D
Deleted member 813988
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Today while doing some research for work I stumbled upon this article:
The article supposes to be about 5 'best' display ad networks, but it only mentions one ad network - AdSense.
I see a lot of confusion among publishers (and even ad network representatives) in the traffic arbitrage field - such articles are part of the reason. What's even more confusing that these guys who write such articles have a limited understanding of what they talking about and even fail to read the 'about us'. That's just silly...so I decided to write this thread and explain it in simple terms.
An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with the advertiser's demand. (Wiki)
Companies like: Ezoic, Mediavine, Monumetric, Adthrive are not ad networks, but mediation companies.
The primary purpose of these companies - is split testing, improving your current results.
- What does it mean? How is it different from Ad Network (AdSense)?
This means that the primary goal of these companies to help you optimize your ads: user experience, placement optimization, remnant inventory optimization, etc. You pay % from your earnings.
Yes, these companies can and do provide you with additional ad demand - and charge % from your earnings for that.
It's not bad, every ad network, ad exchange, and mediation company takes % from your earnings as long as you make profit - it's good!
- Who should use such companies?
The mediation company is in between just starting publishers that just using AdSense and managing their own ad server.
In other words, it's for those who already grown out of AdSense, not grown big enough to run their own server.
When you just started and your site is new and/or have a low traffic, you're not 100% on your direction with the site (and traffic arbitrage overall), AdSense is an a-okay network to start and test with.
Once your site starting to grow, you receive a lot of traffic, and you don't want to sell your inventory at a minimum price to AdSense anymore - you need to set up a server to maximize your ad revenue. Ad server helps you running multiple ad networks on your site simultaneously, create custom setup based on your site needs, and run bid auctions to increase rate per each ad impression.
Example Scenario 1:
You have a website with a single ad network (AdSense or any other) - you get default CPM whatever ad network gives you - e.g. $1 CPM
Example Scenario 2:
You have a website with the ad server and you run multiple ad networks- Instead of selling inventory at a default price to the ad network, Ad server requests bid for this particular use among all ad networks and displays only the network with the highest rate.
As the end result, you sell your inventory on average 25%-50% higher rate, and your final CPM rate would be $1,50 vs $1.
The numbers above are just an example.
BUT: Managing own ad server requires a lot of knowledge, understanding of the process, and technical skills. It involves much more than just coding. It's also pretty expensive! if you hire someone to do it for you.
This is where companies like the ones mentioned above come in - they provide mediation of your ads and even provide some of their own demand for a fee.
The pros: you only share % of your revenue, as long as you earn everyone is happy.
The cons: you pay % on top of what ad network already charges you; no option to have completely custom setup; limited ad partners.
While this could work as a good solution for some publishers, I personally prefer running own server and have full control of the sitatuation (and not to share extra %).
Code:
https://alphainvestors.com/business/best-display-ad-networks/
The article supposes to be about 5 'best' display ad networks, but it only mentions one ad network - AdSense.
I see a lot of confusion among publishers (and even ad network representatives) in the traffic arbitrage field - such articles are part of the reason. What's even more confusing that these guys who write such articles have a limited understanding of what they talking about and even fail to read the 'about us'. That's just silly...so I decided to write this thread and explain it in simple terms.
An online advertising network or ad network is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with the advertiser's demand. (Wiki)
Companies like: Ezoic, Mediavine, Monumetric, Adthrive are not ad networks, but mediation companies.
The primary purpose of these companies - is split testing, improving your current results.
- What does it mean? How is it different from Ad Network (AdSense)?
This means that the primary goal of these companies to help you optimize your ads: user experience, placement optimization, remnant inventory optimization, etc. You pay % from your earnings.
Yes, these companies can and do provide you with additional ad demand - and charge % from your earnings for that.
It's not bad, every ad network, ad exchange, and mediation company takes % from your earnings as long as you make profit - it's good!
- Who should use such companies?
The mediation company is in between just starting publishers that just using AdSense and managing their own ad server.
In other words, it's for those who already grown out of AdSense, not grown big enough to run their own server.
When you just started and your site is new and/or have a low traffic, you're not 100% on your direction with the site (and traffic arbitrage overall), AdSense is an a-okay network to start and test with.
Once your site starting to grow, you receive a lot of traffic, and you don't want to sell your inventory at a minimum price to AdSense anymore - you need to set up a server to maximize your ad revenue. Ad server helps you running multiple ad networks on your site simultaneously, create custom setup based on your site needs, and run bid auctions to increase rate per each ad impression.
Example Scenario 1:
You have a website with a single ad network (AdSense or any other) - you get default CPM whatever ad network gives you - e.g. $1 CPM
Example Scenario 2:
You have a website with the ad server and you run multiple ad networks- Instead of selling inventory at a default price to the ad network, Ad server requests bid for this particular use among all ad networks and displays only the network with the highest rate.
As the end result, you sell your inventory on average 25%-50% higher rate, and your final CPM rate would be $1,50 vs $1.
The numbers above are just an example.
BUT: Managing own ad server requires a lot of knowledge, understanding of the process, and technical skills. It involves much more than just coding. It's also pretty expensive! if you hire someone to do it for you.
This is where companies like the ones mentioned above come in - they provide mediation of your ads and even provide some of their own demand for a fee.
The pros: you only share % of your revenue, as long as you earn everyone is happy.
The cons: you pay % on top of what ad network already charges you; no option to have completely custom setup; limited ad partners.
While this could work as a good solution for some publishers, I personally prefer running own server and have full control of the sitatuation (and not to share extra %).