As Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox gears up for its anticipated 2025 launch, mobile marketers need to stay ahead of the curve. Remerge, a leading Demand Side Platform (DSP), is at the forefront of this transition, collaborating  with Google and other ad tech partners, such as Verve, AppsFlyer, Adjust, and Singular, to ensure a seamless shift. Luckey Harpley, Staff Product Manager at Remerge, sheds light on what this means for the future of mobile marketing and how to navigate this new landscape.

Why Is Mobile Marketing Shifting to Privacy-First Advertising?

The rise of AI and sophisticated machine learning algorithms showcases the benefits of new technologies, but it also highlights the dangers of these advancements. People want more control over how big tech businesses manage their data. The advertising world is moving towards a privacy-centric future and marketers must adapt.

Apple made the first privacy move on mobile with the launch of its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in 2021. Google’s answer is the Privacy Sandbox, a set of APIs to facilitate the selling, buying, and targeting of in-app ad placements, without requiring third-party cookies in Chrome or cross-app identifiers on Android. For Android, this will provide tracking and reporting via its Attribution API, targeting through Topics and Protected Audiences APIs, and data collection and handling via the SDK Run Time.

Why are DSPs Like Remerge Already Working on Solutions for the Android Privacy Sandbox?

It’s important to avoid a situation like the ATT rollout, where advertisers and publishers were left in the dark before its launch and struggled to understand how to run campaigns after it came into effect.

We want to ensure everything is ready for mobile marketers to run privacy-compliant advertising campaigns on Android without experiencing a drastic decline in performance. Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in the first quarter of 2024, with a market share of 70.7% so this transitional period is crucial for the well-being of the mobile marketing ecosystem.

Does Google’s Decision to Keep Third-Party Cookies on Chrome Change Anything?

Google recently announced that they no longer plan to deprecate third-party cookies on Chrome and emphasized giving users the choice to opt-in to tracking. This update is unrelated to mobile. A similar approach is likely to happen on Android, where the GAID remains intact, and users can choose whether to share this with advertisers. In this scenario, nothing would change for mobile DSPs and their investment into Google’s APIs – the Android Privacy Sandbox would remain an essential framework for privacy-preserving advertising campaigns.

What Has Remerge Tested and Why Should Mobile Marketers Take Notice?

Remerge’s Research and Development team has been working on the Sandbox for over 1.5 years. They’ve focused on testing the Protected Audience API, which will allow advertisers to run retargeting campaigns on Android.

Tests have been completed with Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) like Adjust, AppsFlyer, and Singular. This includes developing a proof-of-concept for Custom Audience Delegation, a mechanism required for remarketing in Sandbox. This allows an MMP SDK to add users to custom audiences on behalf of advertisers based on their in-app behavior. Additionally, the first DSP/SSP on-device bidding test was conducted with Verve. These are small steps but important milestones for Sandbox testing, demonstrating that the Protected Audience API and custom audiences mechanisms are working as planned and validating product capabilities.

How Will a Mobile Marketing Manager’s Life Change When the Sandbox Rolls Out?

Advertisers won’t experience a considerable change in the buying process. At Remerge, marketers will continue to share their user data, desired campaign segmentation, and budget with the Account Management team as usual. Remerge will still be able to target users according to activity within an advertiser’s app and run creatives such as static and video. There’ll be no changes to CTR and CPX reporting, and for ROAS reporting, the data will likely have limited dimensionality, focusing on campaign and country-level reporting.

Google and its partners are doing the heavy lifting on the technical setup. Compared to ATT, the Android Privacy Sandbox is not only far more powerful with its targeting capabilities but also much more complex. This is a completely new tech stack with privacy-preserving mechanisms, and while we might see some performance dips initially, the long-term benefits are expected to be significant.

What About User Acquisition (UA) Campaigns?

While the focus has been on retargeting and the Protected Audience API, the Protected App Signals is supporting UA on Android. Although no industry players have made proposals on the Protected App Signals API yet, advertisers should reach out to their UA partners to discuss their plans.

What Can Mobile Marketers Do Right Now?

Advertisers should start finding a partner equipped to run mobile marketing campaigns on Android. Early adopters like Remerge, who have helped shape components of the Privacy Sandbox framework, will be well-positioned to hit the ground running when it launches.

The post What Should Mobile Marketers Know About the Android Privacy Sandbox Launch? appeared first on AdMonsters.

The “COOL” Company isn’t just a name; it’s a way of being. 

The new ad tech company, formed when Insticator recently acquired ADventori, seeks to mend the fractured ecosystem. Founded on the principles of creating a better experience for everyone, their comprehensive suite of solutions is tailored for every sector. Unfortunately, dissatisfaction is everywhere you look in our industry, but the COOL company aims to change all of that.

• Advertisers are unhappy with the results and the lack of transparency in their spending. 
• Publishers are frustrated with their ad revenue and how to maximize it.
• Agencies struggle to show results and find effective d channels for their clients.
• Franchise and other network businesses are frustrated by the gap between national branding and local ad execution.
• Worst of all, users are dissatisfied with the number and quality of ads they see. 

The ad tech ecosystem is in shambles, filled with too many competing interests, technology limitations, and outdated thinking. The COOL company is tackling this by serving each audience individually while uniting their ideas and tech for a rewarding experience for everyone.

The ADventori acquisition will boost personalization and improve user and advertiser experiences. The ADventori Dynamic Creative (DCO) platform helps brands align ad placements with their specific goals, allowing them to reach consumers effectively.

According to CEO and founder Zack Dugow (C.O.O.L.) stands for:

• CREATIVE: Respecting great ideas from everyone. 
• OPTIMISTIC: Solving daunting challenges with a positive attitude. 
• OPEN MIND: Welcoming innovative concepts and diversity.
• LEADERS: Tackling industry complications head-on.

We spoke to Zack about The COOL Company’s future and their plans to bridge the gap. Here’s what he had to say.

Impact on Publishers, Advertisers, and Agencies

Yakira Young: How will the ADventori acquisition enhance your capabilities in integrating advertisers, agencies, data, and publishers?

Zack Dugow: Our SSP, Balihoo.com, and COOLmedia.co business units benefit directly from integrating the ADventori technology into the stack, along with the customer cross-sell opportunities that are already underway. ADventori works with some amazing publishers and brands, including Disney, Airfrance, Hyundai, and many others, to which we can now offer other solutions. 

When looking at other DCO solutions in market, they seem very expensive for the value they drive. ADventori has a DCO platform built to serve the right ad to the right person at the right time with the most compelling content and format. Their ads, frankly, just work better. That’s a boon for publishers who live and die by ad engagement, advertisers who just want meaningful results, brands and partners who want to know that their investments pay off, and users who just want to enjoy the web and see relevant, helpful, attractive ads. 

Everyone wins with ADventori. It helps us because it allows us to better serve our clients in all of those roles – everyone gets a better experience through more personal advertising.

Users will see the right ad, with the right content/offer, at the right time, exactly according to the branding guidelines. That helps advertisers achieve better outcomes and return on their investment, and agencies gain greater insights into what works and how to leverage dynamic messaging to serve their clients. 

They can also expect innovation across our entire business, as the DNA of ADventori mixes with that of Insticator, OKO Digital, COOL Media, and Balihoo to foster innovative new ideas. Our publishers benefit from our direct relationships with these big advertisers, and our advertisers benefit from a more direct path to the publishers they serve on as well.  

YY: How do you plan to streamline operations and improve efficiency for your partners through this integration?

ZD: The ADventori technology platform removes the need to create specific ads to suit specific variables, instead drawing off a library of content to dynamically generate just the right ad for precisely the right moment.  That will benefit our partners as we broaden the reach of this technology throughout the US, Australia and the rest of our global operations.  

This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have already identified how many of our team members can help each other cross-functionally and are implementing that cross-functional benefit. It’s early in this union, but we have some exciting ideas on how the crossover of ADventori technology into the COOL company will create amazing results for our partners.

YY: How do you plan to leverage Adventori’s technology to enhance your offerings?

ZD: Our SSP will massively benefit from being able to cut out more middlemen and serve dynamic creatives and formats. We can expand upon our growth in COOL media and Balihoo by having our own DCO solution that more directly integrates with our technology.  

The great benefit of the COOL company is that we have business units dedicated to every element of the modern advertising ecosystem. For example, Insticator has always recognized that users’ experience matters; the more you engage and allow them to participate on your site, the longer they stick around and the more they return. That engagement has to be monetized for the publisher, which (typically) happens through ads. 

ADventori ads perform better thanks to their dynamic content targeting, which makes it easier for publishers to accrue revenue. Meanwhile, franchise businesses try to deliver a consistent national message, but ads are executed/paid for on a local level. ADventori can deliver franchise ads dynamically adjusted to a specific location while reflecting the consistent national brand in a virtual instant. Those are just a few examples of how our partners across the entire spectrum benefit from ADventori integration.

Challenges and Opportunities 

YY: What challenges do you anticipate in the integration process, and how do you plan to address them?

ZD: Obviously, with the immense benefit of a global team come the challenges of time zones, different cultural norms, communication styles, and more. So, it would be naive to think that integration will be easy. However, we carefully partner with people as we build the COOL company.  

Our hires, acquisitions, partnerships, and clients are selected based on compatibility with our values. I can tell you that Pierre-Antoine, Matt, and the entire ADventori team are COOL, so I’m confident we can overcome any hurdles.

YY: What new opportunities do you foresee emerging from this acquisition for your company and the industry?

ZD: There are too many to mention, but as an example, think about what might seem like an outlier in the COOL company, namely Balihoo. Balihoo bridges the gap in franchise and brand network businesses by ensuring collaboration among the national brand and individual locations and the performance of each location in the network.  

I can see the ADventori platform being used to create a level of consistent, compelling, locally personalized, and high-performing ads for franchise networks. Or, as I mentioned before, elevate the performance of engaging users on publishers’ sites serviced by Insticator.  It’s a perfect fit, so the opportunities are limitless – and every opportunity is for the industry and our partners, which will benefit us simply by serving them better and creating that better experience for everyone.

Client and Partner Relationships

YY: How have your clients and partners reacted to the news of this acquisition?

ZD: Honestly, it’s been a pretty well-kept secret to this point, so it’s early to comment.  However, we’ve certainly socialized the ‘concept’ of adding a DCO company to our ecosystem, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.  

Everyone gets it. Advertising connects brands to users but we as an industry execute it through agencies, publishers, and more. No party in that experience doesn’t see the benefit in more dynamic, precise, and effective ads.

YY: What steps are you taking to ensure a smooth transition and continued strong relationships with your existing clients and partners?

ZD: Simple…We won’t; we don’t, RUSH. We’re keeping all of our team members. We hope our existing clients and partners are excited about this addition, but we won’t take action until we can guarantee our ability to implement, scale, and meet the high service standards we’ve set since our inception.  

The biggest thing we’re doing is being cautious, perhaps even a bit ‘slow’; we need to make sure that we don’t bombard ADventori in a way that disrupts their relationships. We want ADventori clients to feel good about this, and that wouldn’t be served by creating a distraction that in any way impacts their experience. So, our first step is to add the resources of the COOL company to ADventori’s disposal.

Team Integration

YY: What cultural or operational changes do you anticipate, and how will you manage them?

Our entire philosophy and existing business respect differences and diversity. We already have teams positioned quite literally ‘around the globe’. We will manage this the same way we did when adopting what is now COOL Media, a company operating in Australia, 14 hours ahead of my most frequent time zone on the East Coast of the US. We respect their clocks, holidays, work/life balance, and their cultural norms. That’s all part of being COOL, decent, empathetic, and human. 

As for operational changes, we don’t want to disrupt anything that’s already working, so our focus is layering in the collaboration at first without disrupting ADventori’s (or our) operations.

Future Plans

YY: Can you share any plans for future technological advancements or innovations resulting from this acquisition?

ZD: It’s still early in our union to get specific, but we have plenty of ideas across our different business units for how the core benefits of ADventori’s advanced DCO platform can inspire innovations across our entire family of solutions. 

I can confidently say that the most profound innovations are almost certainly in areas I’m not currently thinking about. That’s the great part of a global team spanning Europe, Australia, the US, South America, and beyond. Great ideas come from collaboration without borders, and I’m incredibly excited because the ADventori team is COOL and will no doubt spawn great conversations and collaboration. Stay tuned.

YY: What are your primary focus areas for the next 12-18 months following this acquisition?

ZD: Our customers, clients, and partners. We’re big believers in the idea that if you do the right thing by those you serve, the rest takes care of itself. Our one and only focus remains on clients and partners and building the best possible experience for everyone. That may sound evasive or obtuse, but it’s the reality.  

Closing Thoughts

YY: Is there anything else you’d like to share about this acquisition or the future of The COOL Company?

ZD: We’re not done; we’re never done. No matter how many advancements we make toward creating a better experience for everyone in the advertising ecosystem, change will come. Changes in technology, economics, user preferences, etc. Our job is to stay ahead of those changes and continue to adapt. 

I just want our customers and partners to know that we are in this for the long haul and commit ourselves to adapting to serve them throughout whatever comes next. Our industry goes through a massive overhaul every two years, and the companies that win are always preparing for change. 

We hope to be the one partner that isn’t solving a single niche problem or providing a single, siloed service. We have visibility into the entire ad landscape and a dedicated business unit serving every stakeholder – which sets us apart.  

I don’t think it takes a genius to understand our mission and values.

YY: How can stakeholders stay informed about developments and progress as the integration progresses?

ZD: We are active on social media, and you’ll see more from the COOL company on LinkedIn and other platforms. We believe in meeting our partners where they want to meet, which means they engage with whichever COOL company directly intersects their role and connect across all our social, websites, blogs, and directly with their sales/account manager. 

Publishers are naturally served by Insticator and OKO, COOL Media services Agencies, Franchises by Balihoo, Advertisers by ADventori, etc. 

The post Transforming Ad Tech: An Exclusive Chat with The COOL Company’s CEO Zack Dugow appeared first on AdMonsters.

Since chatting with Elizabeth Herbst-Brady in October, everyone has been talking about Yahoo’s DSP nonstop. The hype isn’t going away anytime soon, as Adam Roodman, SVP of Product Strategy told us directly, that more announcements will come this year.

Sitting beachside at the Yahoo Cabana at Possible, we had a very in-depth conversation with Roodman about targeting and addressability. He assured us that Yahoo DSP’s upcoming developments will prioritize measurement. But before diving into that, let’s explore how Yahoo’s Identity Solutions are expanding into CTV. 

Yahoo Identity Solutions services include Yahoo ConnectID and Next-Gen Solutions, which launched within CTV environments, including Paramount, Tubi, NBC Universal, and FreeWheel. One thing that sets Yahoo ConnectedID apart from other identity offerings is that it’s a deterministic ID that easily attains consumer consent through a user’s relationship with the brand—no mystery there. 

Yahoo ConnectID has expanded to include 205 million unique users in the US and nearly 300 worldwide. With nearly 70% of inventory going non-addressable because users opt-out of authentication, Yahoo’s Next-Gen Solutions is the perfect savior.

With only about 30% of the inventory authenticated, Yahoo DSP leverages alternative signals and panel-based targeting through Yahoo ConnectID, allowing expanded targeting even without identifiers. 

Enhancing Connections: How Yahoo’s Identity Solutions Elevate Existing Partnerships 

If one thing is for sure, and two things are for certain, Yahoo isn’t new to this they are true to this. The CTV partners mentioned, along with others not listed, have long been big partners of Yahoo. However, these updates have the power to elevate these partnerships. 

“We’ve been accessing that inventory through various methods, whether PMP, PGD, or open market,” Roodman explained. “This just takes the partnership to the next level by allowing us to authenticate with them on the Yahoo ConnectID side. They are very excited about it. They see it as an opportunity to provide better advertising to their users; we see it as an opportunity to have better fidelity for measurement and targeting.”

According to Roodman, Yahoo DSP is the only one where you can actually test cookieless environments right now. They have developed the ability to strip out identifiers in real time, not only for cookies but also in apps. Stripping out identifiers in real time means that the DSP bidder lacks identifiers to auction or target against. 

While many other platforms offer buyers post-campaign analysis, Yahoo DSP provides this data to buyers in real time. 

Unlocking Unique Consumer Political Data with AdImpact 

The 2024 election will be one of the most competitive in a while, and local elections are looking for the most seamless ways to reach potential voters.

Together with AdImpact, a leading ad intelligence SaaS company, Yahoo DSP has gained access to viewership data. This new capability enables political advertisers to reach potential voters effectively and at the right time. 

In many instances, buyers can now leverage this data for their campaigns if they want to target audiences within 24 hours of a debate or other political event or wish to exclude audiences exposed to a political advertisement. This partnership offers better targeting and provides differentiated political viewership audiences for activation for local and national campaigns this election year. Although streaming accounts for about 38% of American viewership, political campaigns are only estimated to allocate 13% of their political ad spend on CTV.

Yahoo DSP to Infinity and Beyond 

According to Roodman, while Yahoo Identity Testing may only be applicable for another couple of quarters, they have been really valuable for those looking to get ahead of the curve. 

“The addressable world is expected to shrink from 75% of all inventory to less than 30% after cookie deprecation,” Roodman said. “While many DSPs are focused on the shrinking addressable, Yahoo Identity Solutions provides solutions for 100% of supply, regardless of identity state.”

Now that Yahoo’s customers can experiment with Yahoo ConnectID and Next-Gen Solutions, they are better prepared for the complexities of today’s ad tech. Tokohe ability to conduct A/B testing is facilitating improved conversations between Yahoo’s customers and publisher partners. 

While choosing a measurement provider is ultimately up to the advertiser, Yahoo ConnectID ensures the fidelity of targeting and measurement accuracy. This is largely due to the use of a  deterministic identifier, which is more reliable than probabilistic methods.

The post Yahoo Elevates CTV Advertising: Unveils Dynamic Identity Solutions and Politics Partnerships  appeared first on AdMonsters.

In early December, the ANA published its Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study.

It is a massive undertaking, as the researchers parsed the log-level data of 21 prominent advertisers to track the entire journey of their investments in the open web. Those campaigns represented $88 billion. 

Two years in the making, the study was conducted with TAG TrustNet. Here are some of the key findings.

The Average Campaign Spans 44,000 Websites

The report hypothesizes that the “long tail” of the web presents risks to advertisers, as those sites add minimal reach, and likely underperform in the quality metrics, including 12% lower viewability rates and 100% more invalid traffic (IVT) and brand safety.

Market Made for Advertising Sites Account for 21% of Impressions Purchased

Additionally, the study found that display ads account for 56% of media spend on MFA websites, and video accounts for 44%. 

What’s more, the study found a huge variation between SSPs in terms of the percentage of media spend from MFA websites on their platforms. For some, it’s as low as 1% while for others it’s as high as 70%. Clearly, some SSPs have strict policies when it comes to accepting MFA websites as clients, while others are far more permissive.

Private Deals are Not Exempt from MFA Spending

For many marketers, private deals and curated marketplaces are a safe haven from MFA sites. According to the report, that’s a false sense of security.

“MFA supply is growing. It represented approximately 5 percent of web auctions in early 2020 and grew to nearly 30 percent of all web auctions by mid-2023.”

PMPs range in the number of domains that participate in them. According to the study, the fewer the sites, the higher the quality.

Direct Supply Chain Contracts Can Increase Transparency and Efficiencies, Reduce Waste

Brands frequently lack an understanding of what data they legally have access to. The report recommends that marketers own their own access to the DSP so that they gain more control over their media investments, greater transparency, easier access to campaign data, and increase their own education and awareness around best campaign setup and configuration.

Advertisers Use Too Many SSPs, Which Makes Accountability Difficult

The average advertiser uses 19 SSPs, while some use as many as 53.

Not all SSPs offer the same level of transparency (e.g. only 19 of the 25 top SSPs offer log-level data). The report recommends that advertisers develop an SSP optimization strategy to hold them more accountable.

Information Asymmetry Puts Marketers at a Disadvantage

Information asymmetry — aka the imbalance in the nature and quality of information possessed by different parties in a transaction — is a serious issue for marketers.  Sellers typically have more or better information than buyers about the quality of media inventory being sold in auctions.

Misaligned Incentives: Advertisers Prioritize Cost Over Value

According to the study, advertisers focus too much on lowering the costs of the campaign, favoring cheaper inventory over more costly but higher-quality impressions. Are we surprised that the focus on costs leads to high ad spending with MFA sites?

Campaign Goals Misaligned with Campaign Metrics

Goals of marketing campaigns are often about driving metrics such as awareness, brand lift and conversion as well as return on ad spend (ROAS), and yet reach and CPM metrics rank higher than those goals.

Focusing on Quality Will Lead to a 20% in Ad Spend Productivity

The study revealed that if advertisers can measure and price inventory based on its quality, they can achieve an approximate 20% increase in ad spend productivity (range of 14 to 25 percent).

That, in turn, provides an opportunity for marketers to allocate +$20bn in programmatic investments more efficiently. 

Download the Report

The report is well worth downloading and reading in full, as most of it is a detailed playbook for advertisers to follow to optimize their programmatic expenditures to drive better results.

The post The $20 Billion Efficiency Opportunity for Marketers appeared first on AdMonsters.

In many industries, collaboration between partners is key to continued success of all players, and the digital media and ad tech industry is no exception. Publishers, SSPs, and DSPs need to work together to ensure all parties get what they need from one another. However, publishers often lament the lack of transparency and the slow evolution of SSPs. 

At PubForum New Orleans, AdMonsters’ Content Director, Lynne d Johnson facilitated a panel discussion to unpack this complicated topic. Panel speakers included Samuel Youn, Vice President of Programmatic, Chegg; Nick Coté, Senior Director, Supply, Madhive; and Peter Cunha, Managing Director, Ad Management, Sovrn.

SSPs Cater to Buyers Rather Than Publishers 

Publishers have expressed a desire for more SSP transparency, differentiation, and granular reporting among other things, and Cunha noted an evolution is beginning. 

“Changes started happening around the same time we started focusing a lot on the buy side, as a shift in where a lot of our engineering focus and investment went. I think we’re starting to see a lot of differentiation now in the SSP tier, and people making some interesting bets,” he shared. 

Part of this shift is due to where the money is coming from, noted Youn. SSPs make money by taking a rev share of the media sold on a publisher’s site but don’t have a say in where the money is spent. 

This means the control they have lies solely in trying to capture more of the proverbial pie, leading SSPs to prioritize buyers over publishers, and decreasing the incentive to evolve. 

“If I put myself in an SSP’s shoes. if I could build something with a finite amount of resources to get more budget from a buyer rather than get a publisher to say, ‘I really liked working with you,’ I would focus on the buy side,” Youn added. 

Changing the SSP/Publisher Relationship 

The question, says Coté, is how to build solutions that support the buy side and offer them insight into what they are buying. Then it becomes a question of where we can drive real value. 

“There needs to be a better way to communicate what buyers are looking for, and how things are performing. This information can be fed back to publishers, so they can understand how traffic is doing and where improvements can be made,” he proposed.

For example, if a publisher knew they were consistently coming in at only $1 under the floor price during auction, they could adjust their floor to garner more traffic. This could help publishers reach a larger audience and increase their revenue. 

Cunha shared that in April Sovrn eliminated its exchange rev share across all managed services. As of November, the company released a case study revealing this change drove increased efficiency for buyers and higher yields for publishers. This, he said, is the type of partnership Sovrn is pursuing for the future. 

“This was a recommendation from the steering committee we launched late last year, in pursuit of an alternative revenue model for SSPs to something that was more of a SaaS model. We charged Ad Management publishers a SaaS fee on a per-impression basis, eliminating the rev share. We saw more spend bias toward the Sovrn exchange path, now second only to AdX within that stack of 66 different SSPs. We also saw the publishers’ share of the media dollar increase by 16 percent,” Cunha explained. 

Innovating the Industry: Moving Toward a SaaS Model

Youn agreed that a SaaS model is preferable to how auctions typically run today where an SSP’s incentive is to look like a performance platform for a DSP. For the publisher, a Saas model…

• Provides a clearer view of how much of the media budget from a DSP is actually getting to the publisher
• Allows the publisher to assess SSPs based on contractual deliverables and SLAs rather than just where they rank in the publisher’s stack
• Provides budget clarity for the publisher as they have to pay for and budget for the SSP services rather than it just coming out of revenue share

Rather than focusing on getting the cheapest inventory, SaaS models help SSPs and publishers both understand the true value of inventory. It can also allow publishers to request specific deliverables from their partner SSPs, which will consolidate the space and lead to fewer, but higher-quality, partnerships. 

“Piggybacking off of that, on the DSP side, it’s the amount of bid requests we see where the floor pass to us for the same publisher is totally different between ten to twelve different names, and being able to leverage a SaaS business model to identify, ‘What is the source of truth here? Where is the actual price point? Who is running a dynamic rev share, who’s padding by a couple bucks on top of whatever they’re intending on selling it for?’” added Coté.

There is a chance to make a difference in the space and do things a new way, Cunha shared. “The opportunity here is innovating in a space that hasn’t really had that level of innovation in a long time. We’ve been so accustomed to rev shares after rev shares. That’s table stakes, but there’s an opportunity to differentiate from the gorillas in that sense,” he said. 

For SSPs to fulfill their purpose — offering value to publishers — they need to work in conjunction with publishers to find a solution that creates true partnerships. A rising tide truly lifts all boats; if all sides (SSPs, publishers, and buyers) work together on a solution, everyone can win.

The post Publishers Seek Strategic Partnerships With SSPs: Is a SaaS Model the Answer? appeared first on AdMonsters.

For many people it seemed like an allusive fantasy: A single DSP that could interact seamlessly with all DSPs, enabling media buyers to launch and optimize campaigns from a single interface and acquire inventory through whichever platform is best suited to achieve campaign KPIs.

Then came the bankruptcy of MediaMath and the idea of a universal DSP took on new urgency as media buyers were forced to learn new interfaces in a matter of days.

Long before MediaMath shut down, however, Mike Hauptman and Dan Bougourd were intrigued by the idea of a meta DSP. They both joined MediaMath in the company’s early days, but by 2018, they were itching to bring programmatic advertising to the mid-market advertiser.

They pitched the idea of spinning off a new company that would offer a meta DSP built on top of MediaMath to their bosses, who were game. That year they launched AdLib, a DSP designed to bring programmatic advertising to the SMB market through streamlined workflows.

Mike Haupman met with AdMonsters to talk about meta DSPs and the drivers that led them to build and launch one.

AdMonsters: You and Dan are programmatic old-timers. When did you first join MediaMath?

Mike Haupman: I joined MediaMath back in 2010 when the company launched the first self-service DSP. I was the first sales engineer and spent the next seven years building and leading the Global Technology Solutions team. Dan joined a year after me, in a similar role, supporting the expansion into the EMEA region.

Launching AdLib — A Meta DSP

AdMonsters: What made you and Dan decide to launch a new company?

MH: We wanted to make DSP advertising easy. The first tagline of AdLib was, “The Premium DSP for Everyone.” We saw the challenges that media buyers faced trying to access premium ad platforms such as MediaMath and others.

For media buyers at any size agency, it’s a complex business to learn a DSP interface, set up campaigns, and optimize them on an ongoing basis. And doing things like automation and scaling is incredibly resource-intensive. Now increase that complexity by factors when trafficking campaigns across multiple DSPs.

For midsize buyers, those obstacles are formidable. On top of this, they faced additional barriers to entry in the form of commercial commitments and large monthly and annual spend minimums.  These challenges combined to effectively bar midsize marketers from participating in programmatic advertising.

AdMonsters: To encourage widespread participation, you started by building a DSP for midsized marketers on top of MediaMath?

MH: Yes, at the time Dan and I were both intimately familiar with MediaMath’s APIs and customizing them. We wanted to explore new options and scratch our entrepreneurial itch, so we approached the MediaMath founders to see how they felt about us launching a really easy-to-use version of MediaMath. That’s what we did. Today, marketers of all sizes use AdLib as a meta DSP to launch and manage campaigns on top DSPs across all channels & screens

AdMonsters: Talk a little more about the concept of a meta DSP. What is it, and is it your goal to put all of the other DSPs out of business?

MH: Our goal is to work with all of the DSPs, leveraging the best of all worlds on behalf of our clients. 

The industry has talked about a meta DSP for a long time, which is a single interface that allows the user to login and run media across whichever DSP or DSPs are best suited to meet the object of the campaign.

For instance, if it’s a CTV campaign, Beeswax is a great option thanks to its efficient connections to CTV supply. If it’s a performance-based campaign Criteo is the way to go, because that platform is just incredible at driving performance-based programs across display and video.

A big benefit of a meta DSP lies in the opportunity to have a simple workflow tool. The meta DSP serves as the system of record for users, and they use the simple interface to build and manage campaigns, but AdLib, not the user, determines the best DSP to activate the campaign and manages the connections, gathers the reporting, and displays the consolidated results in a dashboard.

AdMonsters: So media buyers are still using multiple DSPs, but doing so through one interface?

MH: That’s right. Media buyers today access multiple DSPs so they can maximize results and minimize the risks of missing key audiences. But ask any of them and they’ll tell you it’s a time-consuming and error-prone process to set up campaigns in each one.

From an AdOps perspective, adoption, trafficking, and workflows are very different. It takes a lot of investment to teach people multiple systems, and employee churn leads to a loss of those investments.

The other challenge a meta DSP addresses is business continuity if a DSP, like MediaMath, goes dark. This is a reality that a lot of media buyers faced this past June.

Dynamically-Allocated Budgets

AdMonsters: How does AdLib determine the best way to allocate budget for a campaign?

MH: We’re building out a concept we call dynamically allocated budgets. Essentially, we look at the DSPs that are delivering the strongest performance per campaign and focus media spend there.

Let’s say a user sets up a campaign with a CPA goal of $10.00. The system will allocate 50% of the budget to one DSP 50% and the other 50% on another. AdLib will then determine over time which DSP or which set of DSPs delivers the best results for that budget. We further fine-tune the performance with media-mix modeling, as well as dark market / light market testing.

The concept of cross-DSP segmentation is something we’re still testing and developing.

AdMonsters: What is dark market and light market testing?

MH: Let’s say you start with two markets that are relatively similar in terms of size and demographics. Historically, media buyers run media in both markets with similar budgets and benchmarks. In other words, the buyer tests DSP A and market A and DSP B and market B. After a bit, the buyer compares the results to determine which market got the best lift from its baseline, and ultimately, which DSP drives better performance.

A meta DSP improves on this important process in a few ways. First and foremost, it eliminates the potential of user overlap, as the tests occur in different markets. Second, agencies can assess performance without holdout testing, or using pixels to segment users, which gets really messy really fast. Dark market vs. light market testing is cleaner and delivers a stronger signal without the complexity we normally associate with market comparisons.

AdMonsters: How has MediaMath’s bankruptcy affected your business?

MH: Prior to June we primarily worked with midsize media agencies, but since integrating with more DSPs beyond MediaMath, we have begun working with larger agencies. They’ve been receptive to AdLib because they too are struggling with the fragmentation and the soaring labor costs that are part and parcel of using multiple DSPs for their campaigns.

Publishers Get Audience Extension and Scale with AdLib

AdMonsters: Do publishers use your platform?

MH: Yes, publishers use our platform for audience extension services, which has traditionally been a highly labor-intensive task. There’s a lot of manual labor involved in finding their buyer’s audiences on the open web. A meta DSP automates this for publisher AdOps teams.

We’ve worked with several publishers in audience extension services where no humans were involved whatsoever. These campaigns are simply marked for amplification or extension, and they flow the platform and are activated across the appropriate DSP. Think of it as audience-extension-in-a-box.

AdMonsters: This sounds like a great way to scale campaigns without cookies.

MH: We definitely see a future for first-party data activation.

AdMonsters: And speaking of the future, a meta DSP seems like a good way to future-proof the media buyer’s ad ops.

MH: That’s true. While DSPs may come or go, the trafficker needs to worry about just one interface.

About Mike Hauptman – CEO & Founder – AdLib

Mike is a programmatic marketer with over 17 years of experience solving complex and large-scale technical business challenges for Fortune 500 brands, agencies, and advertisers.

Prior to founding AdLib, Mike was one of the first 100 employees at MediaMath, where he held various roles, including VP of Technical Business Development and Global VP of Platform Integrations.

The post Making Programmatic Easier for All with a Meta DSP appeared first on AdMonsters.

If the industry had a dollar for every time we’ve anticipated the impending doom of third-party cookies, we’d all be rich. At this point, fear-mongering is correct. Chrome is finally shutting down its third-party cookies in 2024. 

In preparation for Chrome’s third-party cookie deprecation, they launched the Privacy Sandbox and Google Topics API to help publishers, advertisers, and everyone in between prepare for this drastic industry change. The Google Privacy Sandbox team partnered with brands across the advertising industry to help future-proof the product, including RTB House. 

At the beginning of the year, RTB House launched AdIook, the first DSP incorporating Chrome Protected API. We spoke with Mateusz Jedrocha, VP, of Branding Solutions, Adlook, to understand how they developed this new world DSP, how integrating Google Topics API helps the ecosystem, and why publishers and advertisers should test the Privacy Sandbox. 

Andrew Byrd: Adlook is a new cookieless DSP that launched earlier this year. What has the process been like creating a cookieless DSP, especially with the Chrome cookieless deprecation deadline so close?

Mateusz Jedrocha: It’s been tremendously exciting. But it was easier for us than anyone else at this time because we are coming from RTB House group, a vocal and well-known contributor to the Privacy Sandbox. 

In general, creating a future-proofed media-buying platform is challenging. We’ve invested in the Privacy Sandbox, evaluated the ecosystem changes, and actively participated as a group. It creates new opportunities for everyone in the ecosystem. It’s beenchallenging since the DSP space is quite crowded currently. 

When building this, the challenging part was understanding how we could add value to the current market. The Privacy Sandbox and our approach to cookieless allow us to future-proof the tech. Future-proofing the platform has been one of the differentiation points for us versus some other DSPs on the market. 

AB: How does integrating Google’s Topics API set Adlook apart from other DSPs?

MJ: Certainly, there are two critical ways in which Topics API sets us apart. First and foremost, our uniqueness stems from our extensive utilization of AI. Our success as a group has largely been driven by pioneering deep-learning algorithms, as we were the first DSP to employ such technology. This deep learning AI excels in deciphering complex user patterns and behaviors, precisely what personalized targeting requires.

We’ve harnessed these same deep-learning algorithms to optimize upper-funnel objectives. Topics API integrates seamlessly with our system, enhancing our understanding of users and the value of specific ad impressions. This is instrumental for many clients who rely on our guaranteed outcome feature, ensuring cost metrics like cost per completed view. Topics API fortifies our algorithms by providing an additional signal, compensating for inherent losses in the AI-assisted signal ecosystem.

The second significant application of Topics API lies in our clients’ targeting needs. Many of our success stories are in the CPG industry, where demographic targeting tends to be broad, but data quality is paramount. The Topics API enables them to connect with a vast user base, particularly within Chrome’s 60% plus market share. This API is a dependable source of deterministic signals, facilitating precision targeting based on users’ behavioral patterns. 

AB: You have already leveraged partnerships with industry giants such as Kraft Heinz, IPG Mediabrands, Sanofi, SC Johnson, Mars, and PEPSICO. What has the testing process been like for AdLook while working with these brands? 

MJ: Certainly, we are in a time when clients are eager to explore different cookieless advertising strategies. The challenge, until recently, was the limited ability to conduct meaningful tests on a real budget, real environment. Most testing involved control tests, merely attempting to mimic actual user behavior. With the general availability of more robust solutions, we’re now witnessing a significant increase in scale. This, in turn, enables advertisers to conduct more comprehensive tests and experiment within a more extensive ecosystem.

To address this challenge, we closely collaborate with our clients to establish various testing frameworks. While cookieless advertising is a key focus, we’re also working with advertisers, including some of the prominent brands you mentioned, to test the viability of sustainable media budgets that maintain performance levels. Additionally, advertisers of different sizes are exploring attention-based frameworks and evaluating how transacting on attention as a currency can work for them. This robust appetite for testing is evident, and advertisers rightly expect support in understanding data, comparing strategies, and building strategies that are as comparable as possible.

As we move forward, more clients will likely continue exploring this topic as the availability of cookieless strategies continues to increase. It’s also crucial to note that we designed our DSP to serve current and future needs. Some brands already use our platform to improve campaign efficiency or leverage AI to optimize KPIs. In essence, the trend is not just about what will be but also about how we can enhance advertising effectiveness today.

AB: In what ways does the Topics API integration provide a more cost-effective and user-centric approach for advertisers?

MJ: The Topics API is a standout feature within the Privacy Sandbox. Its primary purpose is to enable interest-based advertising without resorting to third-party cookies or site tracking, addressing the rising concern over user privacy. From a cost-effective perspective, advertisers benefit because the Topics API allows them to better target potential customers, while utilizing browser’s data with no additional fees. Instead of scattering ads broadly, they can focus on users’ specific interests, derived from the categories of sites they visit, increasing their working media and making every advertising dollar count.

AB: What challenges and opportunities does AdIook anticipate for advertising as other industry players start testing Google’s Privacy Sandbox? 

MJ: The key challenges we face are related to adapting to changes in the ecosystem, especially regarding third-party cookies. With the coexistence of multiple currencies such as IDs, third-party cookies, and now, with the Privacy Sandbox in play, the challenge lies in determining the right timing and pace for the transition away from third-party cookies. We want to ensure enough time for testing while not prolonging the use of these cookies, knowing they will eventually become obsolete. We must learn how to properly manage the transition from traffic with faulty cookies to traffic without third-party cookies.

Another significant challenge we encounter is educating the market about the vast potential of the new framework. While it may initially appear as a passing trend, this transformation represents a remarkable opportunity for DSP and publishers. 

For example, the recent emergence of our Prime Audience — the first ad network leveragings protected audience API and Privacy Sandbox tools to provide valuable data to advertisers and collaborate closely with publishers. Conveying this paradigm shift as an opportunity is paramount, as we envision the development of an entirely new ecosystem around the tools and APIs currently under discussion.

AB: There is a demographic in ad tech that still needs to start testing the Privacy Sandbox. What advice would you give them? 

MJ: Initiate testing as soon as possible to grasp the dynamics and opportunities in the Privacy Sandbox. While the industry is slowly adopting testing due to limitations in scale and general availability, the tide is changing with more vendors and DSPs supporting these mechanisms. 

Testing has become more accessible than ever before, and starting now is crucial. However, it’s important to remember that testing is not a one-time endeavor, as there is no single solution to replace third party cookies. Brands and agencies should adopt a continuous testing mindset, as new ways of dealing with data and measuring performance will continue to emerge.

The post The Time To Start Testing Google’s Privacy Sandbox Is Now: Q&A With Mateusz Jedrocha, VP, Branding Solutions, Adlook appeared first on AdMonsters.

Remember when Verizon decided to part ways with Yahoo? Well, it was a blessing in disguise. Since Apollo Global Management acquired Yahoo in 2021, the global media and tech company has been up and up. Now, Yahoo is making strategic moves to drive value creation for its customers.

We spoke with Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, CRO of Yahoo, during a break between sessions at Advertising Week NY. Navigating working under new owners can be an adjustment; however, Herbst-Brady refers to the last two years as an amazing journey, starting with the appointment of Jim Lanzone, Yahoo’s CEO.

“Previously, there was Yahoo Finance, Yahoo sports, email, the news ecosystem, ads and subscriptions, which is really the legacy AOL business,” Herbst-Brady explained. “You would think it was just dial-up, but it is way more. He put GMs in place for each of those businesses.”

As CRO at Yahoo, she is the General Manager of the advertising business, which mainly consists of the DSP. She also develops monetization strategies that help elevate the company’s future. In a sea saturated with undifferentiated SSPs, Yahoo decided to shut down its supply-side business earlier this year to focus on the buy-side and provide direct connections to publishers.

Yahoo Advertising: From Four Intermediaries to One

When Apollo Global first acquired Yahoo, the media and tech behemoth had four technology platforms. It all started with their SSP, Gemini (their native platform), their DSP, and their reserved ad server. But today, in 2023, Yahoo is DSP-focused and offers advertisers direct access to their own media properties.

With direct consumer relationships, exclusive 1st-party data partnerships, and premium omnichannel inventory, the Yahoo DSP operates in a space between walled gardens and independent ad tech companies. 

After evaluating their other ad tech platforms, the DSP realized the most success, making it easy to rule out the other three ad tech counterparts. It was really based on the ‘may the best man win’ ideology. 

In February, Yahoo created a transformational partnership with Taboola, which allowed them to shut down their native ad platform, Gemini. Now, Taboola serves as Yahoo’s native platform, and they are fully focusing on their product and engineering resources. As a by-product of this move, Yahoo also exited the SSP and exchange business, further highlighting the difficulties some SSPs have had differentiating themselves and proving their value to publishers.

 Now known simply as Yahoo Advertising, the DSP-focused business is rolling out numerous products and partnerships to offer clients and partners better reach, relevancy, and results. 

Yahoo Backstage: A Direct Path to Premium Publisher Inventory

 In their ad tech reinvention, Yahoo focuses on three main tools to connect the buy side with premium inventory and quality audiences. For starters, they rolled out Yahoo Backstage, an exclusive offering accessible solely through Yahoo’s DSP. It provides:

• A direct avenue to curated premium publisher inventory
• Transparency and optimization within the supply path
• Maximized media spend and ROI for advertisers

Setting it apart from other Supply Path Optimization (SPO) solutions in the market, Yahoo Backstage capitalizes on the robust publisher relationships established by Yahoo over the years through its now-retired SSP.

That noteworthy roster of premium publishers includes Yahoo’s owned and operated properties and over 100 others, including A+E Networks, Dotdash Meredith, Newsweek, Raptive, The Arena Group, and VIZIO. Almost 40 of these are Connected TV (CTV) publishers, making it the most extensive representation of direct CTV supply currently available. Seamless expansion of CTV inventory into Yahoo Backstage is facilitated through integrations with industry leaders like FreeWheel, Magnite’s SpringServe, and Publica by IAS.

“We have something called the cross-platform planner, which allows you to understand incremental reach, meaning when you’re looking at something on your phone from some advertiser and then watching something on television, or maybe you’re looking at something on your computer and when you see the same ad over and over and over again like that’s super annoying, right?,” Herbst-Brady explained. “For the DSP, our job is to make sure that brands understand the audience they are reaching.”

With the ad tech hot topic du jour being wasted advertiser spend on MFA sites, it’s worth noting that Jounce Media credits Yahoo Backstage as the largest source of MFA-free supply in the open Web. 

What about ID Solutions?

Like the rest of the digital media and ad tech industry, Yahoo is dedicated to solving the identity and addressability issues that will result from the cookiepocolypse. Yahoo has some pretty extensive identity solutions that can help advertisers connect with their intended audiences. 

Yahoo ConnectID, their addressable identity solution relies on known, logged-in users, and Next-Gen Solutions, designed to address non-addressable audiences at scale across targeting, buying, and measurement. The major tech company also recently unveiled strategic partnerships with LiveRamp and Twilio Segment to further enhance advertisers’ reach.

Yahoo’s Connected ID Partnerships

LiveRamp: Yahoo recently announced a significant partnership between its ConnectID and LiveRamp to broaden the reach of their cookieless identity solution and enhance addressability within the advertising ecosystem. Publishers utilizing LiveRamp’s Authenticated Traffic Solution (ATS) will now have the opportunity to harness the benefits of Yahoo ConnectID. This collaboration enables Yahoo to tap into additional addressable demand within the Yahoo DSP, catering to the evolving dynamics of the cookieless world.

Brands utilizing Yahoo’s DSP stand to gain increased reach through Yahoo ConnectID, now enriched with expanded scale from LiveRamp’s ATS. This strategic alliance emphasizes a concerted effort to empower publishers and advertisers with enhanced tools and capabilities, which is essential for an evolving ecosystem.

Twilio: Yahoo ConnectID is now directly integrated with Twilio Segment customer data platform, which helps advertisers future-proof their business while activating first-party data across screens in a cookieless world. Twilio Segment users can now seamlessly synchronize hashed, cookieless data with their real-time customer profiles, allowing them to enhance the reach and relevance of their campaigns.

Integrating Yahoo ConnectID with Twilio Segment ensures greater relevance and reach for advertising campaigns and emphasizes the importance of precise measurement in gauging campaign success. Advertisers now have the means to confidently navigate the cookieless world, leveraging the combined strengths of Yahoo ConnectID and Twilio Segment for more impactful and targeted advertising efforts.

Should Other DSPs Take Notes From Yahoo?

Yahoo has been resolute in its pursuit of value creation for marketers. The decision to streamline operations and exit the SSP and exchange business reflects a keen awareness of monetization dynamics and a commitment to delivering meaningful value to advertisers and publishers alike.

The post How Yahoo Is Doubling Down on Buy-side Offerings, As Told by CRO Elizabeth Herbst-Brady appeared first on AdMonsters.

The digital ad graveyard welcomed a new occupant and sent shockwaves through the digital advertising industry. MediaMath filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and the ad tech community has started to mourn the once beloved DSP. 

Some flocked to social media to display their shock and disappointment, but the ecosystem is scrambling to determine what this means for their business. Alongside the legacy of being one of the most well-regarded DSPs, MediaMath also left behind a $100 million debt. This puts SSPs between a rock and a hard place as they must decide if they can or will pay back publishers after the debt MediaMath left behind. 

The bankruptcy raises concerns about sequential liability and the potential impact on publishers. As publishers face the possibility of non-payment for inventory purchased through MediaMath, industry experts emphasize the need for careful assessment, proactive communication, and a reevaluation of payment processes. While the effects of MediaMath’s closure may not be catastrophic, it sheds light on the fragile nature of the ad tech ecosystem.

“Any time you have a sudden exit of a major participant in a market, it’s deeply concerning,” said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next. “Until last week, MediaMath successfully bid on and placed advertising across much of the industry, including premium publishers who invest billions into creating high-quality entertainment and journalism.” 

Will the Debt Fall on the Backs of Publishers? 

While there is concern about the amount of debt MediaMath left behind, some ad tech professionals believe that MediaMath shutting down will impact the ecosystem less than the initial panic suggests. They cite that MediaMath’s presence as an ad buyer dwindled over the last couple of years.  

“MediaMath shutting down isn’t as impactful as it would be if a company like The Trade Desk were to shutter,” said Ana Milicevic, a principal at the digital-ad consultancy Sparrow Advisers. “so publishers aren’t potentially out as much as they would have been when the company was at its prime.”

But plenty of money is still left on the table amongst the $100 million debt. How will SSPs choose to act? The common consensus is that most publishers won’t get their money back. Although some have made promises, as Justin Wohl, Chief Revenue Officer at Salon.com, suggests, some SSPs, like Media.net, have affirmations that they will eat the difference if MediaMath doesn’t pay.

Emry Downinghall, SVP of Programmatic Revenue and Strategy at Unwind Media asserts that decision-making will vary from each SSP, and the repayment process looks grim. 

“While there could be some variation in how SSPs choose to react, it’s most likely publishers will not be paid for outstanding balances owed to them by their SSP partners for inventory Media Math purchased through the SSP pipes,” said Downinghall. 

Additionally, publishers have expressed concern about the possibility of lower bid density as the process was already at a low point in the year. With a major DSP like MediaMath gone, many SSPs will be looking for a new home. But that is a short-term consequence. Long-term, Marc Boswell, Chief Revenue Officer at LoveToKnow Media, believes that the bankruptcy could revamp the entire repayment process. 

“Based on the outcome of outstanding debt payments, there may be repercussions and changes to how payment terms are structured,” said Boswell. “This could be an interesting point of contention since most publishers aren’t directly controlling which DSPs are bidding on their inventory.” 

Reaching Across the Aisle: SSP and Publisher Relationships 

For publishers worried about repayment, sources suggest you rely on your relationship with your SSP partners. While MediaMath’s bankruptcy is unfortunate, publishers can review and strengthen their SSP payment and aging processes.

“First, utilize SSP reporting to understand your level of exposure to potential non-payment issues and communicate that across your organization. Then, reach out to your SSP partners, particularly ones where your exposure is more significant, to understand their course of action and how they plan to respond to these challenges, suggests Downinghall.” 

To navigate this challenging situation, publishers must assess their exposure, engage with SSP partners, and fortify their payment processes. Although the effects may not be catastrophic, the incident underscores the need for transparency and reform within the ad tech ecosystem. Publishers can mitigate risks and foster a more resilient industry by collaborating and implementing prudent measures.

The post MediaMath Bankruptcy: Impact on Publishers and the Fragile AdTech Ecosystem appeared first on AdMonsters.

The daily routine of an ad ops manager, whether they work for a marketing agency or represent a web content publisher, is pretty much like a board game. Stumbling blocks are all around, even when they do not expect them. Not that ad ops managers should “beat the card” in the blink of an eye. Otherwise, the challenge isn’t considered accepted, and the cost of failure is too high, like lost revenue, customer churn, or rising TCO. 

Are there lifehacks for ad ops managers to come out on top even when the cards and fortune seem to be against them? We’ve gathered grandmasters around the table for the Ad Ops Challenge board game.  

Meet Vladimir Lyubarskiy, Oxagile’s Chief Solution Architect, who’s an old hand at this game, continually interacting with ad tech clients, knowing their reasons for frustration inside out, and helping them deal with it.  

We also have a guest, Oxagile’s ad tech expert partner and advisor, to absorb his business advice on how to counteract ad ops issues — whether a supply or demand-side pain — on the go. 

Are you up for the Ad Ops Challenge board game? 

Showing the First Card “DSP Diversity” 

What challenges does it hide? 
Disparate statistics

Scenario Behind 

An advertising operations manager at a marketing agency is sick and tired of accumulating ad statistics from miscellaneous demand-side platforms. Aiming to address all client wishes, the agency picked five DSPs for daily use, including DV360, The Trade Desk, and Samsung DSP, which added to the headache caused by exhausting reporting activities.  

Days are stolen from extracting data from several isolated systems and then aggregating uncoordinated reports into one clear picture to demonstrate ad efficacy. Good old methods like Google Docs do not work, as they’re more about manual operations than process automation. The question is, how to redeem the ad ops manager from professional burnout?

What the Move Should Be 

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “That’s exactly the story we banged against while liaising with a digital advertising agency operating across the Latin American market. A couple of DSPs were actively utilized – and tons of side effects to overcome, among which was a daily reporting challenge.  

Instead of persuading the client to make do with obsolete would-be reporting tools, our team designed the architecture of a DSP aggregator solution. Its primary benefit for reporting was the ability to gather the advertising statistics from all DSPs to introduce meaningful dashboards to all interested parties.” 

AdTech advisor: “Occasionally, the DSP Diversity card represents a no less serious challenge for ad ops managers serving the supply side’s best interests. They’re permanently watching how their inventory spaces perform, aiming to generate win-win sales packages that are both highly demanded by their clients and profitable for their business.  

An aggregation tool can go far beyond DSP functionality and speed up getting the insights for AdOps specialists responsible for managing multiple supply-side solutions.” 

Image: DSP aggregator solution architecture 

The Next Card Is “Campaign Setup”

 Is any challenge concealed? 
Wasting time and efforts 

Scenario Behind

The more manual movements involved, the higher the risks of errors during the ad campaign setting processes. An AdOps manager, who works for a digital advertising company, relies on a handful of DSPs, which slows down the launch of any advertising activities.  

Despite utmost concentration, he’s not immune to flaws, as each system incorporates a few specific nuances related to ad campaign tunes. Maneuvering between different DSPs commonly crystallizes in accidental processing lapses. What about fixing this human-centered, error-prone paradigm? 

What the Move Should Be 

AdTech advisor: “It’s not rocket science, but automation is key. The right strategy is to seize the opportunity given by ad campaign runner software solutions instead of going on with tiresome hand labor leading AdOps managers to nowhere or too ungrateful processing and poor ad campaign outcomes.  

On top of multiple DSPs, such tools introduce a common UI for ad campaign setup. No need to follow a longer route by switching between DSPs and tracking custom settings for each. You want to make essential changes once, and they’ll be scaled across all DSPs.” 

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “That’s the scheme that works for our AdOps Challenge board game in case ad operations specialists suffer from the tedious ad campaign creation. From a technical perspective, it’s possible to integrate all DSPs taking part in the ad campaign management under one roof through an API – no cheating, process optimization only. A unified UI marvels when there’s a need to switch between ad campaigns and perform tiny fixes instantly. 

It’s High Time for the “Performance Metrics” Card  

Any hidden threats? 
No unified measurement  

Scenario Behind

The heterogeneity of ad campaign performance metrics, depending on distribution channels (linear, digital, or CTV) and geo, audience, and device type, hinders an AdOps manager from making up an all-embracing picture of an ad campaign’s success. When clients’ expectations are not satisfied due to the absence of measurability standards (they’re frustrated by disputable performance measurements), the AdOps specialist experiences the drawbacks of linear TV measurement and fights against CTV attribution issues.   

Feeling the acute need for a functional measurement solution, he’s querying which would be the best bet here. 

What the Move Should Be  

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “Some of the ad campaign requirements can be addressed by involving existing platforms and audience measurement products like Samba TV. 

Pay heed to Nielsen, which laid a foundation for linear TV advertising measurement. Despite being considered a bit outdated, it’s moving forward and introducing a new Nielsen ONE Ads product for measuring media. Comscore, VideoAmp, and iSpot.tv also act as advanced solutions for ratings and audience measurement.”

Let’s Move on to the Card “Smart Targeting”

What does it keep from us?
Lack of data 

Scenario Behind  

A marketing agency’s bidding around all media channels is still far from the ultimate bidding strategy. The absence of their data for a more thorough analysis prevents them from enriching DSPs’ significant data selection. Is a shift from an all-around ad presence to smart bidding possible? And if so, what are the ways to target more wisely and access lucrative audience categories? 

What the Move Should Be 

AdTech advisor: “While marketing agencies suffer from the lack of fully owned audience records, even companies with the ability to collect such data also experience targeting issues. Significant data losses are common after the data management platform (or DMP) processing steps in, so it becomes challenging to reap their fruits. 

To recap, brands with data sets can’t avoid a partial leakage after sending data to DMPs when bringing them to a common standard. No in-house data available? This case jeopardizes the efficiency of ad targeting.” 

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “To be fair, publishers and content owners are not sitting on their hands, continually combating this data lack issue through metadata enhancements. Although metadata management allows for enriching audience data with contextual, some unsatisfied demands on the advertisers’ side remain. The latter needs a more thorough understanding of the environment where their ad assets occur. And there are grounds for hope.  

Time to get out a Joker from the sleeve. Its name is Computer Vision, and this is one of the true ways to improve ad targeting tactics with AI technologies to gather contextual data for better comprehension of the audience’s needs. The prize will be optimized conversions.” 

“Order Management” Card Enters the Game 

What can go wrong here? 
Reconciliation hurdles 

Scenario Behind

An ad ops manager in charge of order management and tracking often finds himself at the crossroads, thinking about how not to get lost in numerous accounts and accurately process both incoming and outcoming payments.

In the meantime, multicurrency accounts and systems should be carefully managed, and this process is not necessarily automated, so the ad ops specialist should watch all transactions closely. 

Profit margin calculations also request careful guidance to gauge the revenue degree. Is this process doomed to chronic manual operations? 

What the Move Should Be 

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “Not necessarily, if we choose the automation path again. This will provide us with a tool for accumulating all systems and line items to answer the question “Who owes who?” and generate unified reports transparently depicting all payment transactions.” 

“Client Collaboration” Card Comes Into Play 

There’s the snag! 
Processing lags 

Scenario Behind 

A huge TV production studio embracing many digital and linear channels is actively targeted at monetizing advertising across all these platforms. What’s going on now? The truth is that an ad ops manager feels ill at ease trying to wade through the info on the available ad inventory spaces scattered across a range of applications. Selling flow processing is full of pitfalls, which unsettles the advertising operations specialist and results in a few mistakes. Clients seem furious as their requests are kept on ice, and above all, it takes ages to generate competitive ad inventory offerings for advertisers the production studio collaborates with.  

What the Move Should Be

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “Here I see the demand for converged video ad workflows around a multi-platform content distribution model. So this time, our Joker is likely to be called automation – we’re coming closer to the goal of monetizing advertising on both linear TV and digital (OTT) channels in an efficient fashion, leveraging an established process from direct sales of primary inventory to programmatic to backfill remnant inventory. 

A custom software solution will let the ad inventory seller switch between numerous apps, increasing the overall converged efficiency of an ad selling flow. Regarding the already existing options that help you manage linear and digital ads with relative ease, these are WideOrbit and Landmark. I’m not saying they are a plaster for all sores – they’re still offering different flows for linear and digital, which clamors for further adjustments.” 

Last but Not Least: “Chasing Higher Sales Revenue” Card

What lies beneath? 
Forecasting gaps 

Scenario Behind

Being a part of the TV industry’s leading content provider and distributor, an ad ops manager is becoming increasingly puzzled when brands and marketing agencies request the approximate spend on ad inventory. Making a bad bargain is likely to happen if not to generate different inventory package prices. But how do you determine which inventories should be higher priced so as not to sell too cheap? 

What the Move Should Be 

Vladimir Lyubarskiy: “I’d create a solution powered up with prediction mechanisms, letting AdOps specialists forecast impressions as accurately as possible across linear and digital channels. Why is it advantageous for both parties? The content distributor generates converged ad sales packages and determines premium inventory spaces, thus maximizing revenue, while their clients get a transparent picture of upcoming expenses.” 

Is there an AdOps Challenge card that’s still in the deck, unopened, that you want to beat? Oxagile has more Ad Tech tricks to help you achieve that. Just give them a sign, and you’ll triumph in this game. 

The post How to Win a Board Game Full of Ad Ops Burning Challenges appeared first on AdMonsters.