Journey Of Online Media

Learn Ad Operations – New Blog to Learn from Basics

2020-08-08T12:52:00.001+05:30

It’s been a long time we are posting a piece of content on this blog! We are working with Learn Ad Operations blog to post the new content on Online advertising from basics. This blog will help you learn the online advertising concepts with various articles.

Learn Ad Operations blog started by a few digital marketing professionals with 10+ years of experience in the industry. The team will help answering your questions via comments under each post and try clarifying all sought of questions within a day.

This blog is also going to publish articles on Programmatic Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and other digital marketing channels. You will also find a few lifetime free digital marketing courses from various well-known online learning platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, CourseEra, Google Digital Garage and other platforms.

This blog will publish at least 3 - 5 articles on a weekly basis and active most of the time in a day to answer in case of any questions from the readers.

You can also follow social media handles of Learn Ad Operations on Facebook via Facebook page and private Facebook Group to meet likeminded hundreds of digital marketing professionals. Also, the team has started posting Ad Ops jobs in their Facebook Group where you can follow them to get curated job alerts every day.

Learn Ad Operations team is active on LinkedIn where they share new articles on their LinkedIn profile which has 700+ connections from the online advertising industry. You can also follow LinkedIn Page to get daily alerts on the industry updates.

You can also follow their Instagram page to get industry updates periodically. However, they are not always active on Instagram platform to answer any questions via DMs or Comments.

Last but not the least, you can directly contact them via Contact Us page on Learn Ad Operations blog or you can directly send an email to their email ID info@learnadoperations.com in case of any questions.

We hope you learn Online advertising basics by visiting this blog and please share this blog with your friends who are looking to learn online advertising from basics.

How Digital Marketing Is Affecting the Growth of Small Business (SMB)

2013-11-05T18:38:00.000+05:30

Digital marketing is an essential and cost effective strategy to promote small/medium business. An online marketing strategy is an important part of the overall marketing strategy of a business. This is true whether or not a company is doing business online. It is also true for a small, medium or large size company but especially true for a small company.

Small business marketing for a local company can include many offline local advertising methods but needs to include a healthy portion of internet marketing strategies to be successful and maximize sales in today's economy. A small business that is doing most or all of its business online, needs to embrace an internet marketing strategy that helps it be seen by online users.

Five Key Areas of Online Marketing for Small Business

There are five areas of online marketing to improve the growth of small business. Some of them are more important to local, offline businesses, while others are more effective with online businesses. Many businesses engage in all five areas of small business marketing on the Internet.

Search Engine Marketing
This portion of digital marketing is critical for a small business. It provides a chance to compete with larger companies by being visible in search engines. Since people use search engines to find products both online and locally, it is important that your company place top in search results for words that relate to what you are selling. Professional Internet marketing firms offer this service under the name of search engine optimization. They can make sure your site is visible to those looking for your product when using a search engine.

Local Search Marketing
This includes website optimization for search results, but in addition, integrates a search engine's function of maps. This is especially true with Google, where your business can be listed with mapping and address information, giving a prospective customer what they need to visit your establishment. Your phone number and website address can also be listed. Customer services will often be available to help someone decide if they are interested in your product or service.

Content Marketing
This strategy revolves around providing a prospective customer information about your product or service, as well as information in general. People will attribute a certain level of expertise to a company, and this instills confidence in the consumer. Content marketing in the past was often done with printed brochures and guide books, but today, this can be done with articles and other forms of information on a business's website.

Social Media Marketing

This type of marketing can be tricky. Everyone talks about social media, but the truth is, it can be difficult for companies to integrate social media with their business. The type of media used, as well how it is used, is dependent upon the type of business you have. For some companies being in touch with their customers and giving them breaking news can be an important element of success. Other business such as a local restaurant, have seen success using social media by letting customers know of the latest specials and new additions to their menu. The most important aspect of social media is to use it to strengthen your customer base to achieve repeat sales.

Email Marketing
This form marketing is crucial to a small business online or offline. Essentially email marketing is about building a list of customers and prospective customers. This list of names and emails are people who are interested in your business, and you know this to be true because they have opted into this list themselves. Perhaps they were offered future updates on products as well as coupons to sign up. As this list grows, it becomes more valuable. In fact, many marketing professionals consider this to be, in the long run, the most important small business marketing strategy in the long run.

Steps To Promote Your SMB through Effective Digital Marketing Channel

Importance of Google – with approximately 80% of all searches being conducted via Google, it is critical to primarily focus SEO effort on this search engine. Yahoo and Bing are less important but still an important part of search engine marketing.

Keyword Selection – Pick keywords that are relevant to your business but also fairly easy to rank for. Look for multi-word phrases or ‘long-tail keywords’ as they are usually less competitive

Content is King - Prospects are more likely to buy from you if you are a thought leader, so establish yourself as one by creating extraordinarily helpful content. Take decisive action to ensure prospective customers are attracted to your site as a place to find answers.

Generosity is Also King – Another key part to attracting customers is your generosity in giving away information, access to tools, etc.,

Social Media – Focus on the top three social media venues: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Remember, ‘be real’ and ‘be there’ to help the community rather than to push products.

Calls-to-Action – It is an important to provide something of value that solves a problem for visitors in exchange for their contact information. Often traffic will not be ready to buy right away, but a tempting call to action will lead them down the sales funnel.

Landing Pages - Everything that has been done to draw qualified traffic to a site, from improving SEO, to generating great content comes to a head in the landing page. Leads should be confronted with an inescapable case for them to leave their carefully guarded personal information on the form. Having one offer, recapping benefits, and a short form are all key.

Lead Nurturing – follow up calls to action with a ‘thank you’ email and a lead nurturing campaign that further entices leads down the sales funnel with additional free offerings– this is a free opportunity to keep touch with a lead.

Tracking Progress – Effective Inbound Marketing is all about experimentation. Select a strategy based on experience with customers and industry to get people to both visit and convert on the website. But anticipate that initial assumptions about keywords, or what it takes to get traffic to convert will not be right (or not right enough) and changes will need to be made. For this reason, it is essential to have a complete internet analysis tool-suite to help figure out what’s working and what’s not.

Patience & Tenacity – It’s easy to become discouraged and frustrated if Inbound Marketing is approached as a point solution. In reality, it’s a long term strategy only rewarding those who approach it with patience and tenacity.

Click here to download the high resolution info graphic

Click here to download the high resolution infographic

Conclusion:
Online marketing is the effective channel to promote small business in wide range of geographical area with minimal cost. Also it will purely depend upon area of business and the industry which you are promoting to your targeted audience.

Above described areas and steps to improve small business through internet marketing are helpful to promote the business in desired geography. Formulating the plan and combining it with other marketing efforts are also very much important to grow in tremendous way.
Online marketing strategies that are often outsourced include social media, search engine and local search marketing, because unless you have time to dedicate it's difficult to stay on the multiple changes that transpire when it comes to strategy. With content and email marketing, you can do much of it yourself, but it never hurts to ask experts for strategy advice to help get you started.
Source: http://www.siliconindia.com/blogs/blogs_new.php?30Sfk6297ltsXB39TX3KE01fg68xhnCy

Why Publisher Need Own Ad Server

2013-11-05T18:22:00.000+05:30

As an advertiser, there is no better way to purchase massive amounts of online display ad inventory than directly from publishers or ad networks. Granted, there is more legwork involved when compared to programmatic buying, and the CPM rates can be quite high — but this is offset by the ability to reserve large amounts of inventory.

When you’re buying media in bulk, the need for a proper ad server is very important in terms of controlling your ad operations. You could say that it’s a best practice to use your own ad server, especially if you run a consistent volume of ad campaigns.

How Ad Servers Work Together

To illustrate why you need your own ad server, it is important to first understand how ad servers work. In the below example, the advertiser’s ad server is managing its campaigns across four different publishers. This is accomplished by providing each publisher with their own unique “ad tag” script (generated by the advertiser’s ad server), which the publisher then inserts into its ad server associated with the corresponding website.

You might be asking yourself: “If the publisher has an ad server, why would I need my own?” Here are seven reasons.

1. Accountability

Tracking your own campaign statistics is probably the most important reason you should have your own ad server. When you’ve been around the online advertising space long enough, you come to realize that some degree of discrepancy is inevitable. Mid single-digits percentages are pretty normal, though it can vary wildly in different cases. With so many different ad tags being served by so many different ad servers in various locations around the world, it really shouldn’t be surprising that reporting will differ to some degree.

Without your own ad server, you have no independent stats against which to audit the results being reported by the publisher. The old adage “trust, but verify” holds true when it comes to buying online media. Having your own ad server allows you to keep publishers and ad networks accountable.

2. Creative Control

Giving a publisher or ad network your ad tags to run in their ad server gives you control over what ads are served to which users, and how. From a creative perspective (depending on the ad server you use), you can have more control over the format of your ads, such as running text ads, video ads or expandable ads.

Beyond control of the ad formats being run, using your own ad server affords you the ability to optimize delivery of your ads as well. Your ad server can give you the ability to split-test different ads and weight which will be shown accordingly.

3. Insights

Not using your own ad server means that you are at the mercy of the publisher’s when it comes to mining campaign insights. The fact that reporting transparency differs from publisher to publisher means that you will likely be left with an incomplete picture.

Using your own ad server provides you with the greatest possible transparency into the performance of your campaigns, giving you insights that otherwise would not be visible. Using your own ad server, you can look at placement stats, geographic stats, creative stats, and hourly stats, all on multiple levels, to determine what is and what isn’t working.

4. Centralized Management

Without your own ad server powering your direct buys, you will oftentimes have to rely on the publisher’s ad operations team to create and manage your campaigns. Multiply this by the number of publishers you work with, and you can imagine how the logistical complexity increases dramatically.

With your own ad server, you centralize management of your campaigns across all the publishers that you work with. You also aggregate all of your campaign statistics in a single database. The benefit of this approach is invaluable, which leads to the next reason to have your own ad server.

5. Data Ownership

One of the strongest arguments for using your own ad server, in my opinion, is that you own and control all of your campaign data. If you don’t have your own ad server and simply rely on publishers, you forfeit ownership and control over your own reporting. Trust me on this one: you don’t want to be beholden to a publisher or ad network for your historical campaign data.

6. Data Freshness

Publisher reporting practices vary. Some will report campaign results daily, weekly, even monthly. Oftentimes, this will come in the form of an email attachment. For some advertisers, this delay is acceptable; for performance-driven marketers optimizing toward an effective goal, such delays can mean costly, wasted ad spend.

In most cases, 3rd-party ad server reporting is close to real time. Having your own ad server allows you to see exactly how your campaigns are performing – up to the minute. This real-time reporting is essential to making timely and actionable decisions.

7. Data Privacy

If the goal of your campaigns is return on ad spend (ROAS), you will obviously want to be tracking revenue. However, you probably don’t want publishers knowing how much you profit on their ad inventory (for obvious reasons). Your own ad server gives you a discrete platform to confidentially track your campaign performance metrics.

The Caveat: Cost

Having the luxury of your own ad server typically isn’t free. There are some ad servers that offer free ad serving up to a certain number of impressions, but any serious media buyer will blow those limits away fairly quickly. The general cost of ad serving is anywhere from $0.01 to $0.10 CPM. You will also need to factor in content delivery network (CDN) costs, which are passed along to advertisers and range from $0.02 to $0.06 per gigabyte of transfer.

Checks & Balances

By not using your own ad server, you are pretty much flying blind and giving publishers all the power in the relationship. From a business perspective, it’s simply not prudent. This fact becomes especially important if you are doing any degree of high-volume media buying across multiple publishers.

Using your own ad server adds checks and balances to the process of media buying. It also adds a level of consistency for the media buyer, allowing all campaigns to be managed from a single point of control. While the publisher ultimately controls the flow of traffic, you can keep things on an even keel by leveraging a platform of your own to control and monitor the ad campaigns that get served — and ensure you are getting what you paid for.

Source: marketingland.com

2013-04-11T22:44:00.003+05:30

Online Marketing - The Smart Way of Promoting

Online marketing is one of the rising types of marketing segment to promote products and services in stunning way. There are many smart ways online media is catching up the audience using different kind of technology to promote the commodities also it has enormous accessibility and reach it is easy to reach millions of users at one go.

Being the modern and hottest field online media advertising has become focus of attention in all the trading and service firms. According to the media experts online marketing mode carries a lot of prospected audience to make business. Also experts think that online media advertising is in game change period and soon it will beat other traditional media of advertising with its reach and sustainability.

The Smart ways of promoting

The sharpen technology discovering many more new systems to make strengthen of online marketing segment. Below are recent trends which are talk of the town in this industry.

Real Time Bidding
Behavioral Targeting
Make the audience busy through Interactive Creatives
Mobile App marketing
Games on social media channel

Real Time Bidding: This is one of the booming technologies which enable high return of investment to the advertiser. Real time bidding will be a significant factor that can fulfill the promise of online marketing.

As defined by Parks Associates, the automated process of buying and selling online display advertising in real time, and it incorporates enhanced solutions in targeting algorithms and data analytics in order to deliver better targeting, greater control and more granular campaigns.

In general words we can easily compare real time bidding with stocks market and its operations, but whatever transactions happed in RTB is approximately o.6 seconds. Once advertisement wins the bid for desired inventory it will start serving to the right audience at the right time. Even still lot more improvements are going on to develop this system and track the accurate data at real time. As predicted in 2012, by this yearend real time bidding is most game changing segment in online marketing.

Using Real Time Bidding, Facebook advertising exchange is assuring the conversions within 2 days to its advertisers and it is working in that advertising exchange with abundance of audience, targeting based on geographical, demographical and behavioral factors.

Behavioral Targeting: This is one of the major parameter that online media used to target the right advertisement to the right customer to get business done within estimated time. These technologies assess user behavior through user’s activity on World Wide Web. This technology tracking through user’s IP address and personal information which user has submitted while transacting something else on the web. Through this user data, various types of the advertisement will target to the respective customers based on their behavior and demographical factors.

Through behavior targeting most of the online media networks retargeting the interested customers through a variety of offers and discounts. Also many data management companies will analyze this data and segmenting the data as per the behavior of a particular customer.

Make the audience busy through Interactive Creatives: As technology develops, online media is also implementing new techniques to attract the customers towards its products or services. Now most of the displayed creatives which have eye catchy look, color, articles on ads, videos, offers, discounts and many more to attract the customer’s attention from its first impression.

These interactive creatives have all the features in single creatives and this leads customer busy with one of their pages or its services. Also through this kind of the creative we can track user’s activity in each and every second and over again using this data, advertiser can target those audiences for their new products or services.

Mobile App Marketing: Now a day’s most of all are using smart phones and through mobiles we are engaged on many social networks, e commerce services, personal email conversations and chats applications. These applications will capture potential data of the respective customer and track their activities on web. Through these kinds of the interactive applications, marketers will target their desired audience to promote the services to its desired pool of customers.

Advertisers are following their own strategies to stay at the top of the game using these mobile apps. Few are listed as these are recent trends in 2013.

Retargeting and Real time bidding using mobile apps - Every successful mobile marketing campaign starts with successfully targeting those who will prove most beneficial towards the product or services. The recent introduction of Apple's Advertising Identifier is helping to develop more complicated real-time bidding and retargeting technology, including the ability to exclusively target the inactive users in an effort to reengage through mobile apps and making other marketers jealous in the process.

Real-time bidding is truly a win-win for the mobile advertising industry, giving buyers more access and transparency while concurrently giving sellers a market-driven fair price.

Frequency of tracking - This is one of the high debated topics across the industry and still it is going on in this year with lot of facts and figures. Using Unique Device Identifier (UDID) advertiser can track the activities of user. It is one or the other way helpful to understand the user behavior and expectations to optimize the app for stand on the top of the market. AdTruth is also announced a partnership with OpenX Softwares on their new venture to develop Unique Device Identifier technology in Jan 2013.

Advanced data capture about users – From past few years, many industries have squeezed the power of data and now the mobile marketing industry is taking notice and recognizing its value. The possibilities of discoveries using data are endless. Thousands, millions, and billions of data points provide mobile app marketers with a wealth of knowledge on user behavior that was not previously available.

New mobile user behavior: As we discussed above mobile marketing is also booming with other form of online marketing and we can also easily track the behavior of the particular user and potential of customer to promote feasible product.

In TradeMob, we are predicting a change in user structure and behavior in 2013. Due to competition in the tablet and smart phone market increases, service providers inevitably become more accessible and affordable to a larger cross-section of demographics, including less affluent and increasingly younger users.

According to eMarketer, introduction of new tablets like iPad Mini, the number of tablet users is expected to see explosive growth and it is reaching nearly 34 million (in 2011) to 70 million in this year.

Games on Social media channel: Social gaming started in middle of 2007 and officially introduced on Facebook platform. Since then, Facebook grown from 27 million to 500 million unique visitors and over 70% visitors are engaging with social gaming on various social media networks.

Through these gaming apps advertisers can attract the premium customer especially they will target youth segment of customers to promote their lifestyle, entertainment, sports related merchandise and accessories to the targeted audience. Social media has implemented three methods for driving social games, such as premium placements, ongoing promotions, and viral notification channels from these three methods social media networks attracts daily active users to make revenue out of these games.

Conclusion: Online marketing segment is one of the terrifically growing domains for many uses. As fast as technology develops this domain is also developing in its own sizzling way. This is the major reason that we all can see online advertising inventories on each and every piece of the web page and it’s just like a popular marketing place put any product or services in front of the right audience at right time also there is no geographical barriers to promote any of the services at any time without any hassles.

Source: http://goo.gl/hXA4s

2012-11-29T14:04:00.001+05:30

Are Ad Exchanges and Real Time Bidding The Next Big Thing?

There is a great deal of buzz in the industry around Ad Exchanges and the technology associated with them. However, it is not well understood how they operate and what the benefits to publishers and advertisers are. In researching this topic, we found that while Real Time Bidding (RTB) receives a great deal of attention, there are other attributes of Ad Exchanges that are not widely discussed, yet have the potential to make a major impact on the digital marketing ecosystem. We’ll attempt to clarify some of the concepts used in the Ad Exchange technology stack in this article. First let’s examine traditional Ad Networks.

How Ad Networks Operate

In the Ad Network model, the building blocks are the traditional components of web advertising: Web Content Servers, Publisher Ad Servers, Advertiser (third party) Ad Servers, Database Providers, Cookies, Tracking Pixels and Content Delivery Networks (CDN).

The process generally works as follows (simplified for clarity):

User begins to load a web page.
Web page issues a request for an advertisement from the Publisher’s Ad Server which logs the request and returns a “NET TAG”.
Web page issues request to the Ad Network Server, which processes its pixel, reads and/or drops its cookie, queries its database and applies targeting (demographic, geographic, contextual, behavioral or all of the above) algorithms. It then applies the rules set in the contract with the advertiser. If it finds a profitable match it issues an ADV TAG and logs the transaction. If it does not find a match, the Ad Network may pass the request on to a partner Network, which repeats the process to determine if it has a profitable ad to display and so on until a network claims the impression. This processes typically involves multiple http requests and redirects, which impact load time negatively.
Web page processes the ADV TAG resulting in the Advertiser Ad Server either serving the ad or handing off the request to a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
The browser loads the ad, if the user hasn’t already moved on to another page.

This architecture has evolved as the online advertising industry has matured. At this point, it has become what tech types refer to as a “kluge”- a process which is inefficient, slow to serve creative, problematic to traffic, difficult to report upon and expensive relative to the real cost of the media. Add in secondary networks, yield management techniques and third party data sources and you have a cumbersome architecture that does not scale well.

What Ad Exchanges Do

If you have read this far, you now understand one of the most important (if not often publicized) rationales for Ad Exchanges: Efficiency. Suppose instead of the “Round Robin” approach described above, there was a centralized mechanism for aggregating the impressions offered across multiple Ad Networks and matching them (based on the advertiser’s target, budget and placement requirements) with the most appropriate ads? What if this mechanism existed in the cloud with a well understood API (application programming interface) for audience targeting data and there was dynamic auction functionality around pricing which allowed the publisher to supply his impression to the highest bidder at any given instant? Add self-serve applications for ad creation, traffic, campaign management and reporting and you have the basic components an Ad Exchange or Demand Side Platform (DSP)

Real Time Bidding (RTB)

Real Time Bidding is a dynamic auction process where each impression is bid for in (near) real time versus a static auction where the impressions are typically bundled in groups of 1,000. The potential advantages are cost efficiency, higher performance and greater granularity with targeting and measurement.

Demand Side Platforms (DSP)

Demand side platforms (DSPs) give buyers direct RTB access to multiple sources of inventory. They typically streamline ad operations with applications that simplify workflow and reporting. These products are directed at agencies, agency holding companies and large advertisers (the buyers). The technology stack that powers an Ad Exchange can also provide the foundation for a DSP, thus there is a synergy for plays in both spaces.

Supply Side Platforms (SSP)

Large publishers incorporate yield management techniques to increase ad revenue. This typically involves managing multiple networks. The SSP play uses the data generated from impression level bidding to help the publisher increase the value of his inventory by being on target. Applications to manage ad operations are also bundled into these solutions. Again, the technology is adapted from the Ad Exchange tech stack.

Obstacles to Adoption

While this technology sounds promising, there are arguments against Ad Exchanges:

Questionable ability to appropriately value premium inventory.
Devaluation of direct sales efforts.
Fear of the commoditization of inventory (allegedly suppressing price).
Suitability of addressing Branding as well as Direct Response objectives and goals.

While the jury is certainly still out, sentiments on these issues are leaning in a positive direction based upon these assumptions:

Homepage takeovers, guarantees and deep integration on major properties will continue to command premium pricing and require the efforts of direct sales teams to package, promote and manage.
Because Ad Exchanges increase reach and provide hooks for multiple third party data sources to plug in to the ecosystem, the ability of the architecture to leverage RTB functionality with accurate targeting potentially raises the value of inventory. Perhaps advertisers will pay more to reach consumers that have been qualified by current, actionable data and are therefore more likely to have immediate brand interest or purchase intent.
The tactical advantages of Ad Exchanges potentially make branding campaigns across premium inventory more effective by broadening reach. Additionally the tools for targeting, traffic, frequency capping, rotation and reporting are ROI enhancing to brand as well as direct response efforts.

The Players

The technology supporting Ad Exchanges is complex and expensive. In order to scale up to handle the level of traffic enterprise clients demand, software engineers often have to code tools from scratch. Open source and/or off the shelf databases just can’t handle the load.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that the big three (Google, Yahoo and Microsoft) are taking the lead in building out Ad Exchange infrastructure. Their deep benches and pockets allow them to invest the resources necessary to make technology like RTB actually work.

Yahoo’s Right Media was arguably the first out of the gate with an exchange. With broad reach across the Yahoo network it is well positioned and has recently committed to offering more premium inventory.

Google AdEx leverages the DoubleClick Ad Serving platform with RTB. As is typical with Google, the technology stack is the most sophisticated of the top tier exchanges.

Microsoft AdECN is Microsoft’s Ad Exchange for the Microsoft Media Network.

AdMeld helps premium publishers maximize revenue from their ad inventory, reduce operating costs and eliminate unwanted ads by giving publishers access to demand from ad networks, exchanges and DSPs.

PubMatic is an ad monetization and management solution which combines impression-level ad auction technology, brand protection tools and ad operations support.

The Rubicon Project offers Supply and Demand platforms with integrated API’s for data providers.

ContextWeb provides real-time contextual targeting.

AdBrite is an advertising exchange focused targeting and optimization, has real-time bidding, API functionality and a self-service account management interface.

OpenX combines ad serving and yield management with RTB.

Media Math is a demand side buying and analytics platform that aggregates the AdEx, Right Media and AdECN exchanges.

DataXu offers a real-time ad optimization platform which manages buys on an impression-by-impression basis across AdEX and Right Media.

AppNexus is single-point integration to exchanges and inventory aggregators, including Google’s DoubleClick, Microsoft’s AdECN, and others.

Turn is a demand side platform with targeting, exchange integration and analytics.

Audience Science specializes in segmentation and targeting data.

x+1 is a targeting platform for advertisers and publishers. They also build dynamically assembled landing pages and micro-sites based on demographic and behavioral data.

Triggit integrates with Ad Exchanges via its RTB Platform.

Invite Media’s Bid Manager is a RTB buying application.

Content Monetized by RTB Technology

The evolution of the technical infrastructure supporting display advertising is all the more interesting because this tech stack conceivably is applicable to other media types as well. Imagine video on whatever screen supported by ads delivered with this technology…

Source: advertisingperspectives.com

2012-11-29T00:59:00.000+05:30

Features of Real Time Bidding (RTB) Platform

2012-11-28T17:38:00.001+05:30

Real-Time Bidding: New era of Digital Advertising

New technologies have introduced a variety of challenges to advertising companies. RTB, or real-time bidding, addresses many of these challenges by providing a direct and flexible method of matching consumers to appropriate advertising content. It offers several key benefits to the buy and sell sides.

Real-time bidding (RTB) will be a significant factor in fulfilling the promise of online digital advertising, which has been on the limit of dramatic changes for many years.

RTB, as defined by Parks Associates, describes the automated process of buying and selling online display advertising in real time, and it incorporates enhanced solutions in targeting algorithms and data analytics in order to deliver better targeting, greater control and more granular campaigns.

Given these strong benefits to ad buyers and sellers, RTB is starting to claim more revenues in the online advertising industry, and by 2017, it will account for 34 percent of all online display ad revenues.

Challenges in Online Advertising

Several industry factors will drive this shift to RTB. New technologies have introduced a variety of challenges to advertising companies. Consumers can skip commercials or go completely "over-the-top" in their video viewing, and they are now using multiple screens to consume content. Parks Associates consumer research reports over one-half of U.S. broadband households have a smartphone and nearly one-third have a tablet. All these extra screens make it more difficult to follow consumers and necessitate detailed tracking solutions.

These types of tracking solutions raise privacy concerns, often cited by advocacy groups, which could lead to customer rejection of the online advertising industry as a whole. However, Parks Associates' report Advertising Strategies on Connected TVs finds 45 percent of U.S. consumers are comfortable with targeted ads based on their TV-viewing habits. Over one-third are comfortable with targeted ads based on their online browsing habits, according to the report Monetization of Multiscreen Video: Content Owner Strategies.

While there are and always will be some consumer segments unwilling to share any details of their buying and browsing habits, many consumers are willing to provide personal details in exchange for something of value.

The more significant challenge has been in matching consumers with the appropriate content and, in some cases, matching consumers with any content. For the past 10 years, companies looking to buy and place online ads on a large scale typically have purchased blocks of ads, usually in groups of 1,000, through ad networks. Agencies pay these ad networks a CPM-based rate to reach audience segments with the understanding that a portion of the online ads will not reach intended consumer targets. The industry considers ad networks as "blind-buys": Buyers do not have full control over ad placement; so as a result, ads can appear on any website located in the network.

RTB addresses many of these challenges by providing a direct and flexible method of matching consumers to appropriate advertising content.

How Does RTB Work?

RTB is a data-driven buying model through which ad agencies place auction-based bids for individual ad impressions. This process takes place in milliseconds, allowing agencies to adjust their strategies almost immediately based on the performance of individual sites and ad impressions.

When a user visits a website, in addition to serving up HTML code, the Web server delivers an ad tag to an ad server, which ultimately sends the user's cookie ID to an SSP (supply-side platform) or ad exchange to be auctioned using RTB APIs. Buyers use that ID data to value the ad impression and set their bids. In an RTB environment, ad buyers analyze multiple variables of an ad impression, such as demographics, geography, and publisher attributes. The ad exchange determines the winner, and then the information flow goes back to the ad server to deliver the ad to the user's browser. This entire process is done automatically, in real time.

Below are a few examples to illustrate the meaning of RTB and its benefits beyond the standard targeting parameters (Geo Target, Gender, Age, Category, Demographic, etc.). Let’s say we want to set a maximum bid price for display ads in a campaign (bid = $1 DCPM). We can set the system to change the bids according to a set of rules, and all in real time (50 milliseconds before the ad loads)!

For example:

If your ad appears below the fold - bid 0.25c
If the user is seeing the ad for the first time – bid $1
If the user saw the ad 3 times this week – bid $0.5
If the user saw the ad 5 times this week – bid $0.1
If the user saw the ad 7 times this week – don’t bid
If the user visited your site in the past (retargeted user) – bid $3
If the user visited your site and left at the checkout – bid $5 (and show him an ad with a discount!)
If the user usually visits sites similar to yours – bid $2

RTB offers several key benefits to the buy and sell sides.

Core Benefits of RTB

Ad Buyers - Ad Agencies	Ad Sellers - Online Publishers
Accurate audience targeting Campaign control and transparency Improved return-on-advertising spend (ROAS)	Greater yield optimization Higher value of inventory Incremental revenues for display ads sold outside of direct relationships with buyers

While there are several paths for agencies to take when employing RTB, most use a media buying desk (MBD) that relies on demand-side platform (DSP) technology to access and bid on RTB ad impressions. An MBD is a buy-side platform that consolidates the process of planning, buying, serving and reporting online media campaigns, typically leveraging the technology offered by DSPs. Agencies also compile proprietary audience intelligence profiles through their MBDs, which integrate with third-party DSPs. DSPs connect ad inventory to agencies and measure a campaign's efficacy against its goals.

Agencies know who they want to contact due to data management platforms (DMPs). DMPs provide audience intelligence across the entire digital ad ecosystem, not just the RTB ad market, containing info on variables such as purchase intentions, household demographics and behavioral patterns. DMPs collect, manage, and evaluate online user information obtained from multiple media sources to identify and create audience segments. They enable the delivery of the right ad unit to the right consumer on the most effective media channel.

The confluence of these elements boosts the overall value of the RTB process for all players, so much that on the supply side, publishers are beginning to release premium inventory to SSPs to capture larger shares of ad budgets processed in RTB markets.

Facebook and Ad Exchanges

In mid-2012, Facebook announced the expansion of its growing display ad business into the RTB marketplace, with several DSPs already testing the Facebook Exchange, or FBX. RTB-enabled ad exchanges aggregate ad impressions across many online channels and connect ad sellers to buyers. Primarily a sell-side service, ad exchanges provide ad inventory details, such as website type, ad unit size, and user geography to ad bidders (e.g., MBDs, DSPs, ad networks). They also manage the entire ad-auction process - receiving the bid, determining the winner and facilitating ad placement.

Within the FBX system, brand advertisers can target Facebook users based on their Web-browsing history, with ads displayed on a Facebook page based on third-party Web browsing habits. It matches users more closely with not just relevant content but with products where they have displayed purchase intention. For example, Facebook Exchange can serve up ads about cheap flights or local auto dealers to a user who has visited a travel site or the Ford home page.

FBX indicates Facebook is getting more aggressive in its advertising methods -- and is forging new ways to build revenues. According to comScore, the social network serves approximately one-third of U.S. display ad impressions, so the FBX could open up a large source of ad inventory to the RTB market.

Facebook is competing with other companies in the RTB market, notably Yahoo and Google, which have established their presence in the RTB market through a variety of acquisitions. Yahoo acquired Right Media in 2007, Rubicon Project purchased Fox Audience Network in 2010, and Google followed suit in 2011 with the acquisition of Admeld.

Growth of the RTB Market

Agency demand for cross-platform ad synergies will drive the development and adoption of RTB sell-side platforms for emerging media, particularly mobile, online video, and social media, but these markets will remain small, with growth contingent on the maturation of the online display RTB ad market. Even so, Parks Associates asserts this market will grow quickly. RTB is a complicated process, with unfamiliarity and a lack of industry knowledge as potential inhibitors, but even if they have any significant impact, they will serve only to slow growth, not stop it.

The advantages of the RTB process to ad buyers and sellers are simply too great to ignore. Ad spend will shift away from traditional online display advertising to the RTB ad market as buyers become more comfortable with the concept and realize benefits such as cost efficiencies, reduced ad waste, rapid scalability, and improved control and transparency. RTB revenues generated by online display ads in North America will reach US$1.6 billion in 2012 and $7 billion by 2017.

Source: ecommercetimes.com and adgorithms.com

2012-11-28T14:05:00.000+05:30

Real Time Bidding (RTB) Eco System - An Infographic

2012-11-28T13:40:00.002+05:30

What is Real-Time Bidding (RTB)

Real-time bidding (RTB) is a relatively new advertising technology that allows online advertising to be purchased and served on the fly. Instead of reserving prepaid advertising space, advertisers bid on each ad impression as it is served. The impression goes to the highest bidder and their ad is served on the page. The closest analogy would be to the stock market: as stocks (online advertising spaces) come up for sale, brokers (advertisers) bid for the stock. Whoever bids the highest price gets that stock (the ad is served). Then the process immediately starts all over again.

How do advertisers decide when to bid on an ad? Real-time bidding (RTB) platforms buy data about users from across the web. The data is usually in the form of behavioral data gathered from tracking cookies. This information is then fed into the real-time bidding platform, giving advertisers insight into who is about to be served the ad.

Here’s a simplistic example of how real-time bidding (RTB) would work in the real world: A user spends a lot of time on financial websites, checking stocks and looking up Morningstar ratings. They arrive on a webpage that uses Real-Time Bidding to serve ads.

On the back end, a major financial services provider has specified that they are interested in users that like stocks. A luxury carmaker has also indicated interest in this audience. The RTB system matches these advertisers with the user profile and they bid on the ad. Whoever has the highest bid wins, and their ad gets served.

Of course, all this happens in the blink of an eye. Advertisers don’t literally sit and bid on individual ads. Like Google AdWords, they set maximum bids and budgets. The user criteria can also be very complex, taking into account everything from very detailed behavioral profiles to conversion data.

The amount of ads sold through RTB is still relatively low percentage of the overall $26 billion US online advertising market. However, a recent study from Forrester predicted that RTB spending will increase 130% from 2010 to $823 million in 2011.

RTB technology is at the forefront of innovations in the advertising world. This platform is not only allows access to the majority of the world’s leading exchanges, networks and premium sites, it also contains superior targeting methods and advanced bidding options.

Source: crowdscience.com

2012-11-13T02:24:00.000+05:30

Implement 1x1 tracking pixels in DFP

What is a tracking pixel?

In some scenarios, an agency, advertiser, or other third party might decide to track DFP impressions with a tracking pixel. A tracking pixel is simply a server call that returns a transparent 1x1 image (normally a GIF file).

Where do I get a tracking pixel?

A third party typically sends a DFP publisher a URL. The publisher will insert the URL into a tracking pixel and traffic the pixel in DFP with a creative.

What are some examples of tracking pixels?

Most tracking pixels have the same format with slight variations in the style variable. It is up to the DFP publisher and the advertiser to choose which format to use. Here are a few examples:

Where do I put the tracking pixel in DFP?

If you want to add a tracking pixel to the creative code for a Flash or Custom type creative, simply insert the tracking pixel code at the top of the 'Creative Code' box in the creative's properties screen.

If you want to add a tracking pixel to an image creative in DFP, follow these instructions:

Change the creative type from image to custom.
In the custom creative's properties screen, upload the image creative.
Click Apply a Template and select the 'Image Banner Open in New Window' template. You'll be prompted to enter the 'Image-Width' and 'Image-Height' for your image creative (ex. 728x90).
Click Generate Code.
In the 'Creative Code' box, you'll see code for the template you just applied. Insert your tracking pixel above this code. An example looks like this:

< !-- Template ID = 4439 Template Name = Image Banner - Open in New Window-->

< img width="728" height="90" border="0" src="%h/2315223/728x90Image.JPG">

< /a>

Source: DFP Support

2012-10-09T16:33:00.003+05:30

How to investigate discrepancies – DoubleClick

The best practice is to always traffic DFA tags using the "DoubleClick tag" creative type. If you have trafficked, your DFA tags as a DoubleClick tag creative type and are experiencing a discrepancy of greater than 2%.

Normally, DFP records an impression as soon as the ad server determines which creative to send. When the DoubleClick tag creative type is chosen, however, DFP does not record the impression until the line item has been sent and an impression has been recorded by DFA. As a result, this process reduces discrepancies between DFP and DFA, typically to within 2%. The DoubleClick tag creative type will also eliminate the need to add click tracking macros.

If a DoubleClick tag is booked as a custom or third-party creative, this enhanced functionality is lost; DFP will treat the DoubleClick tag as a third-party tag. It will not report clicks without the DFP click macro, and you will see a larger discrepancy in delivery numbers (as you would with any third-party ad server). If you have trafficked DoubleClick tag as a custom or third-party creative type and are experiencing a reporting discrepancy between DFP and DoubleClick for Advertisers (DFA), please see the “Third-party discrepancies” article. Otherwise, explore the following possibilities.

Discrepancies may result from:

Invalid activity filtering: DFP and DFA differ slightly in filtration methodologies, which can result in discrepancies in instances when frequent invalid activities occur.

Things to check:

Has the correct DoubleClick tag been trafficked? Like DFP, DFA has many tag types, including one that is specifically intended for use in DFP.
Are you comparing the correct objects between DFA and DFP? Which DFA ads are included in the placement for the tag you’ve trafficked in DFP?
Have you or the advertiser made any changes during the time in question (e.g., reassigning or modifying creatives)?
Are you looking at daily data or aggregated results? Break out the data by day and line item.
Does the advertiser code load properly? Perform live tests on web pages where the line item should deliver to verify that the correct ad tag calls are being made.

Source: Google Support

2012-10-09T16:12:00.002+05:30

How to investigate discrepancies – Analytics

Analytics packages (such as Google Analytics) measure different metrics than ad servers, so their reports will not reconcile with DFP.

Page views vs. impressions

Analytics tracking is based on page views. In contrast, DFP ad server concepts are, by design, not page-specific:

An ad tag can be placed on multiple pages.
An ad unit can be associated with many pages.
A line item can be targeted to multiple ad units.
A line item can serve to a single page multiple times.

Code execution

DFP counts impressions delivered to ad tags; analytics packages count the execution of analytics tracking code. Since these snippets of code are located in different parts of your page code, both scripts might not load or execute on every page view.

For instance, some analytics packages recommend placing tracking code at the bottom of your HTML. If a user exits a page before the tracking code is executed, the analytics package will not count a page view, but DFP will still count an impression.

Since there is no interaction between ad tag code and analytics tracking code, analytics packages cannot account for unfilled impressions, which can be caused by any number of variables:

A lack of inventory
Firewalls and misconfigured security software
Ad blockers
Intermittent network connections
General latency

Iframes

Some publishers serve DFP tags in iframes. Browsers that don't support the <iframe> tag will not report an impression, but an analytics package will count a page view. Ad tags within an iframe can result in an extra round trip between the browser and server. This additional latency can cause some users to leave the page before the browser has enough time to make the calls to both the analytics package and DFP. If the analytics tracking code is present within both an iframe as well as the parent frame, the analytics software will register an inflated number of page views.

Cookies

Analytics packages typically require cookies to track page views. Some packages only record visitor traffic associated with a visitor cookie. If this cookie information is not available for a hit, or if a user has disabled cookies, then that hit may be disregarded.

Referrers

Comparing referrer URLs to DFP clicks is not advised. Referrers in analytics are not an accurate measure of clicks or landings for the following reasons:

Referrers can be disabled by users.
Internet security applications can block referrer data.
Firewalls and proxy servers can filter referrers.
Users can spoof referrers to prevent servers from knowing where they've been.
Depending on the line creative type (rich media, standard image, etc.) and the ad tag (iframe, JavaScript, standard HTML, etc.) on the page, the referrer can be either “DoubleClick” or your domain.
Internet Explorer does not send referrer data when switching from either (a) HTTP to HTTPS, or (b) any non-HTTP/HTTPS protocol (e.g., file://) to HTTP/HTTPS.

Source: Google Support

2012-10-09T15:45:00.000+05:30

How to investigate discrepancies – Third Party

Reporting discrepancies are common and expected when multiple systems are used to measure line item delivery. If you want to investigate a reporting discrepancy, use the resources below for assistance. It's best to investigate discrepancies while a line item is still running, since there are fewer troubleshooting steps available after a campaign has ended.

Third-party discrepancies

When an ad server delivers line items that are hosted by a third party, reporting discrepancies between the two systems will occur, and it is common to see campaign variances of up to 20%. Check the lists in "More about third-party discrepancies," below, to learn why discrepancies may occur and what you can do to prevent them.

Discrepancies may result from:

Latency: Lag between an initial line item request and the appearance of the creative can lead to differences in counts. For instance, a user will often navigate away after the browser receives the DFP line item request but before the third party responds with the requested line item, or a user may click on a link but navigate elsewhere before the landing page has loaded.

Network connection and server reliability: A third-party ad server may fail briefly or encounter an issue that prevents it from logging an impression.

Ad blockers: Ad blocking software can prevent the line item from being delivered by the third party after DFP has already counted an impression.

Low impression goals: A small numerical discrepancy can cause a high percentage discrepancy if the line item delivered few total impressions. For example, if you have a campaign delivering 100 impressions per day, a single-day discrepancy of 30 impressions will lead to a single-day discrepancy of 30% even though the actual number of missed impressions is low.

Tracking methodologies: DFP counts line items requests, but a third party may record an impression at a different time (e.g., when a tracking pixel is rendered).

Filtering: Ad servers have different methods for filtering impressions from spammers, bots, spiders, back-to-back clicks, link analyzers, and other automated or non-representative web traffic.

Things to check:

1. Are macros implemented properly?

2. If DFP recognizes the third-party ad server you are using, let it automatically insert the macros. If you are unsure of where to place macros, talk to your creative developer, advertiser, or third party for guidance.

3. %%CACHEBUSTER%% -- Make sure there's a random number properly inserted in each call.

4. %%CLICK_URL_ESC_ESC%% or %%CLICK_URL_UNESC%% -- Verify that the click macro is included in the correct portion of the click-through URL in your code.

5. %%VIEW_URL_ESC%% or %%VIEW_URL_UNESC%% -- For interstitial creatives, ensure that this macro is included in your creative's code.

6. As a best practice, we recommend using an unescaped (...UNESC) click macro when the creative hosted by another server is a standard image file such as a GIF or JPEG. You should use the double-escaped (...ESC_ESC) click macro for Flash creatives and certain third parties.

7. If you are using Google Publisher Tags (GPT), have you defined more ad tags in the webpage header than you display in the body section of your webpage? Ad tags that are defined in the header but not displayed in the body will be counted as impressions whenever the tag is loaded, but they won't make calls to third-party servers. That will lead to discrepancies. Make sure that all ad tags defined in the header are also displayed in the body of the webpage.

8. Are you comparing the same date range across the third party and publisher?

Do both DFP and the third party use the same time zone? Ad servers that report based on different time zones will return different results.

9. Are you comparing the same line items/ads?

10. Do you use the same third-party tags in any other line items in your network?

11. Did you confirm with the third party that the same tags have not been provided to any other publishers?

12. How large is the creative asset? Large creatives can have long load times and can cause differences in impression count timing.

13. Does the DFP report include unfilled impressions? Unfilled impressions will inflate DFP’s numbers by including instances where the third-party ad server was not called.

14. Is the line item using geographic targeting on the third-party ad server? Different ad servers map IP address location data differently, leading to significant discrepancies.

Is the line item day- or time-parted on the third-party ad server? Day- or time-parting on the third-party ad server can lead to DFP counting impressions in situations where the third party does not return a line item.

15. Does the creative require calls to multiple third-party ad servers (also known as "daisy-chaining")? Each third-party ad server can lead to campaign variances of up to 20%. If one third-party server points to yet another third-party server, the expected discrepancy increases. (With 80% accuracy between each server, this results in a normal discrepancy of up to 36%, as shown in the following calculation: 1 - (1 - 0.2) × (1 - 0.2) = 0.36).

16. Does the third-party ad server use frequency capping? A third-party frequency cap will prevent an ad request from being filled despite the fact that DFP has counted an impression.

Source: Google support

2012-10-08T11:14:00.000+05:30

What is a macro and why is it so important when trafficking third party creatives?

A macro is a short command or shorthand for an instruction to the DoubleClick ad server. Macros usually follow the format of %%MACRO_NAME%% (examples: %%CACHEBUSTER%% %%CLICK_URL_UNESC%%). The DoubleClick ad server executes macros when the ad is served or clicked. Macros are most commonly used when a publisher traffics third-party creative code, but macros can also be used in custom creatives.

Every third party has a different ad tag format and the macros are inserted in different spots in the tag depending on the third party. Every time you work with a new third party, you should get documentation from them on where the macros go in their ad tags when trafficked in DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP).

The two most common macros are click tracking macros and cache-busting macros. The click tracking macro ensures that DFP is counting clicks when a user clicks on the creative. The cache-busting macro ensures that a fresh call is made to the ad server every time the code is executed, so you’re accurately counting impressions. It’s very important to make sure that you always insert the macros properly; the third party should provide you with guidance and support.

Click-tracking macro

A click-tracking macro ensures that DFP is counting clicks when a user clicks on a creative that is hosted by an ad server other than DFP. There are two types of click-tracking macros:

Unescaped click macro: %%CLICK_URL_UNESC%%
Double-escaped click macro: %%CLICK_URL_ESC_ESC%%

%c will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.

As a best practice, we recommend using an unescaped click macro when the creative hosted by another server is a standard image file (GIF/JPG). You should use the double-escaped click macro for Flash (SWF) creatives and for certain third parties. You can preview the ad and right-click it to determine its file type. If you see a “Save Image As...” or “Save Picture As...” option appear in the right-click menu, the creative is a standard image. If you see an “About Adobe Flash Player...” option, the creative is a Flash creative.

A small number of third parties use double escaping (%%CLICK_URL_ESC_ESC%%). For certified third parties, we’ll auto-insert this double-escaped click macro; however, if you’re unsure whether you need a single- or double-escaped macro, you should reach out to the third party for confirmation.

Warning: If you don't put a click-tracking macro in the correct place in your third-party code, you will most likely not track clicks on the creative. Talk to your third-party creative provider to learn where to put the click macro.

Cache-busting macro

The cache-busting macro ensures that a fresh call is made to the ad server every time the code is executed, so you’re accurately counting impressions. Here is what the cache-busting macro looks like:

Cache-buster macro: %%CACHEBUSTER%%

If you don't add the cache-busting macro to the creative code, you’re more likely to see impression counting discrepancies between DoubleClick for Publishers and the third party ad server.

Source: Google Support

2012-10-08T10:58:00.000+05:30

DoubleClick Macros – An Overview… Part 2

Continued from Part 1

File server macro

The file server macro is an ad server macro most commonly used as a shortcut to designate a creative file's path on DoubleClick's global creative and media servers. Here's what it looks like:%%FILE:file_display_name%% where file_display_name is the display name we can give to the creative file in DFP.

In general, the file server macro will be replaced with the machine name for a physical ad server when an ad serves. This is particularly beneficial for line items that are served to multiple countries.

Notes:

%h will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.
The syntax for a creative file's path using %h is: %h/advertiser_ID/filename.ext. For example, for advertiser 12345678 and creative file dclk1.gif, the syntax would be:%h/12345678/dclk1.gif
DART macros are case-sensitive. That is, %H is not a valid macro.

Geo ad server macro

The geo ad server macro, %g, can be used in the click-through URL, the redirect URL, and the custom code of a creative. This macro is used to track geographic information - country code, state or province, telephone area code, postal code, bandwidth, and DMA (Designated Marketing Areas) - using your proprietary systems, after a website visitor clicks an ad served by DoubleClick for Publishers. This macro can be implemented regardless of whether a line item has been geographically targeted.

When %g expands into a string, it displays the geographical information of the user to whom the ad was served - assuming that the user's IP address can be looked up - as shown here:

ct=US&st=CA&city=13358&dma=197&zp=94105&bw=0

Where:

ct is the key that returns a value for a country code
st is the key that returns a value for a U.S. state, territory, or Canadian province
city is the key that returns a value for a city
dma is the key that returns a value for designated market areas
zp is the key that returns a value for a postal code
bw is the key that returns a value for bandwidth

Note:

Macros are case-sensitive. That is, %G is not a valid macro.
The expanded form of the geo ad server macro is not wrapped in quotes (single, or double). The macro can cause syntax errors with surrounding Javascript code if it's wrapped in quotes.

Height and width macros

The %%HEIGHT%% and %%WIDTH%% macros insert the creative height and width into the custom code of a creative during the ad serving process, based on the size of the ad slot where the creative is being served.

These macros can be especially useful if we are creating a creative template that you want to reuse with creatives of different sizes. Instead of hard-coding the size for each creative, you can let the height and width macros insert the values into each creative dynamically.

We can also use these macros in the custom code for creatives where we have overridden the creative size (which you can do on the "Settings" tab of a creative). When we override the size, we can enter multiple creative sizes. The creative can then be served to ad units of any of those sizes. We can use the height and width macros to add the dimensions dynamically to the creative code when the creative is served.

Host name macro

The host name ad server macro, %a, can be used in the redirect URL and custom code of a creative. This macro expands into http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net.

Note: DART macros are case-sensitive. That is, %A is not a valid macro.

Interstitial impression macro

The interstitial impression macro enables the DFP ad server to record when an interstitial impression is served from a creative that wasn’t built using one of the built-in creative templates for pop-ups, pop-unders and floating Flash overlays.

Use %%VIEW_URL_UNESC%% for image creatives (JPG, GIF) and %%VIEW_URL_ESC%% for Flash creatives (SWF).

Here's an example of the proper implementation:

Notes: %i will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.

Pattern match macro

We can pass a custom variable into a creative using our creative targeting macro: %%PATTERN:key%%

Use this macro to pass targeting values into a creative. This can be helpful if we want to serve different creatives based on information we know about a user. For example, maybe we have two creatives for a given line item: one that was designed to appeal to female users and one that was designed to appeal to male users.

We are passing the user's gender into an ad tag on your page via custom criteria like this:

GPT tag:

googletag.defineSlot("/1234/adunit1/adunit2", [728, 90],

"div-gpt-ad-123456789-0")

.addService(googletag.pubads())

.setTargeting("gender", "male");

DART tag:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/sitename/pagename;gender=male;ord=12323

In the custom or third-party creative, dynamically pass the criteria using the following macro:<some creative script here>...&gender=%%PATTERN:gender%%
The entire macro of %%PATTERN:gender%% will be replaced with "male".
DFP will call and serve the “male” creative file to this user.

Notes:

%p will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.

%p is not supported with GPT tags. If you use GPT, you must use %%PATTERN:key%%.

DART macros are case-sensitive. That is, %P is not a valid macro.

Site name macro

The site name ad server macro, %s, can be used in the click-through URL, the redirect URL, the custom code of a creative, and click commands. This macro is commonly used to track the name of the site (included in the ad tags) where visitors clicked on an ad served by DART in a proprietary system. This macro expands into the originating site's name as defined in DART, not into the DNS name of the site.

Target window macro

The target window macro instructs the user's browser to open the creative's landing page in either the user’s existing window or a new window when the user clicks on the creative.

For example, the DFPNews.com ad unit has the target window set to _top and the DFPFashion.com ad unit has it set to _new. If the %%TARGET_WINDOW%% macro is included in the creative's code or script, it will open a new window when a user of DFPFashion.com clicks on it and an existing window if a user of DFPNews.com clicks on it.

Typically, here’s where you’d see %%TARGET_WINDOW%% placed in the creative code:

Notes: %t will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.

Source: Google Support

2012-10-07T23:16:00.000+05:30

DoubleClick Macros – An Overview… Part 1

A macro is a short piece of code that serves as a shortcut for a message to the ad server. Macros will expand into a longer code string that the ad server can understand when they’re included in creative code or click through URLs. Ad server macros are useful for passing important information to your proprietary systems or third-party ad servers.

If the creative code is recognized as being from a certified vendor, then it will automatically insert the proper macros. If DFP don't recognize the third-party creative code, then we need to insert the macros manually. We can manually insert the macro at the cursor's position in the 'Code snippet' field by clicking one of the insert macro buttons. Work with respective third-party to determine where to insert the macro.

For clients upgrading from DART for Publishers: Creatives that we trafficked in DART with DART macros will continue to serve as expected after we upgrade. However, it is strongly recommend that we use the new syntax, where available. This list represents all of the macros it supports in DoubleClick for Publishers for Creatives which traffic after upgrading.

Cache-busting (random number) macro

The cache-busting macro ensures that a fresh call is made to the ad server every time the code is executed, so we’re accurately counting impressions. Here is what the cache-busting macro looks like:

%%CACHEBUSTER%%

If we don't add the cache-busting macro to the creative code, we’re more likely to see impression counting discrepancies between DoubleClick for Publishers and a third-party ad server. Note that not all third parties require the cachebuster macro.

Most creative vendors will offer a placeholder in their tag to insert cachebuster macros.

For example, if your third-party creative code contains something like this:

http://abc.3rd-party-serving.com/Targeting/adServer.php?ab=cd&e=12fg=click&ord=[RANDOM_NUMBER]

We will want to select [RANDOM_NUMBER] and click the Insert cachebuster macro button so that it replaces the placeholder:

http://abc.3rd-party-serving.com/Targeting/adServer.php?ab=cd&e=12fg=click&ord=%%CACHEBUSTER%%

Notes:

%n will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.
DART macros are case-sensitive. That is, %N is not a valid macro.

Click macro

A click macro allows us to track clicks on our third-party creatives. There are two types of click-tracking macros:

Un-escaped click macro: %%CLICK_URL_UNESC%%
Double-escaped click macro: %%CLICK_URL_ESC_ESC%%

As a best practice, we recommend using an un-escaped click macro when the creative hosted by another server is a standard image file (GIF/JPG). We should use the double-escaped click macro for Flash (SWF) creatives and for certain third parties. We can preview the ad and right-click it to determine its file type. If we see a “Save Image As...” or “Save Picture As...” option appear in the right-click menu, the creative is a standard image. If we see an “About Adobe Flash Player...” option, the creative is a Flash creative.

Notes:

A small number of third parties use double escaping (%%CLICK_URL_ESC_ESC%%). For certified third parties, we’ll auto-insert this double-escaped click macro; however, if you’re unsure if you need a double-escaped macro, you should reach out to the third party for confirmation.
%c will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.
Warning: If you don't put a click-tracking macro in the correct place in your third-party code, you will most likely not track clicks on the creative. Talk to your third-party creative provider to learn where to put the click macro.

Tips:

Do not enter the click macro as the source of an image or iframe. Doing so results in a click being recorded every time the image or iframe renders, which is not legitimate and is filtered out as an invalid click.

Click-through URL macro

This macro can be helpful if we are traffic a custom creative and we want the click-through URL that you set in the creative trafficking screen to override the click-through URL built into the custom creative code.

There are three URL macros you can use:

%%DEST_URL%%
%%DEST_URL_ESC%%
%%DEST_URL_ESC_ESC%%

Normally the amount of escaping (whether we include ESC once, twice, or not at all) depends on the third-party click-tracking company. Some third-party click-tracking companies require the URL to be escaped, while others do not.

The level of escaping required by a third-party click-tracking company is normally specified in the tag with the click= string in the third-party ad tag or custom creative code in DFP:

click= escape it once (%%DEST_URL_ESC%%)
click1= escape it once (%%DEST_URL_ESC%%)
click0= don't escape it (%%DEST_URL%%)
click2= escape it twice (%%DEST_URL_ESC_ESC%%).

Notes:

%u will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade.

Expand macro

This macro is most commonly used to track line items with your backend reporting system. %e is used in combination with match tables, which provide a relationship between the ID number in the database and the ID number in DoubleClick for Publishers. This can be useful for troubleshooting; for example, a trafficker only has to look at the ad server response in order to see the line item ID or creative ID that served to an ad tag.

We can insert the %e macro at the end of the ad's click through URL in its creative assignment (for example: http://www.firstautomobile.com/?%ecid!; inserts the creative ID for the line item).

The different expand macros available are:

%eaid! -- expands with line item ID
%ecid! -- expands with the creative ID
%eenv! -- expands with the environment (tag type) indicator. For example, 'i' if iframe, 'j' if JavaScript, etc.
%esid! -- expands with the first-level ad unit ID serving the line item
%epid! -- expands with the second-level ad unit ID serving the line item
%eadv! -- expands with the advertiser ID of the line item being served
%ebuy! -- expands with the order ID of the line item being served

The %e macros can be separated from one another in the click through URL with any character that is safe for use in DFP click through URLs:

http://www.site.com/?%eaid!;%ecid!

Could become: http://www.site.com/?1234567;4265598

Notes:

The %e macro cannot be used by DFA clients running click-commands on DFP sites. The advertiser_id or page_id values, for instance, will populate with the DFP values instead of the intended DFA values.

This article will continue to Part 2

2012-10-06T04:57:00.002+05:30

What is Click Tag?

A click tag is a parameter used in Flash banner ads. The parameter is a variable that defines the destination URL from the markup code. By using a click tag, the advertiser can easily see and modify the URL without a Flash developer.

The click tag is supported by every major ad server. The click tag enables the ad serving network to gain metrics such as the amount of clicks and from which sites these clicks have been made. By reading the data gained by the click tag parameter, an advertiser can evaluate how effective the ad campaign has been.

Variations

There are no industry standards on how to program a click tag. The code for the programming is case-sensitive, but programmers format their capitalization differently so ad serving networks may require clickTAG, ClickTag, clickTag, or any variation of capitalization for that specific variable.

Some ad serving networks may also require the ad's programmer to specific the level or strata the advertisement directs to such as the Google click tag requirements. Other ad serving networks such as Myspace do not require root level specification.

Ad serving networks may also require protocol specification by forcing the URL to begin with "http:" as a security measure advised by Adobe. Adobe warns that a malicious website could source the banner and pass a URL that begins with "javascript;" or another pseudo-protocol creating a hole for malicious scripts. This would allow someone access to the site's data, cookies, or can perform actions on behalf of the website where the ad is placed.

Click tags also vary depending on the version of Flash or Action script used. And it's case sensitive in flash 7 and Above.

How to implement a clickTAG and how does it work?

You need to insert a transparent button into the top-most layer of your Flash banner. Then you assign the button an action with some special Action Script code that is designed to accept a click-tracking redirect URL as a parameter. Your button then uses that redirect URL as its link rather than having a direct link embedded inside the code.

Some clickTAG example :

AS2 Standard

on (release) {

getURL (_root.clickTAG, "_blank");

}

AS2 Google Network

on (release) {

if (clickTAG.substr(0,5) == "http:") {

getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");}

}

ClickTAG advantages

This method offers a couple of advantages. The clickTAG might also be a script, on an ad server for instance, that tracks where the banner appears and when it is clicked. Thus this method affords you multifarious ways of launching your banner.

A further point is that in case of the clickTAG isn't passed; the banner won't work as link. This might be useful if the banner should be adopted as a header of a website.

Source: www.wikipedia.com and www.123-banner.com

2012-10-02T05:12:00.001+05:30

101 Useful Websites for daily life

1. screenr.com – record movies of your desktop and send them straight to YouTube.

2. ctrlq.org/screenshots – for capturing screenshots of web pages on mobile and desktops.

3. goo.gl – shorten long URLs and convert URLs into QR codes.

4. unfurlr.come – find the original URL that’s hiding behind a short URL.

5. qClock – find the local time of a city using a Google Map.

6. copypastecharacter.com – copy special characters that aren’t on your keyboard.

7. postpost.com – a better search engine for twitter.

8. lovelycharts.com – create flowcharts, network diagrams, sitemaps, etc.

9. iconfinder.com – the best place to find icons of all sizes.

10. office.com – download templates, clipart and images for your Office documents.

11. followupthen.com – the easiest way to setup email reminders.

12. jotti.org – scan any suspicious file or email attachment for viruses.

13. wolframalpha.com – gets answers directly without searching – see more wolfram tips.

14. printwhatyoulike.com – print web pages without the clutter.

15. joliprint.com – reformats news articles and blog content as a newspaper.

16. ctrql.org/rss – a search engine for RSS feeds.

17. e.ggtimer.com – a simple online timer for your daily needs.

18. coralcdn.org – if a site is down due to heavy traffic, try accessing it through coral CDN.

19. random.org – pick random numbers, flip coins, and more.

20. pdfescape.com – lets you can quickly edit PDFs in the browser itself.

21. viewer.zoho.com – Preview PDFs and Presentations directly in the browser.

22. tubemogul.com – simultaneously upload videos to YouTube and other video sites.

23. ctrlq.org/dictation – online voice recognition in the browser itself.

24. scr.im – share you email address online without worrying about spam.

25. spypig.com – now get read receipts for your email.

26. sizeasy.com – visualize and compare the size of any product.

27. myfonts.com/WhatTheFont – quickly determine the font name from an image.

28. google.com/webfonts – a good collection of open source fonts.

29. regex.info – find data hidden in your photographs – see more EXIF tools.

30. livestream.com – broadcast events live over the web, including your desktop screen.

31. iwantmyname.com – helps you search domains across all TLDs.

32. homestyler.com – design from scratch or re-model your home in 3d.

33. join.me – share you screen with anyone over the web.

34. onlineocr.net – recognize text from scanned PDFs – see other OCR tools.

35. flightstats.com – Track flight status at airports worldwide.

36. wetransfer.com – for sharing really big files online.

37. hundredzeros.com – the site lets you download free Kindle books.

38. polishmywriting.com – check your writing for spelling or grammatical errors.

39. marker.to – easily highlight the important parts of a web page for sharing.

40. typewith.me – work on the same document with multiple people.

41. whichdateworks.com – planning an event? find a date that works for all.

42. everytimezone.com – a less confusing view of the world time zones.

43. gtmetrix.com – the perfect tool for measuring your site performance online.

44. noteflight.com – print music sheets, write your own music online (review).

45. imo.im – chat with your buddies on Skype, Facebook, Google Talk, etc. from one place.

46. translate.google.com – translate web pages, PDFs and Office documents.

47. kleki.com – create paintings and sketches with a wide variety of brushes.

48. similarsites.com – discover new sites that are similar to what you like already.

49. wordle.net – quick summarize long pieces of text with tag clouds.

50. bubbl.us – create mind-maps, brainstorm ideas in the browser.

51. kuler.adobe.com – get color ideas, also extract colors from photographs.

52. liveshare.com – share your photos in an album instantly.

53. lmgtfy.com – when your friends are too lazy to use Google on their own.

54. midomi.com – when you need to find the name of a song.

55. bing.com/images – automatically find perfectly-sized wallpapers for mobiles.

56. faxzero.com – send an online fax for free – see more fax services.

57. feedmyinbox.com – get RSS feeds as an email newsletter.

58. ge.tt – quickly send a file to someone, they can even preview it before downloading.

59. pipebytes.com – transfer files of any size without uploading to a third-party server.

60. tinychat.com – setup a private chat room in micro-seconds.

61. privnote.com – create text notes that will self-destruct after being read.

62. boxoh.com – track the status of any shipment on Google Maps – alternative.

63. chipin.com – when you need to raise funds online for an event or a cause.

64. downforeveryoneorjustme.com – find if your favorite website is offline or not?

65. ewhois.com – find the other websites of a person with reverse Analytics lookup.

66. whoishostingthis.com – find the web host of any website.

67. google.com/history – found something on Google but can’t remember it now?

68. aviary.com/myna – an online audio editor that lets record, and remix audio clips online.

69. disposablewebpage.com – create a temporary web page that self-destruct.

70. urbandictionary.com – find definitions of slangs and informal words.

71. seatguru.com – consult this site before choosing a seat for your next flight.

72. sxc.hu – download stock images absolutely free.

73. zoom.it – view very high-resolution images in your browser without scrolling.

74. scribblemaps.com – create custom Google Maps easily.

75. alertful.com – quickly setup email reminders for important events.

76. picmonkey.com – Picnik is offline but PicMonkey is an even better image editor.

77. formspring.me – you can ask or answer personal questions here.

78. sumopaint.com – an excellent layer-based online image editor.

79. snopes.com – find if that email offer you received is real or just another scam.

80. typingweb.com – master touch-typing with these practice sessions.

81. mailvu.com – send video emails to anyone using your web cam.

82. timerime.com – create timelines with audio, video and images.

83. stupeflix.com – make a movie out of your images, audio and video clips.

84. safeweb.norton.com – check the trust level of any website.

85. teuxdeux.com – a beautiful to-do app that looks like your paper dairy.

86. deadurl.com – you’ll need this when your bookmarked web pages are deleted.

87. minutes.io – quickly capture effective notes during meetings.

88. youtube.com/leanback – Watch YouTube channels in TV mode.

89. youtube.com/disco – quickly create a video playlist of your favorite artist.

90. talltweets.com – Send tweets longer than 140 characters.

91. pancake.io – create a free and simple website using your Dropbox account.

92. builtwith.com – find the technology stack of any website.

93. woorank.com – research a website from the SEO perspective.

94. mixlr.com – broadcast live audio over the web.

95. radbox.me – bookmark online videos and watch them later.

96. tagmydoc.com – add QR codes to your documents and presentations .

97. notes.io – the easiest way to write short text notes in the browser.

98. ctrlq.org/html-mail – send rich-text mails to anyone, anonymously.

99. fiverr.com – hire people to do little things for $5.

100. otixo.com – easily manage your online files on Dropbox, Google Docs, etc 101. ifttt.com – create a connection between all your online accounts.

2012-09-28T15:02:00.000+05:30

How to Read Doubleclick Ad Tags and Ad Tag Variables

The term ad tag is thrown around quite a bit, and can usually refer to any link involved in the ad serving process, on the publisher, or marketer side. Strictly speaking, Ad Tags are the HTML code a browser uses to fetch an advertisement from an Ad Server – it is a redirect to content rather than content itself.

There are also click tags, action tags, view tags, and other more specific variants to the general ad tag category. For this particular example, we’ll look at publisher side tag; because our purpose is to show how ad tags help publishers organize their content into targetable products.

Ad Tag Components

So, without further ado, feast your eyes on this example a DoubleClick ad tag:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ADJ/publisher/zone;topic=abc;sbtpc=def;cat=ghi;kw=xyz;tile=1;slot=728x90.1;sz=728x90;ord=7268140825331981?

An ad tag can tell you quite a bit about how which ad ends up on a page – if you want, navigate to any major publisher and look at the source code; you can probably find a real-life example of a working ad tag. So how can you tell what the ad tag says about the publisher hierarchy and ad targeting? Let’s break it down piece by piece:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ – this is the host address for the Ad Server – you can see that it is not a publisher’s website, but an independent technology company that has nothing to do with publishing content. In this example, we’re talking about DoubleClick, the Ad Serving powerhouse that was acquired by Google for $3.1 billion dollars in 2007.

/ADJ – this code defines a specific type of ad call, and what the response can be, i.e., images vs. XML vs. scripts. For this example, the code ‘ADJ’ is the most common and only returns images, which will serve via JavaScript. Other responses can include ADF (only image creative in a frame), ADX (only image creative served through streaming technologies), as well as others.

/publisher - this is the site code that DoubleClick uses to distinguish one publisher property from another. For example, the New York Times owns NYTimes.com, About.com, and Boston.com among other properties. If they are a client of DoubleClick, the corporation likely pays the bill, but each site would have its own site code so ads could be targeted to a specific paper and not the entire network.

/zone - the zone is akin to a channel level, so the Homepage vs. the Arts page, vs. the Sports page. These content verticals are likely to attract different advertisers, so it’s important for publishers to be able to target to this kind of granularity.

Zone-Based Hierarchy vs. Topic Based Hierarchy

Here is where tagging logic starts to diverge in DoubleClick. Some publishers prefer to deeply categorize at the zone level, while others keep moving down the hierarchy to the topic level. The benefit of using zones over the topic, subtopic, category, or keyword levels that we’ll talk about in just a minute is that the zone is the last level in which you can pull historical reporting. So you might have sports/baseball or even sports/baseball/nymets so you can pull traffic statistics going back months or years.

The downside with this method is that zones are vertical structures, so if you had multiple verticals on your site that all had a games section, you would have to select each games zone every time you wanted to target all games when traffic the ads, rather than just targeting a single “games” key value. This sounds easy on paper, but ads up to lots of extra time for your trafficking staff if you have lots of subcategories in each zone. It would not be difficult to imagine needing 50 zones or more per content vertical to tag to the lowest level of granularity.

That is why most Publishers tag at a higher level, and leave the granularity to the topic variable and below. A great benefit of granular topic tagging opposed to granular zone tagging aside from being able to use the same topic tag across multiple zones is the ability for topic tags to handle wild cards when trafficking.

This means if you had topic=newyorkmarathon and topic=bostonmarathon, you could simply target topic=*marathon* and ads would automatically fall into both areas. This makes trafficking much easier, but has the downside of no historical reporting, which can be a challenge for your Yield or Inventory teams.

topic=abc – next in the hierarchy is the topic level. As mentioned above you can use the topic level to tag similar content across zones. For example, games in multiple content verticals or within them.

sbtpc=def – next in the hierarchy is the subtopic level. You might use this to target sports games vs. adventure games for example. Again, you can use this to target across content verticals or within them.

kw=xyz – the keyword segment isn’t really another level in the hierarchy but a way to describe the page for contextual targeting. The benefit here is multiple keywords are allowed. These are typically used in guides and directories like a recipe, where you would want to be able to target chicken recipes vs. vegetarian recipes vs. winter recipes, and etc., allowing some overlapping targeting.

tile=1 – the tile variable sets a unique value for each ad call on a specific page. If there were two or more of the same size ads on a page, separate tile values would prevent the browser from trying to serve the same ad to multiple ad slots at the same time.

slot=728x90.1 – typically defines the location of the ad tag, but is really just another type of key-value. While this may seem duplicative with the tile value, it isn’t. For example, tile values are often set dynamically, in the order they appear on the page. So the first call is tile=1, the second is tile=2, and so on. But websites use different templates all the time so the homepage may not have as many ad calls as a category page which may have a different number of calls than an article page, so the tile value isn’t designed to be a consistent variable for use in targeting. The slot however, is. For example, if a publisher had two of the same ad units on a given page, say a 728×90 unit at the top of the page and a 728×90 at the bottom of the page, the slot value allows them to target specifically to one or the other. That said, the publisher could just as easily set the value of this to anything they want, and it’s common to see sites re-purpose this key value for another purpose, use a text value such as “leaderboard”, or not use it at all. See Jared’s post in the comment thread below for more detail.

sz=728x90 – defines the ad size of the unit for the ad server logic. To be clear, this doesn’t restrict the size of the ad in the unit, it just provides a targeting attribute for the ad server. If a trafficker were to mistakenly target a 300×250 ad to a market segment with a sz=728×90 attribute however, the 300×250 creative would still serve to the 728×90 call, it would just be cut off. It isn’t uncommon to catch one of these mistakes from time to time as you surf around the web. Additionally, you can actually include multiple values into this attribute, separated by commas. (Thanks to Jared for correcting!)

ord=7268140825331981 – this number is a random value better known as a cache-buster. As users move back and forth between pages of content, they often return to pages they’ve seen before, especially navigational pages like the homepage. Browsers today try to save as much content as possible to speed up load times.

To prevent browsers from reloading the same ad multiple times (so publishers can maximize revenue and advertisers can get accurate reporting), a random number is tacked on to the end of each ad call so it looks unique to a browser and forces a new series of calls through the ad server.

Source: www.adopsinsider.com

2012-09-19T03:31:00.001+05:30

Why Do Publishers and Advertisers Have Separate Ad Servers?

At first glance it might seem confusing why Publishers and Advertisers both maintain their own Ad Servers. After all, what’s the point of forcing a browser to make so many trips across the internet, bouncing from Ad Server to Ad Server when technically all you need is a single Ad Server to deliver an ad?

The answer is mostly convenience, but also so Advertisers and Publishers can audit each other when it comes time to bill.

Ad Servers are convenient because they allow Publishers and Advertisers to centralize the nuts and bolts of getting an ad on a web page. If an Advertiser bought media across ten different sites for example, without an ad server every time they wanted to change their creative assets they would have to talk to ten different publishers. Not only that, but when it came time to report on how well their campaigns did, they would have to compile ten different data sources into a single report. For a sophisticated advertiser advertising multiple products to multiple audiences with multiple messages, this quickly becomes unmanageable and is distasteful from the start.

However, with an Ad Server, an Advertiser can update their creative in a single place, whenever they want, and do so without needing to contact a publisher. Moreover, they can pull reporting on-demand from one place that uses the same tracking methodology.

Publishers maintain an Ad Server for the same reasons – they have multiple clients running multiple creatives for varying amounts and with different targeting requirements. Publishers also want a single source for reporting, and where they can efficiently track that they are delivering on schedule so they can bill clients in full.

Lastly, separate Ad Servers allow both parties to maintain their own independent set of reports. This forces both parties to rely on the technology when it comes time to bill rather than each other’s honesty. Of course, using two Ad Servers that count at different times, even milliseconds apart creates the possibility for Ad Serving Discrepancies, the bane of Publishers and Advertisers alike.

Source: www.adopsinsider.com

2012-09-19T03:08:00.002+05:30

Ad server – An Overview

Computer system which stores, maintains and serves (uploads) advertising banners for one or more websites. Ad servers program, track, and report several statistics about website visitors which are used by advertisers to custom tailor ads and offers to suit different categories of visitors.

How Does Ad Serving Work?

Interactive ads are everywhere these days, but when it comes to the technical process of getting an ad on the page and how publishers and marketers verify it delivered, not many people can explain what actually happens in detail. Read this article though and you’ll be one of them! Below I’ve detailed step-by-step how a browser gets from the initial call to a publisher’s website to the final ad creative, and when and how each party counts an impression. You can view a diagram of the ad serving process at the bottom of this post – the numbers in the text refer to the steps labeled in the diagram.

So, without further argument -

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

Here’s an example of what an ad tag from Doubleclick, one of the major ad serving companies, looks like:

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ABC/publisher/zone;topic=abc;sbtpc=def;cat=ghi;kw=xyz;tile=1;slot=728x90.1;sz=728x90;ord=7268140825331981?

The ad tag points the browser to the Publisher’s Ad Server (5), a system designed exclusively for delivering and tracking advertising. In most cases, the Publisher’s Ad Server is actually a network of cloud servers owned and maintained by a separate company. In this case, the content server tells the browser to fetch the ad from Doubleclick, a company owned by Google that then makes the very complex decision on which ad to serve using a program called an Ad Selector.

In many cases the ad server is deciding among thousands upon thousands of potential options in mere milliseconds. The computational power behind the Ad Selector is mind blowing – Atlas, the major rival to Doubleclick calls the supercomputer running its Ad Selector “WARP” and it is among the most powerful in the world, making billions of decisions a day and trillions in its lifetime.

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 Marketer’s Ad Server. These redirects are technically speaking 302 redirects, which tell 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 publisher’s ad server sends the browser a redirect to the marketer, it counts a delivered impression in its own database (star). The only exception here is if the publisher decides to deliver a house ad or the marketer has asked the publisher to “site-serve” the ads, both of which requires the publisher load the actual creative files into their ad server, meaning the publisher is the final destination, and the browser can skip the loop through the marketer side (steps 7,8,11,12).

The browser now calls the Marketer’s Ad Server (7) and is redirected yet again to a Content Delivery Network, or CDN, (8) a global network of cloud servers that actually house the raw creative graphics to fetch the actual Ad.

Why, you ask? Well, as powerful as ad servers are, they just aren’t equipped to handle the volume and bandwidth required to deliver content as heavy as image files. Redirects are often nothing more than a 1×1 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 aren’t the only companies that use CDNs; in fact many websites host their bandwidth intensive files in these cloud networks. A CDN is almost always another independent company, such as Akamai, that hosts the heavy creative assets so the Ad Server doesn’t 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.

Here’s 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 Marketer’s Ad Server also appends a second redirect (10) back to itself with a query string to fetch a 1×1 pixel (11) after the ad content has been called. When the browser fires this last redirect calling a 1×1 pixel from the Marketer’s 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 shouldn’t take more than a second regardless of the number of parties involved. To visualize the process explained above, please see the diagram below – 302 redirects are highlighted in blue, and the ad creative is highlighted in red.

Source: www.businessdictionary.com and www.adopsinsider.com

2012-08-13T12:06:00.001+05:30

How the Ad Exchanges will work – An Overview

More and more online display inventory is being purchased via ad exchanges than ever before. On these platforms, advertisers utilize technology to bid on each and every ad impression in a real-time marketplace based on the value they put on the viewer. For example, retargeting has become a popular tactic as advertisers are able to tag (and then buy ads exposed to) users who have already shown interest in them by visiting their site. This technique has proven to be very effective, with higher than normal click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and other key performance indicators (KPIs).

Currently, more than 400 billion global monthly impressions are up for bid to online marketers -- that translates to about 150,000 ads each second during high internet traffic times!

Since the first banner ad was sold more than a decade and a half ago, it's no big surprise that publishers have aggressively sought ways to increase revenue by optimizing their ad inventory. Because so much of online inventory goes unsold or dropped into remnant channels for a micro-fraction of what can be made from presold, premium inventory, ad exchanges were an organic evolution in the ecosystem. A successful model was already in place with paid search where advertisers bid in a real-time, auction environment for ad impressions. As with paid search, exchange ad inventory is optimized by capitalist equilibrium -- some inventory is worth pennies, some is worth tens of dollars. Either way, ad price is determined by what the market is willing to pay.

Because most of the transaction is automated by technology, exchanges are very efficient for publishers to monetize previously unsold inventory without the need for robust sales teams, as well as for advertisers to buy direct inventory without middle men (such as ad networks) inflating costs. This has led some industry experts to predict that the market share of exchange vs. traditional online display buying methods will grow quickly in the next several years. In fact, this may have set off a revolution in which we will see more and more inventory moved to digital channels -- it might not be all available in real-time, but the efficiencies of this model cannot be denied. It's very possible that one day that any inventory that can be sold this way, will be sold this way... not just online, but TV, print, radio, etc.

The debates of the value of audience vs. context, technology vs. manual expertise, commoditization of inventory and its effect on our industry, etc., are already taking place in board rooms, industry conferences, and the blogosphere. As exciting as the new opportunity might be, there is resistance from the owners of the status quo, who will find their importance and market share drastically reduced by this evolution. As well, there is concern about the quality of this inventory and, as is always the case when targeting individual users, there will be privacy issues to take into account.

Regardless of the positive and negative context surrounding ad exchange buying, there still exists some mystery into how the technology actually works. Below is a top-level overview on how a publisher impression gets passed through the exchange value chain and ultimately gets served as an ad to the end user.

Note: This entire process happens in less than one-third of a second.

The publisher

An online user makes it to a publisher's site via a link or direct URL typed into a browser. The page loads and swooshes...

The publisher ad server

...the site's ad server recognizes that an ad box is on the page that needs to be filled. Publishers have a variety of choices on where to buy inventory. They can have in-house sales teams that work to presell their best (premium) inventory, ad networks that agree to help sell the inventory (either on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis), and, of course, ad exchanges, where advertisers can bid, in real time, for the impression.

So the first-party ad server may put the ad impression up for bid on the exchanges directly or through...

The publisher's tools

...which can enable them to let the impression be handled by yield optimizers (such as Rubicon, Admeld, and PubMatic) that can help them maximize their site revenue? They can consult with optimization service teams to help set pricing, decide what kind of ad units should go on specific pages, make deals with ad networks and exchanges, etc. As well, these partners can offer propriety technology to facilitate and optimize ad sales.

If the publisher tool decides at this time that the best value for the impression is on an exchange, it will send the impression there.

The exchanges

Currently, there are only a handful of "major" ad exchanges:

AdBrite
AdECN (Microsoft)
ContextWeb
DoubleClick Ad Exchange (Google)
Right Media (Yahoo... currently testing real-time bidding)

These media entities have direct deals with publishers, networks, or publisher tools to sell inventory on their open platforms. On its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, for example, Google has migrated inventory from its very successful AdSense program, which enables it to sell advertising this way on literally billions of web pages. Exchanges negotiate rates with the media providers and get paid to simply handle the transaction.

Advertisers and their agencies can elect to "get a seat" on these exchanges in order to be involved in the bidding marketplace. Exchanges have self-service, back-end platforms that media buyers can log into, set up and manage campaigns, and run analytics reports to analyze and then optimize their accounts without ever talking to a sales person.

However, many advertisers elect to not work with exchanges directly, and opt to use a demand-side platform (DSP) as their trading desk of choice.

The demand-side platforms (DSPs)

Demand-side platforms have risen to help advertisers manage all of their exchange campaigns through a single interface. These DSPs utilize the ad exchange's data connection via application program interfaces (APIs), which provide the same functionality as working on the exchanges' own systems. Some agencies and holding companies have built their own DSPs, and many third-party DSP providers have popped up, such as Turn, Invite Media (Google), [x+1], MediaMath, DataXu, and Triggit.

DSPs provide more features than just letting advertisers manage all of their buys in one spot. By aggregating the entire exchange buying process into one system, advertisers can utilize the high-powered algorithms of their DSPs to optimize their bids. These algorithms can be tuned to target a specific cost-per-click, cost-per-sale, return on investment (ROI), or other business goals. They can also provide integration with various third-party data providers to allow for simple access to purchasing inventory. Another recognized benefit to running everything through a DSP is that advertisers can enable universal frequency capping across all of the exchanges they work with.

Because an ad needs to load quickly, DSPs have service level agreements (SLAs) that set how long they have to return a bid for the impression. The standard time frame for a DSP to return a bid request to an exchange is around 50 milliseconds, or one-twentieth of a second!

The bid

Bids are generally handled at the cost-per-thousand (CPM) level, and advertisers can choose to vary these bids based on the value of the users each placement is targeting. A common targeting choice is contextual, as exchanges classify their inventory by categories (i.e., sports, entertainment, news, finance, etc.) and sub-categories (entertainment - movie; entertainment - music; etc.). It's probably safe to say that an advertiser involved in promoting a new film would be willing to pay more for to users on movies sites than on financial ones.

Another common targeting option is geography -- by country, region, state, DMA, etc. And because you can mix targeting directives in a placement, you could, for example choose to create a campaign that just targets users on automotive-related sites in California and bid accordingly for that traffic.

It's important to note that advertisers are not manually bidding on every impression in real-time -- not even Superman could keep up with 150,000 ads per second. Rather, advertisers choose targeting settings and a maximum bid for what they would pay for an impression that meets those parameters. As with paid search, analysts can continuously optimize their choices by changing bids and targeting settings to ensure the best possible ROI.

The data layer

The piece of the puzzle that seems to most accentuate the value of exchange buying is the various data that can be leveraged in order to target users. By tagging user browsers via anonymous cookies, advertisers can retarget to their website's visitors on publisher sites by bidding more for those users than their competitors; reaching shopping cart abandoners with multiple ad impressions in the first few days after leaving the site has become a smart way to utilize this feature, for example.

Third-party data providers tag users and then sell advertisers’ access to identify those users later on an exchange. These companies (such as BlueKai, eXelate, and Experian) can provide user segments such as male or female, age bracket, income bracket, etc. How do they do this? There are various ways. There are data providers that tag users online who are registering product warrantees; they can provide exchange visibility to audiences based on the types of products they own. Other data providers make deals with travel aggregators so that advertisers can (anonymously) target users who have searched for Caribbean vacation deals or European hotels. Some data providers work with social networks that have registration data on millions of users and can help find audiences with specific niche interests.

The most valuable data seems to be that which can help identify in-market users. For example, a data provider signs a deal with a top-tier automotive review site to allow it to tag its users on key portions of the site. Days later, a major car manufacturer is able to buy impressions on other sites to target those same users who were looking for specific car-related information.

Ultimately, advertisers are going to pay more to reach the most desirable audiences to their business. Data empowers the advertiser to be able to better judge the value of each impression as it is passed to them.

The verification systems

If a bid is submitted and won by an advertiser, the ad can be served at this point. However, to provide a level of protection, verification technology is sometimes inserted into the value chain. Because the focus on the exchanges is audience buying and the human element has been removed, there has been a fear in the advertiser community that the ads may not be served in the best way for their brands -- e.g., being placed next to overtly sexual or violent content. Being served next to a competitor on the same page is also something that could potentially happen. Verification systems try to discern the context of the page before serving the ad, and it will block the ad if it determines the page doesn't fit the advertiser's specified settings.

Another function of verification systems is to validate the buy itself. As the impression comes up for bid and is won by the advertiser, the system determines if it really matches the target that advertiser was bidding on. Is the ad being served in the right geographic area? Is it ensuring compliance to the industry-specific guidelines and not breaking any rules (for example, pharmaceutical companies have strict editorial needs)? Once again, if the verification technology detects anything outside of the ordinary, it will block the ad from being served. Also in this category are contextual providers such as Peer39 and Proximic, which leverage semantic filters in real time to protect advertisers from buying the wrong impressions.

Verification technologies can differ in methodology and implementation, but, basically, if the impression passes the verification system's filters at this point, the ad is ready to be loaded into the blank ad box on the publisher site.

The third-party ad server

On some occasions, advertisers can load ads directly into the exchanges or allow their DSPs to serve them. However, most major advertisers load the exchanges (and DSPs) with creative "tags," which are ad requests that are filled by their third-party ad servers.

Third-party ad servers solve the same problem with serving ads as a DSP does with buying from exchanges. Instead of having to manage all of their display buys for each individual publisher (or exchange), the third-party ad server allows for everything to be managed in one place -- reporting, tracking, creative management -- one platform for the agency or advertiser teams to worry about.

So, the exchange sends the advertiser's creative tag (either directly or from a DSP) to the publisher's first-party ad server. The publisher's server loads the creative tag into the blank ad box. The creative tag "calls" to the advertiser's third-party ad server to then serve the ad. The third-party ad server will serve whichever creative is deemed appropriate for the situation. For example, if it detects that the end user is in Texas, there may be a specified ad to be served to that user. Or, if the third-party ad server detects that the user visited the company's website and checked out a certain product page, it may be directed to serve an ad related to that product.

Abracadabra! The ad is served. Remember, this entire process has to happen virtually instantaneously to ensure a quality experience for a website user. From the moment the page begins to load, to the publisher's tools farming it off to an exchange, to the exchanges receiving bids from their own users and their partner DSPs, to being filtered through the verification systems, and finally returned by an advertiser's third-party ad server-- it all takes place in around less than half of a second.

Summary

It's almost impossible to imagine that technology buying, such as the exchange system, will completely replace human interaction. Frankly, not all inventories can be sold this way. However, with the promise of lower costs from efficiencies, fewer wasted impressions through smart targeting, scalable reach, and controlled frequency; it seems very likely that these technologies will evolve into even more impactful tools. Competency in these platforms has already become a priority for leading advertisers, and new ideas for innovation are springing up every day. It's reasonable to assume that we have only scratched the surface on the capabilities of these systems and that they will be even more powerful and ubiquitous in a very short time.

Source: www.imediaconnection.com

2012-08-10T01:14:00.002+05:30

Ad exchange

Ad exchanges are technology platforms that facilitate bided buying and selling of online media advertising inventory from multiple ad networks. The approach is technology-driven as opposed to the historical approach of negotiating price on media inventory.

This represents a field beyond ad networks as defined by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and by advertising trade publications Advertising Age, iMediaConnection and ClickZ.

The major ad exchanges include AdECN, which is owned and was purchased by Microsoft in August, 2007 but may have recently been closed down, Right Media, which is owned and was purchased by Yahoo! in April 2007, ContextWeb's Exchange, the leading independent exchange, DoubleClick Ad Exchange, which is owned by DoubleClick, a Google subsidiary purchased in May 2007, QZedia, Adkaw, Adbrite and Zinc Exchange, an exchange selling guaranteed impression delivery on newspaper sites.

Ad exchanges can be useful to both buyers (advertisers and agencies) and sellers (online publishers) because of the efficiencies they provide.

Source: Wikipedia.org

2012-08-04T02:06:00.001+05:30

Advertising network – An Overview

An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to web sites that want to host advertisements.

The key function of an ad network is aggregation of ad space supply from publishers and matching it with advertiser demand. The phrase "ad network" by itself is media-neutral in the sense that there can be a "Television Ad Network" or a "Print Ad Network", but is increasingly used to mean "online ad network" as the effect of aggregation of publisher ad space and sale to advertisers is most commonly seen in the online space.

The fundamental difference between traditional media ad networks and online ad networks is that online ad networks use a central Ad server to deliver advertisements to consumers, which enables targeting, tracking and reporting of impressions in ways not possible with analog media alternatives.

Overview

The advertising network market is a large and growing market, with the top 20 companies earning about $2 billion in revenues during 2007. This represents around 13% of the total display advertising market, forecasted to grow to 18% by 2010. This growth has resulted in many new players in the market, and has encouraged acquisitions of ad networks by large companies entering the market.

Ad networks are primarily involved in selling space for online ads to appear. This online advertising inventory comes in many different forms, including space on websites, in RSS feeds, on blogs, in instant messaging applications, in adware, in e-mails, and on other sources. The dominant form of inventory continues to be third-party websites, who work with advertising networks for either a fee or a share of the ad revenues.

An advertiser can buy a run of network package, or a run of category package within the network. The advertising network serves advertisements from its central ad server, which responds to a site once a page is called. A snippet of code is called from the ad server that represents the advertising banner.

Large publishers often sell only their remnant inventory through ad networks. Typical numbers range from 10% to 60% of total inventory being remnant and sold through advertising networks.

Smaller publishers often sell their entire inventory through ad networks. One type of ad network, known as a blind network, is such that advertisers place ads, but do not know the exact places where their ads are being placed.

Large ad networks include a mixture of search engines, media companies, and technology vendors.

Types of ad networks

There are 3 main types of online advertising networks:

Vertical Networks: They represent the publications in their portfolio, with full transparency for the advertiser about where their ads will run. They typically promote high quality traffic at market prices and are heavily used by brand marketers. The economic model is generally revenue share. Vertical Networks offer ROS (Run-Of-Site) advertising across specific Channels (example: Auto or Travel) or they offer site-wide advertising options, in which case they operate in a similar fashion to Publisher Representation firms.

Blind Networks: These companies offer good pricing to direct marketers in exchange for those marketers relinquishing control over where their ads will run, though some networks offer a "site opt out" method. The network usually runs campaigns as RON or Run-Of-Network. Blind networks achieve their low pricing through large bulk buys of typically remnant inventory combined with conversion optimization and ad targeting technology.

Targeted Networks: Sometimes called “next generation” or “2.0” ad networks, these focus on specific targeting technologies such as behavioral or contextual, that have been built into an Ad server. Targeted networks specialize in using consumer click stream data to enhance the value of the inventory they purchase. Further specialized targeted networks include social graph technologies which attempt to enhance the value of inventory using connections in social networks.

There are two types of advertising networks: first-tier and second-tier networks. First-tier advertising networks have a large number of their own advertisers and publishers, they have high quality traffic, and they serve ads and traffic to second-tier networks. Examples of first-tier networks include the major search engines. Second-tier advertising networks may have some of their own advertisers and publishers, but their main source of revenue comes from syndicating ads from other advertising networks.

While it is common for websites to be categorized into tier, these can be misleading.

While Google is in the clear majority of advertisement impression served, other networks that could be labeled as tier 2 actually dominate over this tier 1 Ad networks as far as the number of customers reached.

Source: Wikipedia.org

2012-07-31T05:11:00.001+05:30

Creating a Social Media Marketing Plan

Journey Of Online Media

Learn Ad Operations – New Blog to Learn from Basics

How Digital Marketing Is Affecting the Growth of Small Business (SMB)

Why Publisher Need Own Ad Server

How Ad Servers Work Together

The Smart ways of promoting

Are Ad Exchanges and Real Time Bidding The Next Big Thing?

How Ad Networks Operate

What Ad Exchanges Do

Real Time Bidding (RTB)

Demand Side Platforms (DSP)

Supply Side Platforms (SSP)

Obstacles to Adoption

The Players

Content Monetized by RTB Technology

Features of Real Time Bidding (RTB) Platform

How Does RTB Work?

Facebook and Ad Exchanges

Growth of the RTB Market

Real Time Bidding (RTB) Eco System - An Infographic

What is a tracking pixel?

Where do I get a tracking pixel?

What are some examples of tracking pixels?

Where do I put the tracking pixel in DFP?

How to investigate discrepancies – DoubleClick

Discrepancies may result from:

Things to check:

How to investigate discrepancies – Analytics

Page views vs. impressions

Code execution

Iframes

Cookies

Referrers

Third-party discrepancies

Discrepancies may result from:

Things to check:

What is a macro and why is it so important when trafficking third party creatives?

Click-tracking macro

Cache-busting macro

DoubleClick Macros – An Overview… Part 2

Continued from Part 1

File server macro

Geo ad server macro

Height and width macros

Host name macro

Interstitial impression macro

Pattern match macro

Notes:

%p will still work for creatives trafficked in DART, but we strongly recommend using the new syntax for all new creatives trafficked in the DFP upgrade. %p is not supported with GPT tags. If you use GPT, you must use %%PATTERN:key%%. DART macros are case-sensitive. That is, %P is not a valid macro.

Site name macro

Target window macro

DoubleClick Macros – An Overview… Part 1

Cache-busting (random number) macro

Click macro

Click-through URL macro

Expand macro

Notes:

The %e macro cannot be used by DFA clients running click-commands on DFP sites. The advertiser_id or page_id values, for instance, will populate with the DFP values instead of the intended DFA values.

This article will continue to Part 2

Variations

How to implement a clickTAG and how does it work?

Some clickTAG example :

101 Useful Websites for daily life

Ad Tag Components

Zone-Based Hierarchy vs. Topic Based Hierarchy

How Does Ad Serving Work?

The publisher

The publisher ad server

The publisher's tools

The exchanges

The demand-side platforms (DSPs)

The bid

The data layer

The verification systems

The third-party ad server

Summary

Overview

Types of ad networks