ad server platform for your needs. You may want to try several and then make your final
decision.
I have been in the business since late 1995 and have witnessed the
evolution of the third-party ad server, which has run its course.
I remember hard coding ads to fixed search results pages and then
extrapolating the largest traffic day of the month to report to the client the
amount of hits they received. I also remember when one advertiser
wanted to third-party ad serve its banners, my boss at the time said, Who
does that? No way!
But fighting the future is futile. Technologys progress is unstoppable,
especially when a problem is being solved.
The whole concept of the third-party ad server centered on standardizing
tracking for better accountability and optimization. Everyone counted
impressions and clicks differently, so agencies and their clients did not want
to rely on publisher provided numbers. Advertisers and agencies also wanted
the ability to track post-click activity to prove digitals value. The third-party
ad server became our way to prove ourselves and we have all been
handicapped, or maybe handcuffed, by that since.
DoubleClick largely won this race while Atlas bled into irrelevance. Since
then, some specialty ad servers have emerged, such as MediaMind for rich
media and Vindico for video. But now that Google owns DoubleClick and
Facebook owns Atlas, we must consider the implications.
Since Facebook blocks DoubleClick, will Google block Atlas? If that happens,
will Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL all need their own ad servers to block their
competitors ad serving solutions? You could argue that they already do with
their various demand-side platforms (DSP) and ad network solutions.

Additionally, most of us use a collection of fragmented spot solutions


specialty platforms for social, search, content and retargeting.
Lets be honest: DSPs would never have existed had the aforementioned adserving companies recognized the marketplaces need and desire to tie
buying and tracking directly to the inventory. So a handful of smart
individuals started their own companies and changed our business forever,
such that in the near future, it will all be managed via terminals (just ask
AdFin).
Consider what attribution platforms, data-management platforms (DMPs),
viewability and fraud technologies offer, plus the fact that most publishers
now have standardized counting, and ask yourself: Is third-party ad serving
dead? Do I need it? Has it become irrelevant and only still in play out of
habit?
If site analytics with tag management enables retargeting, automated buys
and dynamic optimizations, and if the DSP-DMP combo provides attribution,
reporting, viewability and fraud technology, then whats the role of the ad
server?
The fraud and viewability platforms like Integral Ad Science, Double Verify,
WhiteOps and Forensiq all audit publisher ad delivery, which used to be the
purview of ad servers.
Is the ad server now just another tech commodity? Nothing stops the DSPs
from rolling out their own formal ad-serving solutions. Most agencies already
use platforms like CognitiveMatch to dynamically generate ads anyway, thus
reducing the ad server to nothing more than the universal cookie by which I
drive my attribution modeling.
Yet, why cant I do that using another technology thats not pegged to one
publisher? If I use Atlas or DoubleClick as my universal tracking code, I am

by default forking over data to Facebook and Google. Plus if each of the big
houses has its own ad serving, I still need independent solutions to audit the
auditor(s).
So I dont need the ad server to audit my delivery anymore as I have better
solutions. I also dont need the ad server to deliver the ads anymore as I
have better ways to do that, too. Then we have the whole possibility of a
cookieless world where companies like Tapad are trying to solve for crossdevice tracking. Are the ad servers in this conversation? They arent.
So I declare the third-party ad server dead. Or at least, a dead man walking.

What is an Ad Server?
An Ad Server is a web based tool used by publishers, networks and advertisers to help
with ad management, campaign management and ad trafficking. An ad server also
provides reporting on ads served on the website. Finally, an ad server serves the
creative side: this means that the ad server or ad serving company also delivers the ad
to each users browser.
What are the other names for an ad server?
Ad Servers are also called Ad Management Platforms, Campaign Management Platforms,
Ad Serving Systems, Ad Platforms, Ad Tracking Systems, Advertiser management
systems, Mobile Ad Servers, Video Ad servers, Click Tracking Systems, Ad
Network Optimization Systems, Yield Management Platforms, Affiliate Tracking Systems
and Click Trackers.
How is an Ad Server different from an Ad Network?
An Ad Network sells advertising for a group of publishers or sites. An ad network may
sell ads for specific sites such as travel sites, or it may sell ads for many different types
of websites. An ad network sells advertising, but an ad server is used by both publishers
and advertisers. Ad networks also use an ad server. Sometimes a company that runs
an ad network may also sell ad serving solutions to publishers.
There Are Several Different Ad Servers
For Publishers These are designed to maximize ad revenue for the publisher. They do
this by serving first the highest paying ads then the next highest paying ads that are available

for each web visitor. Ad Servers make it easy for the publishers sales team or the trafficking
team to start a new advertiser on its site and to monitor how well that advertiser is doing.
For Advertisers, Marketers or Agencies These ad servers help advertisers in
campaign management. Rather than send copies of each piece of creative (i.e. each ad) to
each publisher on a media buy, agencies can send a line of html code to each publisher. That
line of html code calls up an ad directly from the ad server each time the ad needs to be
shown on the site. The agency loads the creative to the server once and can modify rotations
or add new units on the fly without needing to re-contact the sites from whom it is buying
impressions.
For Ad Networks These are similar to ad servers for publishers but provide additional
features that show the ad network which publishers produce revenue and which do not. They
also provide a log in for each publisher in the network to track what he has made that day.
Ad Server Features for Publishers
Impression, click, or action goals. Campaign stops when a particular goal is reached.
This is important, because advertisers almost never pay for over delivery.
1. Scheduling by date, day of week, and time of day. Campaigns can be scheduled to run,
for example, between Jan 15 and May 28, Monday-Friday during office hours (relative to
your server time).
2. Automatic Optimization. The ad server should automatically choose the best
performing ads for each channel and serve more of those. You can choose parameters such
as whether the performance should be all performance or only performance in the last week
or whether a good performing ad should serve a 100x more than a poor performing ad or
just 2x or more.
3. Even or Speedy delivery. Most advertisers prefer campaign impressions to be delivered
evenly throughout the campaign. Sometimes, however, you might have to serve a campaign
as fast as possible.
4. Support for third party ad tags. Publisher ad servers should have upload templates to
easily upload ad tags from major advertisers ad servers or the ad servers used by major ad
networks.
5. Support for 3rd party click tracking and cache busting. Most ad servers support 3rd
party click tracking. By inserting a click-command, which might look like
%%CLICKLINK%% into the 3rd party code, one can track clicks on 3rd party Flash and
Rich Media ads. Documentation for click-tracking should be provided on how to work with
most 3rd party ad tags. Cache busting insures that the ads are not stored in Web Servers
cache, but are requested from the 3rd party ad server each time. This is done by appending

either a random number or a time stamp to the ad server. Once again, most ad servers do
that. However a clear documentation should be provided.
6. Frequency cap: limiting the number of impressions per user per set time period, usually
by day but could per 3 days or per week or per hour.
7. Geo targeting: targeting by geographic location, such as Country, State/Province, DMA
(Designated Metro Area), City or Zip/postal code. This is done through a process called
Reverse DNS Lookup. The users geographic location is determined the users IP to a geolocation database. Most popular providers are: Quova, MaxMind and Net Envoy.
8. Other Targeting: Browser language targeting, time of day targeting, dial up or
broadband targeting.
9. Behavioral targeting: Targeting by a users past behavior. E.g. target users who have
previously visited finance sites or real estate sites. Retargeting ad serving is a version of
behavioral targeting.
10.
User Registration Targeting: Allows targeting to demographic data like age or
gender or any other key value pairs. Ad Servers often allow you to create many key value
pairs. The site should be able to pass user registration data to the ad server either as a
parameter in the ad call or in a cookie.
11.
Rich media. Support for large ads that appear above the content, or ads that
expand when the user mouses over them. Some ad servers charge extra for these ad types
and some dont.
12.
Serving Ads in Flash. Some sites or games are all flash. Standard ad tags dont
work in flash. The ad sever needs to have a .swf ad tag as well as an html ad tag if they can
support the serving of ads in flash.
13.
Online Reporting. Impressions, clicks, and actions broken down by site,
campaign, creative (ad), geographic location, etc.
14.
Reporting to Cell phones. Get reports on impressions, clicks etc to your cell
phone by sms.
15.
Ad Hoc Reporting: Ad servers often allow you to create your own reports. For
example can say put the name of the advertiser in the left column, put the channels across
the top of the report and show impressions in the center or the report.
16.
Action tracking. Most ad servers track post-click actions, such as leads, sales etc
that happen after a user clicks on an ad and goes to the advertisers site. Some ad servers
also track post-view actions, i.e. actions that happen after the user sees an ad, does not click,
but later fills out a lead form or purchases a product on the advertisers site.

17.
Inventory forecasting tools. Some ad servers employ sophisticated algorithms to
predict availability of inventory based on the weekly traffic patterns as well as campaigns
that have already been booked
18.
Technical Support and Customer Service. A 24/7 technical support team that is
knowledgable and that would assist customer to get an advertisers ads running.
19.
Ad Network Optimizaton. Advanced ad servers should be able to automatically
send impressions to the network that pays the publisher the most money. The ad server
should automatically get data from the network so that it knows which network is paying
more per ad size, per country and per part of the site. It is much easier to have the ad
network optimization technology built into the ad server othwerwise you will have to pay
10% of your revenue to another company to optimize the ad networks you sell to.
I hear a lot about Video Ad Servers. What is that all about?
Video Ad Server is an ad server designed to help premium publishers serve ads inside
flash video players. Serving ads inside flash is difficult. Serving ads inside video players
is more difficult. This is a growth pat of the market and selling pre-roll video ads is very
profitable. If you have videos on your site then you may need this. Be careful as some
ad server try to charge 10 or 50 times more for video ads- but others include video ad
serving at the standard price.
What is a self service ad server or a self service advertising platform?
This is a separate interface that goes on the publishers site. It usually looks like the
publishers site and it allows advertisers to buy advertising from that site without talking
to a sales rep and just using a credit card. Google makes over $5bn per quarter by
selling ads from its self service ad platform. Other sites are now also making significant
revenue by letting advertisers do all the work and buy ads with a credit card.

Best Ad Serving Platforms: DFP vs OpenX vs Others


For websites that make a significant portion of earnings from display ads, the choice of an ad
platform can be a very important one. Ad platforms generally handle the entire process of
serving display advertisements on a site, including the loading of individual ads and reporting on
performance. So what are the best ad serving platforms? Youll obviously want an ad platform
that, among other things, is easy to use, provides flexibility for both direct campaigns and
remnant monetization, delivers fast ad loads, and doesnt have hiccups that can cause you to
miss out out on revenue.

There are a number of ad platforms out there, including both free and paid options. Below are
very brief overviews of six popular options, along with some links to more in-depth reviews.

1. DFP Small Business


DFP, which was once known as DoubleClick for Publishers before being acquired by Google, is
one of the most popular ad serving platforms out there. It integrates easily with AdSense, a major
benefit for publishers who are selling some ads directly but monetizing remnant inventory
through the Google ad network. Other networks can also be used as well.
Cost: Free!
Further Reading: Below are some additional resources for learning about DFP.

DFP Small Business Maximizing Your ROI

Complete Guide to Using DFP

New to DFP?

Tutorial: How to Setup Google DFP for Selling Ads

2. OpenX
OpenX is one of the most popular ad serving platforms, serving a number of large publisher
clients. Similar to DFPs integration with AdSense, OpenX also features an easy plug-in to a
network of advertisers. That should be a very attractive feature if youll be relying on networks
to fill any inventory you dont sell directly.

Cost: OpenX is open source, so its also free to use.


Further Reading: Below are some additional resources for learning about OpenX.

United Online Chooses OpenX As Its New Ad Optimization Platform

Review: OpenX Ad Server

3. AdColt
This white label ad solution features allows for a number of different ad formats and several
targeting options. AdColt also has a click fraud monitoring system and real-time reporting, and
can accommodate in-line text ads, interstitial ads, and third party tags.
Cost: $0.02 CPM. This price is the same whether youre serving one impression or 100 million a
month. AdColt also doesnt require a long-term contract; their services can be cancelled at any
time.
Further Reading: Below are some additional resources for learning about AdColt.

AdColt Features

Compare Ad Servers

4. Adzerk
This ad platform features smooth native ad implementation and utilizes asynchronous ad codes
in order to improve speed (many other ad servers also feature options for asynchronous ads).

Cost: Plans start at $1,000 per month for up to 10 million impressions. Additional impressions
cost $0.02 per thousand. AdZerk offers a free 30-day trial and consultation for interested users.
Further Reading: Below are some additional resources for learning about Adzerk.

Ad Server Comparison: Adzerk vs. OpenX

How Adzerk Made It Big (With Reddits Help)

5. Broadstreet
Broadstreet is a smaller platform (they claim about 900 publishers) but might be worth a look for
smaller sites. This platform features editable ads for advertisers, a feature that may be useful for
small businesses who are regularly changing their messaging and promotions.
Cost: Theres a free trial version as well as paid products that range from a $0.01 to $0.05 CPM.
Further Reading: Below are some additional resources for learning about Broadstreet.

6 Ad Servers for Hyperlocal News Sites

6. AdButler
AdButler has been around for more than a decade, and is used by more than 10,000 customers.
Among the features they highlight are easy integration with other platforms (such as DFP and
OpenX) and rich media ad support.
Cost: AdButler uses a flat monthly fee pricing model, starting at $11.95 for 50,000 impressions
(a $0.24 CPM) up to $999.95 for 50 million impressions (a $0.02 CPM).

Bottom Line
Picking out an ad server is a huge decision, in part because it becomes difficult to switch once
youre up and running with a particular platform. Theres no universally correct choice here; the
best fit for your site depends on your exact monetization strategy. If your ad operations will be
pretty straightforward, its tough to beat the price and Google integration of DFP. If, however,
youre looking to sell and implement more advanced features, it might be worth looking at some
of the alternatives.
JOB ROLE

ABOUT THE ROLE

This role will be responsible for subject matter expertise on all of Centros third party ad serving
and data platforms, while working with the Media Strategy and Operations and RTB teams to
execute digital media campaigns.
ABOUT THE TECHNICAL AD OPERATIONS TEAM
The Technical Ad Operations team supports Centros internal Media Services teams to
troubleshoot technical platform issues, simplify 3rd party implementation processes and insure
operations between groups runs seamlessly.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Oversee day-to-day management of key ad serving platforms

Client onboarding

Technical documentation

Internal team training

Quality assurance and client site testing

Helping expand platform offerings by proactively certifying new ad solutions and


third party vendors.

Act as technical escalation for Search, Social, RTB, Analytical Solutions, & Creative
Services teams for items including and not limited to:

Troubleshooting third party ad serving issues related to standard display, rich


media, mobile or video

Guidance for correct implementation of mar-tech pixels (tracking tags, retargeting


& conversion pixels, etc.)

Integrating custom solutions for ad viewability, audience verification, brand


studies, fraud detection, or DCO

Investigating & analyzing ad delivery discrepancies, drawing conclusions &


developing actionable recommendations

Act as a technical resource for Creative Services team to troubleshoot creative


issues, related to HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS.

Proactively document and lead education for Platform & Campaign Operations regarding
technical limitations or product updates.
Join publisher and client calls and meetings as technical resource, as needed.

Centro is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or
applicant on the basis of race, gender, age, disability or any other basis protected under the law.
JavaScript Support Engineer
MediaBrix is the global leader in delivering cross-platform ad campaigns that create
emotional connections between brands and humans. The worlds top brands utilize our
platform to align with with emotionally targeted dynamic messages during Breakthrough
Moments (BTMs).
MediaBrix is currently looking for a JavaScript Support Engineer to create high-quality,
world class web content for desktop and mobile devices. This position is the primary
technical resource for our global sales team. The role entails developing a deep
understanding of our proprietary platform and integrations with third party systems
and will be responsible for managing and occasionally providing platform
demonstrations of our products to prospective clients, helping to advocate the unique
value proposition of our offering.

Responsibilities:

Provide technical support for local sales and QA/engineering teams to help troubleshoot
problem creative, delivery, ad tagging issues, etc.

Evaluate and perform integrations of 3rd party APIs into the companys core platform

Provide technical and operational support to local ad ops teams including troubleshooting
and identifying operational workflow enhancements.

Secondary responsibilities focused on the front-end development of the companys core


product(s)

Deliver & debug functional code with responsibilities pre and post release

Work with the back-end team to ensure product performance and proper implementation
of reporting data and analytic dashboards into the companys core products

Challenge established thinking, and discover new ways of approaching (and solving) a
problem

Experience:

Must have 1-3 years experience writing modern Web Applications leveraging
JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

Must have 1 year of advertising industry work experience

Expertise building scalable, asynchronous applications in JavaScript

Strong development and debugging skills, including Object Oriented JavaScript, HTML,
CSS3

Knowledge of MVC and MVVM patterns

Cross-domain scripting / Cross-domain debugging

Cross-browser, cross-platform, and/or cross-device compatibility

Experience with mobile development, including responsive design

Familiarity and direct hands-on experience with programmatic advertising


implementation and related concepts (DMP, DSP, ad exchanges, tracking pixels, 3rd party
tags, click trackers, ad server macros etc.)

Location: New York


In addition to our great environment, we offer a competitive base salary, bonus
program, stock options, employee development programs and other comprehensive
benefits. Please send a cover letter along with your resume when applying for the
position. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Ad Operations Coordinator
We are looking for a talented and ambitious Ad Operations Coordinator to join our growing
team. You will work closely with members of the ad ops team to in order to manage campaigns,
onboard new demand partners and acts a resource for the rest of the sales team. We have grown
from 23 million uniques per month to 140 million in less than a year, were hoping you can help
us make the next year even more impressive. You will have a real impact on the growth of
Sortable.
About Sortable
Sortable is one of the fastest growing startups in Canada, were a group of passionate people
solving hard problems.
Building upon our publishing roots our Ad Optimization Engine helps online publishers make
more money from their ads allowing them to focus on creating great content for their website.
Our system uses machine learning to discover which ads will pay the most and algorithmically
decides in real time what to do.
Why you should work at Sortable!

We are a hyper growth startup, you will have an impact on the growth of this business

Onus will be on you to perform and make things happen, minimal bureaucracy

Open and welcoming to new ideas

Catered lunches every day

Competitive salaries

Flex hours

Candy mountain it is what it sounds like, a big pile of candy (there is also healthy

mountain)
Learn more about working at Sortable

Responsibilities

Manage campaign, technology, client-side and other optimizations to drive performance

Oversee delivery of programmatic and RTB campaigns

Provide thought leadership on strategies and processes to deliver campaigns and drive
incremental revenue performance and business profitability

Analyze campaign performance, bidding strategies, inventory and exchange trends,


identify, escalate and resolve errors

Periodic evaluation of programs/partners/technologies/trends to identify new


opportunities, and present recommendations for growth

Work with marketing and product on the development of innovative new demand and
supply side products

Oversee onboarding of new RTB partners and new publishers

Act as a consultant on market specific trends and opportunities

Desired Skills and Experience

Strong technical and analytical problem solving abilities

Strong spreadsheet skills and experience manipulating excel data and consolidating third
party revenue reports

Experience and understanding of display advertising, ad-serving, etc.

An understanding of real time bidding a significant plus

Strong client facing skills

Demonstrated leadership and management abilities

Publisher relationships and buy-side experience a plus

Preference for candidates with experience in advertising operations, campaign delivery,


analytics

Proactive, entrepreneurial, self-starter

Strong quantitative ability and excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Thrives in a fast-paced and dynamic environment

Technologies Used

Productivity (Google Apps, Microsoft Office Suite)

AdExchanges (Rubicon, Google AdEx, Admeld, Appnexus, Pubmatic, OpenX)

Google DoubleClick/DFP

Side Platforms (DSPs and SSPs)

PMP (AdX, Openx, Appnexus, Rubicon)

Web (basic html, css and javascript a plus)

How to Apply
We ask that everyone who applies for a job at Sortable completes a challenge. It lets us know
how you solve problems and gives you an idea of what type of challenges we deal with every
day.
FierceMarkets, a fast-growing, highly profitable, online B2B media company, seeks an
Advertising Operations Coordinator to manage the execution and success of our online
advertising campaigns. This position will serve as a liaison between our clients, sales
executives, and editorial teams.
Responsibilities
Work directly with internal and external clients to obtain campaign assets and
provide support for creative related inquiries/issues.

Design banner ads, classified ads, and email HTML, as needed

Verify technical specifications, QA, implement and troubleshoot complex email and
or web ad campaigns.
Schedule and maintain ad delivery for online advertising campaigns. Monitor to
ensure that campaigns are in line with insertion orders expectations.

Identify and red flag serving errors and/or discrepancies.

Implement campaign optimization for performance and delivery

Manage, creative changes

Manage online advertising campaigns using ad serving technologies like; OAS or


DFP Premium
Collaborate with Inventory/Revenue Coordinators to achieve campaign delivery and
performance goals.

Use tools like fiddler to troubleshoot ad serving errors

Test new products

Follow QA checklist review for all campaigns.

Master ad server and related technical platforms used to perform duties.

Qualifications
1-2+ years of hands-on experience with OAS, DFP, DFA, Atlas, PointRoll,
MediaMind, AppNexus and/or other ad trafficking systems.
Understanding of basic; web ad serving concepts, terminology, and can calculate
CPM/CPA formulas

Working knowledge of/experience with HTML, Flash, JavaScript, and CSS.

Experience implementing 3rd party ad tags. Knowledge of tag types, how to modify,
and troubleshooting.

Can identify and resolve delivery/reporting discrepancies.

Experience creating email campaigns using HTML and Dreamweaver

Experience trafficking rich media campaigns, mobile application ad campaigns, and


demo targeted web campaigns
Experience with marketing/email systems like Marketo, Eloqua, and/or Silverpop is a
plus.
The Ideal Candidate

Self motivated and eager for a challenge

Strong attention to detail & work ethic

Solutions focused team player, who readily pitches in where gaps exist.

Interest in ad serving technology is a plus

Strongly analytical and proficient in Excel

Strong verbal and written communication skills

Excellent project management skills

Ability to function under pressure while managing shifting priorities

Extremely organized

Deadline driven

Professional

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is looking for experienced
professional who has in-depth knowledge creating ad serving campaigns using software such as
DFP, AtlasDMT, Appnexus OAS. Must have the technical depth to improve campaign serving
and a clear understanding of campaign reporting and analytics. Technical troubleshooting skills
are required for this position with the ability to clearly communicate to internal and external
groups on campaign status and recommendations. This position also requires the following:

Works with ad agencies to help trouble shoot online ads (includes Rich Media, 3rd party
tags, static, and HTML)
Monitors online inventory on a daily basis to optimize ad delivery and ensures campaigns
deliver on schedule and in full
Assists Sales staff by creating customized ad reports and provide ad inventory
Makes administrative decisions on how best to set up digital ads for optimal delivery
Monitors ad depository for incomplete or unclear order entries; check ad creatives to
ensure specifications are in place
Creates and launches 3rd party email campaigns using HTML files provided by clients
with the ability to trouble shoot or recode clients files as necessary
Implements, tests, and verifies ad campaigns have successfully launched
Updates HTML files provided by clients to include clicktags for ad delivery through
Appnexus
Demonstrates multi-tasking ability; keeps multiple projects on-track
Works closely with internal departments and external partners to ensure that appropriate
materials are received and/or distributed correctly
Works closely with media vendors and media teams to resolve reporting and/or billing
discrepancies
Engages with all work-related contacts in a professional and respectful manner

Attends all status meetings when appropriate


Ability to communicate and write in a clear and concise manner
Minimum qualifications:

Coursework leading towards the completion of a Bachelors degree (preferred), or an


equivalent combination of education and experience
A minimum of two years of experience in a relevant industry
Ability to communicate and write in a clear and concise manner
Proficient in Adobe Dreamweaver, Fireworks, MS office suite, experience with HTML,
HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript
Ability to multi-task
Effective time management skills
Strong analytical and organizational skills
Please visit our job information website http://www.aaas.org/page/employment-aaas to get more
information, and to apply to AAAS online.
AAAS is an EO employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment
without regard to race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age,
disability, veteran status, or other protected category. AAAS uses E-Verify to confirm the
employment eligibility of all newly hired employees.
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Real-time bidding has changed the face of online advertising, but theres still confusion around
what it actually is. Heres a primer, in plain English:
Everyones talking about real-time bidding. What is it?
Real-time bidding refers to the buying and selling of online ad impressions through real-time
auctions that occur in the time it takes a webpage to load. Those auctions are often facilitated by
ad exchanges or supply-side platforms.
K. So how does it work?
As an ad impression loads in a users Web browser, information about the page it is on and the
user viewing it is passed to an ad exchange, which auctions it off to the advertiser willing to pay
the highest price for it. The winning bidders ad is then loaded into the webpage nearly instantly;
the whole process takes just milliseconds to complete. Advertisers typically use demand-side
platforms to help them decide which ad impressions to purchase and how much to bid on them
based on a variety of factors, such as the sites they appear on and the previous behavior of the
users loading them. Zappos might recognize that a user has previously been on its site looking at
a specific pair of shoes, for example, and therefore may be prepared to pay more than Amazon or
Best Buy to serve ads to him. The price of impressions is determined in real time based on what
buyers are willing to pay, hence the name real-time bidding.

Why does it matter?


Historically, advertisers used websites as a proxy for their ads. If they wanted to reach sports
fans, they would buy ads on a sports-related site, for example. The advent of RTB has enabled
them to target their ads to specific users instead, per the Zappos example above.
RTB is the same as programmatic advertising, right?
Wrong. RTB is a type of programmatic advertising, but not all programmatic advertising uses
RTB. Some programmatic or technology-driven ad platforms let publishers sell their inventory
in advance for a fixed price, as opposed to auctioning it off. This is sometimes referred to as
programmatic direct or programmatic guaranteed.
Why is real-time bidding good for advertisers?
Efficiency. Thanks to real-time bidding, ad buyers no longer need to work directly with
publishers or ad networks to negotiate ad prices and to traffic ads. Using exchanges and other ad
tech, they can access a huge range of inventory across a wide range of sites and cherry-pick only
the impressions they deem most valuable to them. That cuts down the number of impressions
wasted on the wrong users but also minimizes the need for costly and unreliable human ad
buyers.
Ive heard RTB is screwing publishers. Is that true?
Some major publishers are wary of RTB because they feel it enables advertisers to pay them less
for their inventory. Increasingly, however, theyre becoming more comfortable with it as
exchanges and supply-side platforms enable them to control the minimum prices at which their
inventory is sold, often called price floors. This enables publishers to open their ads up to an
auction, but to set a reserve price that must be met in order for a transaction to take place.
Real Time Bidding 101
THE PROBLEM
Traditional online display advertising is inefficient.
For Advertisers, the cpm model of buying impressions in bulk is lacking because you are
purchasing impressions for the same price per unit, even though each one has a different value to
your campaign.
For Publishers, traditional display is inefficient because up to 70 % of their inventory is left
unsold or sold for next to nothing. Further, for many small publishers, also known as long tail
sites, there isnt a sales team which can properly sell their quality, targeted inventory, leaving
them wanting more from display.
As you can see, display advertising needs a shakeup to provide more value to both advertisers
and publishers.

THE SOLUTION: REAL-TIME BIDDING


RTB allows display inventory to be purchased by the individual impression through a bidding
system that unfolds in the milliseconds before a webpage is loaded by a consumer. The targeting
and cost efficiency opportunities presented by RTB are making it a revolutionary force in the
online advertising landscape.
HOW DOES RTB WORK?
There are 3 prominent players in the RTB landscape:
The Demand Side Platform
The Demand Side Platform (DSP) is a tool that automates the purchasing of online advertising
on behalf of advertisers. Advertisers use DSPs to set the buying parameters of their campaigns
and to monitor campaign performance.
The Publisher
The publisher provides the inventory. Originally, real-time bidding was only used on unsold
remnant inventory, however it is being increasingly used on premium inventory due to advertiser
demand and the higher revenues it is yielding for publishers. Some publishers may use Supply
Side Platforms, or SSPs, to help better manage and sell their inventory.
The Ad Exchange
Ad Exchanges are often compared to stock exchanges, however an ad exchange is really a
software tool that connects advertisers and publishers, facilitating the purchase of display
inventory in real-time through auctions that take place in the milliseconds before a page loads. It
is through these auctions that publishers are able to maximize the price for their inventory, while
advertisers are able to purchase individual impressions at prices that reflect each impressions
value to the campaign.
The Real Time Bidding Process
At its most basic form, the RTB process unfolds like this:
1. The publisher provides its inventory to an Ad Exchange, who is responsible for holding
an auction, during which the DSPs, on behalf of the advertisers, will place a bid on each
impression.
2. The value of the bid is based on the value of that impression, as determined by the
advertisers parameters with the DSP. The bidding process ensures that each impression
is sold at the maximum price, as dictated by real time market demand.
3. Once the bidding is completed, the winner is chosen and the ad is served on the
publishers website.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF RTB?


What are the benefits for agencies?

Increased control over campaign performance


Increased spending efficiencies
Better results delivered for clients

Click here to learn more.


What are the benefits for advertisers?

Enhanced consumer targeting capabilities


More cost effective reach and frequency
Near elimination of wasted impressions and ad dollars

Click here to learn more.


What are the benefits for publishers?

Delivers higher revenues on inventory through opening that inventory to a buying


market designed to maximize the value of each individual impression.

As you can see, real time bidding presents some amazing benefits for both buyers and sellers of
online display advertising are you taking advantage?

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