The Improve Digital report was carried out at a recent AOP event with over forty UK premium publishers. Over 51% of respondents thought that RTB could help increase the pricing for unsold ad inventory. It’s a slim majority granted, but that number is impressive given some of the misguided coverage of late in the space. Despite all the misinformation in the industry, publishers
remain a practical lot, and are likely to try RTB to see if it actually works. If it does work then they will pile into it. I have no doubt about that.

Another key finding from the report is that 80% of publishers surveyed expect the number of mobile ad networks to increase considerably over the coming three years. This thinking is motivated by the explosive growth of content creation in the space and the subsequent ad inventory that is now available to buy. You can see why the yield optimisers are moving aggressively into mobile. The market is beginning to mature. With Google offering DFP for mobile (and possibly DFA?), you’d expect the media spend to flow into this marketing channel and the number of ad nets to arrive en masse. And who will the publishers turn to manage these multiples of new ad networks? You guessed it: the yield optimisers.

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David Smith, has spent his career in management consulting, venture-funded technology companies, and media advisory services.  Dave was instrumental in the successful exit of two start-ups, most recently with the advertising yield management technology firm Rapt (acquired by Microsoft, April 2008).  With Rapt, and later with Microsoft Advertising, he built industry-leading publisher solutions sales and services teams. Dave will bring tremendous sales, sales strategy and sales management experience to Improve Digital.
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Ben Crain is a well-known industry expert on inventory, pricing, and yield management in digital media who brings vast knowledge, experience and insight to Improve Digital. Most recently, he has been focused on the technology side of the equation, with Rapt (acquired by Microsoft, April 2008) and later with Microsoft Advertising.  Turning his skills as a practitioner on their head, he was central to the development and deployment of Rapt’s standard-setting suite of advertising yield solutions.

“We are excited to have both Ben and Dave on our Board and believe the addition of these 2 prominent industry veterans will prove valuable as we continue expansion of our business and bring innovative revenue optimisation solutions to the market.” said Joëlle Frijters, Improve Digital’s Chief Executive Officer.

The Improve Digital advisory board is a strong, balanced blend of skills and experience. The board provides guidance and insight in core areas important to Improve Digital.

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Organised and supported by:

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Online display advertising has seen a dramatic evolution in recent times – With the rise of ad networks, exchanges and optimisers, to sit beside sales houses and in-house teams, the current online advertising landscape is far more sophisticated than ever before. It also offers publishers much greater choice.

There are new ways for publishers to trade and new ways to generate additional revenue and cost savings.  But with greater complexity, comes increased challenges such as controlling the quality of campaigns, creatives and ultimately protecting the brand.

So how can publishers take full advantage of what the market has to offer while overcoming the challenges of increasing automation, and commoditisation?  And what further opportunities will the new decade bring?

This forum brings together industry experts to examine the current state of online trading and to look in-depth, through cross-industry panels, at two key issues impacting on publishers:  the changing dynamics of buying and selling media; and the role of audience data in generating publisher revenue.

AGENDA:

2.00 pm      Registration
2.30 pm      Chair’s Introduction and Overview
2.40 pm      Trends in display advertising, Matt O’Neil, President Admonsters Europe

3.00 pm      The changing dynamics of buying and selling media
                          Dave Katz, Head of Trading
                          Topics:
                          * Agency networks – what they are and what they are doing
                          * How publishers can benefit from real bidding buying platforms
                          * Publisher networks – where they fit in

3.20 pm      Panel Debate
                         * Mark Mannino, VP of Supply and Data, MediaMath
                         * Nick Burcher, Head of VNC UK & Products / Partnerships EMEA, Vivaki
                         * Tom Bowman, VP Global Ad Strategy & Operations, BBC Worldwide
                         * Ciaran O’Kane, Editor, ExchangeWire.com

3.50 pm      Coffee Break

4.10 pm       The role of audience data in generating display revenues for publishers,
                          Donald Hamilton,  Partner Precedio and former MD Wunderloop &
                          Kimon Zorbas, VP of IAB Europe
                          * The role of audience data in current and future revenues
                          * Why 3^rd party data is so important
                          * Who owns the data – Digital Agencies, Media Corps and Digital Giants
                          * The legal aspect – UK versus Europe

4.30pm       Panel Debate
                          Panelists:
                          * Kimon Zorbas, VP of IAB Europe,
                          * Steve Dorey, Head of Business Development, Criteo,
                          * Stuart Coleman, MD, Audience Science
                          * Abeed JanMohamed, Head of Agency Sales ESPN Digital Media

5.00pm       Wrap Up

5.10pm        Drinks

Book your tickets at AOP here and join us

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Pubmatic has offered RTB capabilities to publishers and ad networks in the US since early 2009. It is currently rolling out Version 3.0 of the product, which will also be available in the UK and Europe via Improve Digital during the first quarter of 2010. The technology enables online advertisers to reach the right user, in the right place, at the right time, with initial results showing an increase of up to 135 percent on click-throughs and 150 percent improvement in conversion rates. This adds significant value to the publisher’s offering.

‘Understanding Real-Time Bidding (RTB) From the Publisher Perspective’ explains how publishers can channel the potential of RTB through better-performing campaigns, which have a positive impact on all parties involved:

• Publishers adopting RTB make their advertising space more valuable and can therefore charge more for impressions (advertisers that have better performing campaigns can pay more to target the right users)
• Advertisers see increased ROI
• Users see adverts that are targeted at them and their specific interests, so their online experience is better because it is more relevant

The move is in response to the rapid growth of the mobile advertising market.  Among the key findings of the IAB UK’s mobile ad spend figures published in 2009:  £28.6 million was spent on mobile in 2008, a figure almost double the previous year.  Looking ahead, recent study by GroupM forecasts that mobile advertising spend will increase 19 percent to $3,3 billion in 2010.

The combination of mobile and online offering further strengthens Improve Digital’s footprint with premium publishers in The UK and Europe.

Publisher benefits include:

• Ad network representation: The platform connects to the optimal mix of mobile ad networks according to publishers’ content, audience, and brand safety requirements
• Real-time decision making:  The platform decides in real-time which mobile ad network can best monetise each impression and select the highest paying ad network every time
• Brand control:  The same comprehensive brand control capabilities that protect Improve Digital’s web publishers from unwanted ads, channel conflict, and ad latency issues will also extend to the mobile platform
• Audience insight:  Mobile-specific data points such as device, user location, and user demographics are considered as part of the ad network and exchange selection process to maximise publisher revenue
• One consolidated management dashboard (web and mobile):  Publishers will be able to manage and review comprehensive reporting and analytics from one consolidated dashboard that tracks both their Web based ad sales and mobile ad sales

http://www.farneymedia.com/2009/11/18/improve-digitals-janneke-niessen-expects-big-growth-in-rtb-use-throughout-2010/

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This white paper gives a basic overview of ad network optimisation and how it fits within the online advertising landscape.

Download your free copy here

Click here to download the report from PubMatic.

http://www.improvedigital.com/wp-content/uploads/wp_brandimage_sep09.pdf

The launch of the automated multiple currency optimisation and reporting feature is a ‘must-have’ for publishers who need automated  integration with European, US and global ad networks. This enables a publisher to report revenues in non-USD currencies such as British Pound, Euro, Swiss Franc, and more. The launch of this feature places PubMatic and Improve Digital ahead of other more manual providers in the market.
It brings publishers:

• Higher revenues and eCPM’s as a result of better decision making and seamless automated integration with networks
• The ability to convert currencies in real time for automated optimisation across global and local ad networks to find the best monetisation opportunities for publishers\
• Flexible reporting in preferred currency

“Optimising and central reporting across multiple currencies and markets in an automated way is a key feature to our business”, states Rogier van den Heuvel, VP Worldwide Sales Ebuddy, a global online communication service headquartered in Amsterdam with over 20 million users in 30 languages.

“PubMatic’s advanced technology in addition to Improve Digital’s local understanding and best-in-class service makes a winning combination for international premium publishers that are looking to significantly increase their ad revenue,” said PubMatic Co-Founder and CEO, Rajeev Goel.  “We’re committed to being the best ad revenue optimisation solution in Europe, as well as in the U.S., and we will continue to pioneer service and technology innovation to meet the needs of premium publishers.

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