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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:
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)
Regards,
Pooja Chimnani
Dear Candidate,
28 May 2016
Time
10:00 AM-3:00 PM
Contact person:
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, 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
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:
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.
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.
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.
supports.
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.
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.
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.
Posted In:
Online-Advertising
4
inShare
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
then makes the very complex decision on which ad to serve using a program
called an Ad Selector.
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
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
(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.
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
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
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.
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.
Data Control: Your data is stored on the hosted ad server and is not 100% under
your control.
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.
Data Control: Your data is on your server and under your control.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Targeting: OpenX has extensive targeting. You can target ad display by content,
geography, viewing device, value pairs, audience and more.
Cons
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Real-Time Bidding: Adzerk has a real-time bidding option that enables you to
allow direct sold campaigns to compete against real-time bids.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Cons
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
OIO Marketplace: You get access to their ad marketplace to sell your unsold ad
space.
Cons
Limited Support: Forum and email support only. No telephone or priority support
is available.
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.
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.
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.
New to DFP?
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.
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.
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. 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
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
Client onboarding
Technical documentation
Act as technical escalation for Search, Social, RTB, Analytical Solutions, & Creative
Services teams for items including and not limited to:
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.
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.
Strong development and debugging skills, including Object Oriented JavaScript, HTML,
CSS3
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
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
Provide thought leadership on strategies and processes to deliver campaigns and drive
incremental revenue performance and business profitability
Work with marketing and product on the development of innovative new demand and
supply side products
Strong spreadsheet skills and experience manipulating excel data and consolidating third
party revenue reports
Technologies Used
Google DoubleClick/DFP
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.
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.
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
Experience implementing 3rd party ad tags. Knowledge of tag types, how to modify,
and troubleshooting.
Solutions focused team player, who readily pitches in where gaps exist.
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
As you can see, real time bidding presents some amazing benefits for both buyers and sellers of
online display advertising are you taking advantage?