Premium platforms such as Google AdSense are among the most frequently cited ad networks for publishers today. While it is one of the top options for larger entities, AdSense’s strict requirements are often too high for a small or medium-sized publisher to meet.

Fortunately, many viable and high-paying alternatives are available. Learn about the top ad networks suitable for smaller publishers and what ad formats, features, and services they offer.

Why Small Publishers Need Ad Networks

Even if you operate a smaller website, app, or niche digital property, partnering with an ad network remains one of the best ways to monetize your content and make the most out of your ad spaces.

As a smaller publisher, manually finding and partnering with individual advertisers is a significant expense of time and effort that would be better spent maintaining your digital property. The role of an ad network is to serve as an intermediary platform that automatically connects publishers and advertisers.

Quality networks have brand safety systems and controls to ensure your ad spaces are filled with high-quality, high-relevancy ad creatives. While publishers of any size benefit from these features, they are especially vital for smaller properties, as they may not yet have other monetization avenues.

Best Ad Network Features to Look For as a Small Publisher

If you are a small publisher, you must ensure the network you partner with has the elements and services you need to grow and focus on your business. Some of the most critical features to look for are the following:

Fast approval process

Premium networks primarily intended for large publishers often subject new applicants to a lengthy approval process.

While owners of larger digital properties often have the resources to wait until this process ends, smaller publishers cannot earn as long as they are stuck in the “pending approval” stage.

For these reasons, partnering with an ad network with fast or instant approval processes is crucial to many publishers. Joining these networks ensures you minimize the time it takes from signing up to earning.

Accessible minimum traffic requirements

Premium ad networks are well-known for requiring new members to meet specific minimum requirements, most often in the form of minimum traffic. While these measures exist to ensure profitability for both sides, they are also prohibitive for smaller publishers, who haven’t yet grown to drive such traffic.

An ad network with low or no minimum traffic requirements is ideal for a smaller publisher because it eliminates one of the most significant entry barriers, allowing them to start monetizing as soon as possible.

Diverse ad inventory

The ad network you partner with must have access to a sufficiently large pool of advertisers to guarantee a diverse selection of high-quality ads.

While no publisher wants to serve low-quality ads, smaller publishers are especially at risk of the consequences. Low-quality ads can drive traffic down and significantly harm the monetization potential of smaller websites and applications.

Good UI and UX

A publisher may eventually stop using an ad network if it is challenging to work with or inconvenient to use, even if they offer high-quality ads and a fast approval process.

The primary factors behind a network’s ease of use are the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Quality ad networks should offer easily navigable interfaces, no hidden or obscured features, and sufficient documentation and resources to make the most out of the platform.

Advantageous payment options and frequency

Most networks generally make it easy to configure your ad spaces and start the monetization process of your digital property. However, you may end up unable to earn money with this network if the ad network’s payment terms impose too many conditions, pay too infrequently, or don’t let you withdraw using your preferred payment processors.

Review the network’s payment process and conditions and ensure they can pay you at your preferred frequencies and using your favorite platforms or methods. Quality ad networks should offer multiple options to suit the needs of any publisher. 

For example, if you expect to receive your earnings on a biweekly or monthly basis, ad networks that only provide NET-60 payment (bimonthly) may not be suitable.

Smaller publishers should also ensure the minimum payout value isn’t too high, as ad networks will not send any money to your account until the amount is met.

Top 5 Ad Networks for Small Publishers

Here are the top 5 ad networks small publishers should consider partnering with to monetize their digital properties.

1. Media.Net

Media.Net is not only among the best ad networks for small publishers, but it is also one of the highest-performing ad networks available today and one of the best alternatives to traditional options, such as Google AdSense. Numerous premium international publishers have partnered with Media.Net, including CNN, Forbes, Reuters, and Kiplinger

Media.Net is a contextual ad network that uses advanced technologies to adapt and match the ads served on each ad space to the digital property’s context.

Contextual advertising technologies ensure the ads viewed by website visitors or app users are as relevant as possible, keeping the overall ad quality high.

For example, a contextual ad network serving ads on a sports-themed blog may attempt to serve ads about sportswear or sporting equipment, ensuring maximum relevance to the blog’s readers.

Media.Net also offers many features advantageous to small publishers, such as an easy-to-use interface, real-time analytics and reporting, fast payment processing, and 24/7 customer support.

Media.Net’s Features in a Nutshell

2. PropellerAds

PropellerAds is one of the older players in the advertising network industry, with over 11 years of experience providing small publishers and bloggers with a way to monetize their digital properties conveniently.

PropellerAds guarantees the safety and quality of all ads served with a manual checking and review process of all partner advertisers to ensure no dubious or low-quality ad creatives are displayed on your digital properties.

The network processes over 1 billion impressions monthly from worldwide traffic, making it an excellent option for reaching new audiences. It also employs anti-ad blocking technology, enabling the highest number of viewers to see ads and the best possible payout rates for publishers.

Additionally, PropellerAds is well-known for being one of the most convenient networks regarding payment, offering publishers a lightning-quick NET-7 payment frequency, a wide selection of payment methods, and low starting payout thresholds.

The network also provides dedicated, experienced campaign managers to assist publishers with less experience in the industry, ensuring their campaigns are correctly configured and providing assistance interpreting analytics reports.

PropellerAds’s Features in a Nutshell

3. BidVertiser

Smaller publishers operating newer or niche websites may find BidVertiser a more attractive ad network than other options. Founded in 2003 as a pay-per-click advertising network, it became a modern ad network favored by over 80,000 partners worldwide.

BidVertiser’s monetization model combines a wide selection of ad formats, low minimum payout thresholds, and a 100% transparent process connecting advertisers and publishers. 

Best of all, signing up and getting started on BidVertiser is very quick.

All a new publisher needs to do after creating an account is provide the network with their website details for review. BidVertiser’s automated approval system verifies your site conforms to the terms of services, then lets you configure your ads immediately.

The network features a highly detailed, cookie-based audience targeting feature, allowing publishers to configure ads by well-defined and precise audience segments: age groups, geographic regions, website usage rates, and many other data points found in visitor cookies.

In addition to the in-house features, BidVertiser is also compatible with Google AdSense. Publishers with an AdSense account can use both simultaneously to benefit from the Google system’s contextual advertising alongside BidVertiser’s comprehensive ad formats and layouts.

BidVertiser’s Features in a Nutshell

4. AdMaven

Founded in 2010, AdMaven is an Israeli-based ad network processing over 2 billion ad impressions daily for over 25,000 publishers and sell-side partners.

AdMaven is renowned as one of the best ad networks for publishers primarily interested in implementing pop-under ads. However, the platform also offers a large selection of other ad formats, making it easy to diversify your digital platform’s monetization. 

AdMaven supports desktop interstitials, in-page push ads, push notification ads, and an ad format exclusive to the network: native push notifications. The latter appears as a cross between a standard native ad and a push notification, allowing greater flexibility and creative control. AdMaven states this new ad format results in higher conversion rates and increased payouts for publishers.

While AdMaven has a minimum traffic requirement of 2,500 daily visitors, this number is much lower than ad networks imposing similar entry barriers. Your digital property must also not feature a free top-level domain, such as .tk or .ga.

However, the network’s verification process is automatic, meaning that as long as your blog or website meets the listed requirements, you will receive approval.

Once the approval process is complete, AdMaven provides all publishers with a dedicated account manager. The manager’s role is to provide assistance and suggestions on ad placement and ad format optimization, helping publishers use AdMaven’s dashboard efficiently and increase their earnings.

AdMaven’s Features in a Nutshell

5. AdsTerra

Although AdsTerra has been part of the advertising network industry for less than ten years, it offers many attractive features that small publishers should not overlook.

The ad network processes over 1 billion impressions daily for 40,000 partners, including 12,000 buy-side entities: advertisers, media agencies, and other affiliates. 

While AdsTerra offers classic CPC, CPI, and CPM ad campaigns and multiple ad formats, the network specializes in campaigns on the CPA model with fully customizable pop-unders. The network claims a near-constant 100% fill rate, ensuring maximum monetization efficiency.

AdsTerra also operates a fully automated self-serve platform (SSP), giving publishers full control over their ad campaigns, statistics, analytics, reporting, and configuration options. Publishers also have access to a 24/7 support service and help resources available in multiple languages, ensuring accessibility for worldwide users.

While the network requires each website submitted by publishers to pass an approval process, AdsTerra’s system is notable for its speed. 

Most publishers receive approval and can start monetizing within 10 minutes as long as the website conforms to the platform’s terms of service.

AdsTerra’s Features in a Nutshell

Optimize Your Earnings and Grow As a Publisher with CodeFuel

As a smaller publisher, utilizing all of the tools and monetization avenues at your disposal is crucial to ensure you earn as much as you can. However, finding what works best for your digital property on your own can be a challenging ordeal.

Fortunately, CodeFuel is here to help. Our team is here to help you assess your situation, find the best monetization options for your website, app, or property, and help you make the most out of it. Get started with CodeFuel today.

A Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is an integral part of the digital advertising landscape and one of the major players in the online ad-serving process. However, their definition and roles aren’t always well-understood and can sometimes be confused with other actors. Learn everything you need to know about DSPs and why advertisers use them.

Definition of a Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

A Demand-Side Platform (DSP) is a type of advertising technology (adtech) software employed by advertisers and other buyers to facilitate the bidding and purchasing of ad inventory from selling entities.

DSPs help advertisers buy ads using two specific technologies: programmatic advertising and real-time bidding (RTB). These are the same technologies employed by the seller entity equivalent of the DSP, the Supply-Side Platform (SSP).

What is Programmatic Advertising?

Programmatic advertising refers to the use of automated technologies to facilitate buying, selling, and trading media, such as ad inventories and ad spaces. Programmatic advertising exists in contrast to traditional advertising, which requires publishers and advertisers to contact each other and reach agreements manually.

Understanding programmatic advertising requires knowledge of other common adtech terminology, including:

• Real-time bidding (RTB): Real-time bidding is a technology designed to facilitate the trading of ad inventory through an automated auction system. RTB is one of the most efficient ways to buy and sell media to large audiences.
• Programmatic direct: Programmatic direct refers to the practice of selling ad inventory to advertisers directly and without using an auction system. Programmatic direct is the best way to guarantee premium-quality ad placements (e.g., a top-ranked publisher’s website).
• Programmatic advertising ecosystem: This term refers to the collective of buying and selling entities using programmatic advertising to trade media and ad spaces, such as DSPs and SSPs.

Importance of Demand-Side Platforms

Demand-Side Platforms are essential in the digital ad-serving process because they allow advertisers and other buyers to automatically and conveniently buy large amounts of high-quality traffic.

They enable advertisers to reach and set up ad campaigns with hundreds, if not thousands, of different publishers and selling entities without manually contacting each one, freeing user acquisition agents for other tasks.

Additionally, DSPs allow advertisers to monitor and manage each ad campaign’s performance in real time. An advertiser using a DSP can, for example, adjust a specific campaign on the fly even after it started, improving its key performance indicators (KPIs) and scaling it up or down depending on its current performance.

How Do Demand-Side Platforms Work?

The best way to understand how Demand-Side Platforms work is to view them as the digital advertising equivalent of a stockbroker. Just as investors use stockbroking platforms to buy stock from a stock exchange, advertisers use DSPs to buy ad inventory from an ad exchange.

Basic Processes

DSPs and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) operate on two sides of an advertising exchange, a platform designed to connect buyers and sellers using DSPs and SSPs. To understand how a DSP works is also critical to understanding how SSPs work and how the two interact.

Here are the basic steps of the process:

• First, publishers and other selling entities use an SSP to connect to the ad exchange and send an ad request.
• The ad exchange receives and lists the ad request from the publisher, making it available for bidding.
• Advertisers connect to the ad exchange through the DSP and bid on the ad request using real-time bidding (RTB).
• The highest bid wins, allocating the advertiser’s inventory to the publisher’s request. The advertiser’s ad is then served on the website the publisher has ad slots on.

Although the essential purpose of a DSP is to serve as an intermediary between an advertiser and an ad exchange, the DSP also provides many other valuable functions.

For instance, DSPs can help advertisers create and manage multiple simultaneous campaigns with different ad exchanges and SSPs, all from a single interface.

User Targeting

DSPs also perform crucial targeting tasks and ensure users see relevant ads. Each DSP can be configured to meet specific user targeting parameters, such as a visitor’s age, gender, geographic location, and interests.

For instance, suppose a website has detected that a specific user is a 25-year-old male from Miami, Florida, interested in technology and computing. The website will send a personalized ad request to an SSP with these targeting parameters. The ad exchange then attempts to match the request with a DSP that most closely matches these parameters.

The DSP will then compare its own targeting parameters with those of the request, and if at least one criterion matches, send a bid. The more matching parameters, the more the DSP stands to gain, meaning they are more likely to bid higher and become the auction winner.

If an advertiser’s DSP wins the bid, the ad exchange completes the transaction and sells the publisher’s request to that advertiser. The publisher’s website then begins displaying the ad.

The process takes less than 0.1 seconds (100 milliseconds) to complete, allowing ad exchanges to match publisher requests and advertiser inventories hundreds of thousands of times in a single day.

Why Should You Use a DSP?

If you are an advertiser with large quantities of ad inventory for sale, using a Demand-Side Platform offers numerous benefits:

• One platform, multiple campaigns: A DSP helps you centralize all of your ad campaigns in one place, regardless of the number of ad exchanges, SSPs, and publishers you can reach.
• Real-time performance metrics: DSPs provide real-time information on your ad campaigns’ performance, letting you adjust and change them without waiting for an end-of-campaign report.
• Ad relevance: Using a DSP is a great way to ensure your ads are shown to your target audience, maximizing the relevance of your ads to website visitors.
• Cost-efficiency: Although DSPs bid for ad space on your behalf, they will only bid more on requests that best match your targeting parameters, where they stand the most to gain.

Main Components of a Demand-Side Platform

Although every DSP has different features, services, and specifics, all use the same essential elements and components. Here is a breakdown of each and how they help a DSP function.

Integrations with Other Tools and Entities

Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) are designed to integrate with multiple other elements of the programmatic advertising ecosystem. For instance, they must be able to communicate with ad exchanges and Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) to respond to ad requests.

However, DSPs also integrate with other valuable tools and functions to assist the advertiser. For example, most DSPs integrate with analytics platforms, providing actionable information on ad campaign performance. They can also connect with payment gateways to facilitate the safe transfer of funds.

Other integrations include data management platforms, brand safety technologies, and other risk management options.

User Interface

The user interface (UI) is the first thing a user sees when discovering new software. The UI of a quality DSP organizes every functionality it offers, making it possible for the user to navigate it and find the functions and utilities they need quickly.

Well-designed user interfaces don’t just have good visual design; they organize the DSP’s functionality efficiently and help improve the user’s workflows.

User Profile Archive

A DSP’s user profile archive or user profile database is a data repository containing multiple types of information about the users that viewed ads. The primary purpose of this archive is to obtain and categorize data regarding an advertiser’s audience, such as age, gender, geographic location, interests, and ad viewing frequency.

The archive then organizes the information and provides actionable data to advertisers, helping them adapt an ad campaign to reach the audience more efficiently. For example, an advertiser can use the data to identify potential issues, such as inefficient audience targeting or over-exposure to the same ads, and implement changes to the campaign, such as re-targeting or frequency capping.

Reporting Database

The reporting database is the element of a DSP that collects data from ad campaigns, stores them, and organizes them to create complete end-of-campaign reports. The primary purpose of this database is to serve as an archive of past campaigns, which advertisers can use to assess their long-term performance.

Campaign Spending Controls

Campaign spending controls, colloquially known as the “banker” or the “cashier,” are specialized functions and features designed to help advertisers visualize their budget and avoid overspending on ad campaigns.

Due to how Real-Time Bidding (RTB) functions, using a DSP can result in a high frequency of bids per second, making it easy to exceed your budget. Overspending issues can be further compounded by delays between bid placements and receiving an auction-winning notice from ad exchanges.

Campaign spending control features include overall budget management, maximum daily spending limits, and visualization of the most cost-efficient pricing models. These functions ensure that you spend no more than the allotted amounts, even during periods of heavy bidding and ad inventory purchases, providing efficient campaign budget management. 

Campaign Tracker

A campaign tracker is a function of a DSP that collects and organizes data about an ongoing ad campaign’s performance. It provides actionable information in real-time, letting an advertiser change a campaign’s details and configuration even after launch.

Data collected includes the number of clicks, views, impressions, installs, user demographics, and many more. After a campaign ends, the data collected by a campaign tracker is then sent to the reporting database to summarize it into an end-of-campaign report.

Ad Server

Ad servers are crucial elements of a DSP and the primary component responsible for serving ads to website visitors. The purpose of an ad server is twofold:

They are the storage space for your ad creatives and markups, ensuring your ads are available in the correct sizes and formats for different devices. They communicate with the website containing the ad space to deliver the ad to the user, ensuring its delivery and the generation of impressions.

Depending on how the DSP is configured, the ad servers used may be internal or external. Internal ad servers are owned or managed by the DSP. External ones are managed by a third party on behalf of the DSP.

Bidding Systems

A bidding system is the component of a DSP responsible for placing bids on behalf of the advertiser during RTB auctions. These systems are typically hosted in a server or data center in a specific world region. 

The further the distance between two Internet-connected computer systems, the higher the latency (lag), meaning more time passes between one system sending data and the other receiving it. Latency is detrimental during RTB auctions because a delayed bid or response means other, faster bidders have better chances of winning.

To counteract the effects of latency, most DSPs have access to multiple bidding systems in different world regions to respond to ad requests and place bids more quickly. Acceptable latency is usually under 200 milliseconds, although the faster, the better.

Types of Demand-Side Platforms

Demand-Side Platforms can be categorized into two groups: self-serve DSPs and full-service DSPs. Understanding the difference between the two types is crucial because they do not offer the same range of functions and services.

Self-serve DSPs

A self-serve DSP is little more than a software platform that provides tools and functionality but leaves the specifics of ad campaign creation and management to the users (e.g., advertisers, ad agencies, and other buying entities).

While a self-serve DSP may have staff and provide support resources, they are generally limited to maintenance and troubleshooting. Users of self-serve DSPs have complete control and responsibility over their ad campaigns, performance monitoring, and reporting.

Full-service DSPs

While a full-service DSP (also known as a managed-service DSP) provides the same essential features as self-serve DSPs, their primary advantage is the range of additional services and support they can offer advertisers.

Most full-service DSPs offer access to account managers and dedicated teams to help you manage and configure your ad campaigns. Although full-service platforms are more expensive and slightly less flexible, they provide unparalleled convenience, letting you focus on other tasks.

(Pros) Advantages of Using DSPs to Media Buyers

Media buyers looking to take advantage of programmatic advertising technologies can use a DSP to gain multiple benefits. Here are the most significant pros of using a DSP.

Marketing Efficiency

The primary benefit of a Demand-Side Platform is automation. Using DSPs lets advertisers and media buyers bid on hundreds of different impressions within minutes. They eliminate the need to manually contact and sign agreements with the owners of each ad space and centralize all ad campaigns into a single, unified platform and interface, significantly increasing efficiency.

Easy Data Management

Most DSPs come with various data management components and features designed to help media buyers improve ad campaign performance. They can not only collect and aggregate audience data but also analyze and organize it for multiple purposes, from retargeting to building post-campaign reports. Regardless of the media buyer’s intent, making data management easy is a core benefit of most DSPs.

Optimal Targeting

The data management features of a DSP provide media buyers and advertisers with the information they need to configure, adapt, and optimize their audience targeting strategies, ensuring they display the most relevant ads to viewers. Targeting optimization increases the impression and click-through rates, resulting in more revenue.

Improved Reach

A DSP is an essential element of programmatic advertising. Its automation capabilities allow a single advertiser or media buyer to contact numerous ad exchanges, SSPs, and websites simultaneously. Consequently, they can reach more viewers by displaying creatives in more ad spaces.

Support Resources

DSPs offer a range of support resources and documentation to help media buyers make the most of all available features and improve user experience. While most DSPs may provide essential resources for general support and troubleshooting, full-service DSPs go the extra mile. They can provide live personnel, such as account managers or teams, to assist you, help you configure your campaigns, and provide additional support services.

Real-Time and Easier Bidding

DSPs are essential for participating in Real-Time Bidding (RTB) and auctions on ad exchanges. The average ad exchange auction, from the moment an SSP posts a request to the final sale and transaction, is completed in less than 0.1 seconds.

A DSP can make several bids across multiple exchanges on your behalf in this timeframe. It is the only way to place bids on time, win these auctions, and display your ads to the viewers.

(Cons) Disadvantages of Using DSPs to Media Buyers

Although DSPs present many advantages, media buyers considering them must also be aware of their drawbacks. Here are the primary concerns of using a DSP.

Usage Costs

One of the most common conditions for using a DSP is to sign up for a monthly subscription, the costs of which do not necessarily include other services. Media buyers must pay careful attention to the total amount they spend when using a DSP’s services, as the additional service fees and other charges can add up and drive the overall ad-spend costs up.

Complexity

Although the complexity of a DSP can be mitigated by a well-designed user interface and comprehensive documentation, many DSPs have numerous functionalities and options that can be challenging to navigate and fully understand.

Additionally, each DSP is built differently and has its own unique workflow. If you use multiple DSPs simultaneously or switch from one to another, you may need additional time to adapt and get used to the new pace.

Benefits of Creating a Customized Demand-Side Platform (DSP)

Most demand-side platforms available to advertisers and media buyers are essentially third-party services. They require payment or a monthly subscription to access, and you must abide by the DSP provider’s terms and conditions.

A significant percentage of the world’s top-performing brands develop in-house programmatic advertising strategies, keeping as much of the process internal to their company and processes as possible. DSPs are a critical element of these strategies: instead of relying on external DSPs, they build 100% custom platforms.

Although building a custom DSP is a significant investment, there are many benefits to adopting this strategy. Here are the top 3 benefits of 100% custom DSPs.

Ownership of Data and Technology

Building a custom DSP means creating, owning, and maintaining the infrastructure it needs to run, including potential new intellectual properties (e.g., backend software) during the building process. This factor grants an undeniable advantage to the advertiser or media buyer: they have complete control and ownership over the data and technologies used to run the DSP.

Elimination of White-Label Fees and Commissions

Although the upfront costs of running a custom DSP are steep, if the advertiser’s media budget is sufficiently high, it may be more financially advantageous to build their own than continue to use third-party solutions.

With a custom DSP, you own the infrastructure, meaning you don’t need to pay service fees, commissions, and other charges to use the DSP’s functionality and services. Besides using it to contact ad exchanges and run ads on publisher websites, you can also become a third-party service provider of your own and rent the technology to other advertisers, creating an additional revenue stream.

Control of the Product’s Roadmap

As the owner of the infrastructure needed to run a DSP, you have total control over the product roadmap. In practical terms, operating a 100% custom DSP allows your team to develop and implement bespoke features and solutions, creating a unique value proposition and allowing you to fine-tune your DSP’s capabilities to your exact needs.

14 Examples of Demand-Side Platforms

Here is a list of the top 14 best-performing Demand-Side Platforms currently available.

1. Adobe Advertising Cloud (formerly Adobe Media Optimizer, Efficient Frontier, and TubeMogul)

Adobe’s premier programmatic advertising solution traces its roots to TubeMogul, a programmatic advertising platform launched in 2011 and the first DSP of its kind for video ads. After its acquisition by Adobe in 2016, the company rolled the DSP’s technologies into Adobe Media Optimizer, and as of 2022, it now forms part of Adobe Advertising Cloud.

Adobe’s DSP is one of the world’s only ad platforms to offer a fully unified and automated solution for all advertising channels, from paid search results and native ads to video and TV creatives. Advertising Cloud is also designed to integrate with other Adobe tools and software, such as Adobe Analytics, Audience Manager, and Adobe’s brand safety and fraud protection measures.

2. Adform

Adform is a global adtech company based in Denmark and founded in 2002. One of their primary products is the Adform DSP, a global-reach, self-serve DSP providing access to numerous media and inventory types: display, video, and native ads on mobile and desktop platforms.

The Adform DSP supports both open exchanges (real-time bidding) and programmatic deals, providing multiple avenues to sell ad inventory more efficiently.

3. Amazon DSP (formerly Amazon Advertising Platform)

The online eCommerce giant has its own demand-side platform, Amazon DSP, previously known as the Amazon Advertising Platform (AAP) until 2022. Amazon DSP is the newest iteration of Amazon’s programmatic advertising technology, offering improved flexibility and new functionality over the previous-generation AAP.

Depending on the options package and the desired degree of control, Amazon DSP may either be a standard self-service platform or a full-service managed DSP.

The platform can serve numerous display and video ads on Amazon-owned digital properties, including the primary Amazon website, Amazon-powered devices (e.g., FireTV), websites managed by Amazon (e.g., IMDb, Audible, Twitch, etc.), and across the web.

The Amazon DSP takes advantage of the company’s technologies to provide unique, highly-accurate audience targeting options, including audience lifestyle, behavioral targeting, and contextual advertising (targeting users that visit websites thematically related to your product)

4. Beeswax (Owned by Comcast)

Although FreeWheel, a Comcast company, purchased Beeswax in 2020, the company retained the Beeswax name for its programmatic advertising software.

Beeswax includes both a standard self-serve DSP and what the company refers to as a Bidder-as-a-Service (BaaS) solution, a bidding platform with DSP-like functionality offered to advertisers using a similar business model as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.

Beeswax DSP’s unique value proposition is a technology that offers advertisers and media buyers much greater control over data and algorithms than standard DSP offerings. In practice, this means Beeswax DSP provides part of the benefits of building a custom DSP solution for a fraction of the costs.

5. Verizon Media DSP (formerly BrightRoll)

Headquartered in New York, the Verizon Media DSP started as BrightRoll; a demand-side platform initially launched in 2006. Previously operated by an independent company, the Brightroll DSP was purchased by Yahoo in 2014 and then by Verizon Media in 2017. Although the company initially kept the Brightroll name, it was renamed Verizon Media DSP in 2020.

Verizon Media DSP is an omnichannel platform supporting a wide selection of media types: display ads, video ads, native ads, CTV, audio ads, and digital out-of-home (DOOH) ads. These media types can reach numerous platforms, from traditional desktop and mobile devices to more unusual ones, such as smart televisions and city billboards.

The Verizon Media DSP is part of Verizon’s wider ecosystem of programmatic advertising products and leverages the company’s first-party data for ad serving and audience targeting.

6. Basis Technologies (formerly Centro)

Previously known as Centro before a name change in 2021, Basis Technologies was founded in October 2001 by Chicago-based digital advertising specialists. The Centro DSP, now known as the Basis Technologies DSP, has ranked among the top-performing demand-side platforms for many years.

The Basis Technologies DSP is a demand-side platform powered by artificial intelligence offering both self-serve and managed-service packages. Basis DSP features an easy-to-navigate user interface with access to high-quality inventory. The company’s use of AI technologies makes the Basis DSP easily scalable and adaptable for ad campaigns of any size.

Basis also provides comprehensive documentation, support resources, and training materials, ensuring users always have an opportunity to make the most out of the platform.

7. Criteo Commerce Max

Criteo is a digital advertising and adtech company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Paris, France. Criteo has designed multiple adtech solutions for the digital advertising industry, including the Criteo Artificial Intelligence Engine and Criteo Commerce Max, a demand-side platform.

Criteo Commerce Max is a new self-service DSP powered by what the company refers to as open-internet programmatic inventory, providing media buyers and advertisers with the opportunity to reach audiences even outside the websites displaying the ads.

Commerce Max’s alpha version launched in 2022. Although it is currently in limited availability mode, Criteo’s current customers include high-profile names such as Best Buy and GroupM. The company is aiming for a full release of Commerce Max in 2023.

8. Demandbase

Demandbase is an account-based marketing company specializing in business-to-business (B2B) solutions and services. The company’s internally-developed demand-side platform, Demandbase DSP, was explicitly designed with the company’s expertise and customers in mind.

Unlike most other demand-side platforms available today, Demandbase DSP is an exclusively B2B platform designed to target other businesses instead of a traditional consumer audience. This DSP includes numerous B2B-specific features, such as strict brand safety measures, account-based audience targeting, account-level data reporting, and multiple pricing and ad spend optimizations.

9. Google Marketing Platform (Google Display Network, DV360)

Like most other tech giants, Google operates its own next-generation demand-side platform, the Google Marketing Platform (GMP).

Google launched GMP in 2018 by combining or integrating multiple Google features and services, such as the Google Display Network (GDN), an advertising network managed by the tech giant, and Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), the company’s previous DSP, specialized in display and video ads.

As a DSP, Google Marketing Platform builds upon and improves over its predecessor by unifying numerous features previously spread across different Google services into a single, easy-to-use platform.

GMP offers more efficient data analysis and reporting over its predecessors, API and ad server integrations suitable for all users, including smaller and mid-sized clients, and many other advanced functionalities for larger, higher-budget customers.

10. InMobi

InMobi is the leading Indian advertising company and a global leader in the adtech industry. The company specializes in mobile advertising and primarily serves the Asian and African markets.

The InMobi DSP is a demand-side platform specialized in mobile marketing and reaching audiences through mobile devices, especially in markets and regions where significant percentages (>75%) of Internet traffic is mobile. This DSP includes a bidding system that uses machine learning to build user acquisition and retention rates on mobile devices.

The DSP’s algorithms are optimized to drive up customer lifetime value and performance indicators most relevant to mobile ads, such as app installs and Cost Per Install (CPI) pricing.

11. Quantcast Platform

Quantcast is a digital advertising firm specializing in real-time marketing driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The company’s demand-side platform product is Quantcast Platform, powered by Quantcast’s Ara AI/ML engine.

Quantcast describes the Quantcast Platform as an “intelligent audience platform,” a next-generation DSP. Although it can perform every task expected of a standard DSP, Quantcast Platform offers additional benefits due to its AI/ML focus.

Unique features include access to complete insights regarding ad campaigns and audiences within seconds, automated ad campaign execution, ML-powered interpretation of consumer intent data, and many more.

12. The Trade Desk

The Trade Desk is a Californian adtech company specializing in developing new programmatic marketing solutions focused on personalized content delivery.

One of the company’s most popular products is the Trade Desk DSP, an independent demand-side platform with global reach and a high-transparency policy.

This platform opens advertising opportunities to virtually every channel and device, from standard display, native, and video ads to connected TVs (CTVs), audio and podcast advertising, and digital out-of-home (DOOH).

The Trade Desk DSP allows advertisers and media buyers to categorize audiences into defined segments and create personalized ads for each segment, maximizing ad relevancy and user experience.

13. Vertoz

Vertoz is a New York-based adtech and marketing technology company aiming to help new and emerging businesses expand their digital presence as efficiently as possible. All Vertoz products and services are developed in-house to achieve this objective.

The Vertoz DSP is one of the primary services offered by the company and is powered by 100% internally developed programmatic advertising technologies. Due to Vertoz’s focus on new and smaller-sized businesses, this DSP is easy to use and highly scalable.

14. Xandr Invest (Purchased by Microsoft, formerly AppNexus)

Xandr was founded in 2018 as a subsidiary of AT&T, then known as AT&T Advertising & Analytics. In June 2018, it acquired AppNexus, alongside its technologies and products, including the AppNexus DSP. Following a renaming of the company to Xandr in September 2018, the AppNexus DSP was rebranded to Xandr Invest.

Although it has changed hands multiple times due to several mergers and acquisitions, the Xandr company currently serves as a subsidiary of Microsoft and continues operating and maintaining the Xandr Invest DSP.

This platform specializes in high-relevancy, high-efficiency video ads for desktop, mobile, and connected TVs. The company also maintains an API and a learning and documentation center, providing advertisers with robust automation features and complete control over their video ad campaigns.

DSP vs. SSP: What is the Difference?

Although they are on two sides of the same process, it is critical to distinguish a demand-side platform from its publisher-side counterpart, the supply-side platform.

The primary differences between a DSP and an SSP are each platform’s intended users and objectives. Though both platforms contact each other and use ad exchanges, a DSP facilitates bidding on available ad space and is primarily intended for advertisers, media buyers, ad agencies, and other buying entities.

An SSP is designed to facilitate listing available ad spaces and posting ad requests. Consequently, SSPs are mainly intended for publishers, media owners, and other selling entities.

DSP vs. Ad Networks: What Are the Differences?

An ad network is an adtech platform that aggregates buying and selling entities onto a single unified platform. The primary purpose of an ad network is to help broker deals between buyers (e.g., advertisers) and sellers (e.g., publishers) by collecting, presenting, and facilitating the sale of ad inventory.

Ad networks are intermediaries for both publishers and advertisers. Both sides of the ecosystem can use an ad network, either representing themselves or through an ad agency.

In contrast, a DSP is exclusively intended for use by advertisers because the primary purpose of a DSP is to represent the demand side of the ecosystem and facilitate the needs of buying entities.

How to Choose a DSP

Although numerous demand-side platforms are available to today’s advertisers, it is critical to know how to choose the DSP that best suits your needs. A DSP that correctly fits your business and marketing goals will generate a much higher return on investment (ROI) than a DSP that only partially matches your needs.

Below are the top 3 features and criteria to look for when choosing a DSP.

Ad Inventory and Target Audiences

The core of a successful ad campaign is serving the right ads to the right audience. Consequently, it is crucial for an advertiser to choose a DSP that carries quality, high-relevancy inventory, targets the correct audiences for your business, and delivers the ads using the best possible media types.

For example, a company primarily targeting consumers on mobile should use a DSP that primarily targets this combination of audience and device type. A DSP specializing in B2B or serving ads to devices other than mobile (e.g., connected TVs, DOOH devices) does not meet those requirements.

Geographic Areas Served

Programmatic advertising occurs in real-time, making it crucial to ensure that the ad creatives are not only available in the right languages but also relevant to the correct geographic areas. To ensure your DSP always lets you reach the best audiences, check the depth of its geolocation targeting features, even if the DSP has a global reach.

For example, if you need to serve ads to customers in a specific area of Mexico, you must ensure your DSP can target Spanish-speaking audiences located in the correct state and country.

Data Integration Features

Although many DSPs offer built-in features to enhance the quality of your ad campaigns, you may sometimes need more, especially if you have access to quality data and information.

One of the best ways to ensure your ad campaigns are as successful as possible is to use a DSP’s data integration features, such as first-party data uploading, data management platform integrations, and data measurement and reporting features.

These integrations enable additional strategies, such as retargeting, account-based marketing, new audience acquisition, and real-time reviewing of campaign metrics and KPIs.

Monetization and Pricing Models

Depending on the DSP you choose and the ad types and formats your campaign employs, you can use one of multiple pricing and monetization models. The top 4 models are Cost per Click (CPC), Cost Per Mille (CPM), Cost per Action (CPA), and Cost Per View (CPV).

• Cost per Click (CPC): The CPC model is a performance-based pricing format where an advertiser pays a specific amount to the publisher when a user clicks on an advertisement. The value of a click on a CPC ad varies depending on the website or ad space’s prominence. For instance, a CPC ad on a high-performing site usually charges $0.20 to $0.40 per click.
• Cost per Mille (CPM): The CPM model is one of the most popular ways to monetize a website because payment depends on impressions (views) instead of other, more specific actions. The word “Mille” is Latin for “one thousand,” meaning the advertiser pays the specified amount for every 1,000 impressions recorded.
• Cost per Action (CPA): Under the CPA model, an advertiser rewards a publisher for every user that successfully completes a specific action. In this context, “Action” can have multiple meanings. For instance, it may be a user installing an application on a mobile device, subscribing to a specific product, or making a purchase on an eCommerce platform.
• Cost per View (CPV): The CPV model is typically only employed in video advertising, as the word “view” refers to a user viewing a video ad instead of the more general “impression” used on other ad types. A common condition for CPV pricing is that advertisers only pay publishers if the user has viewed the ad in its entirety without skipping it early.

Find Top-Performing DSPs with CodeFuel

At CodeFuel, we make it our priority to help you monetize your digital assets as efficiently as possible as efficiently as possible for your online advertising too. Whether you are an advertiser, media buyer, or another buying entity, contact our team today and let us find the best demand-side platforms and other monetization avenues for your digital properties.

FAQs

Video marketing is one of the most efficient ad delivery methods in today’s adtech environment. According to the latest known statistics, the digital video advertising market in 2022 is estimated to be worth $180 billion, with an annual spending growth rate of approximately 20%.

As a publisher and depending on your monetization strategies, video advertising may be the backbone of your ad revenue. Consequently, finding the best video ad network is crucial for publishers who need to maximize their earnings. Here’s everything you need to know about video ad networks and how to select the best one.

What is a Video Ad Network?

As with any other ad network, the essential purpose of a video ad network is to serve as an aggregating platform facilitating deals between publishers and advertisers. Ad networks collect ad space from publishers and unsold ad inventory from advertisers, then handle transactions between both parties to ensure the most relevant ads fill available ad spaces.

Where a video ad network differs from a standard ad network is the type of ads they handle. As the name implies, a video ad network specializes exclusively in video ads. Consequently, they only accept ad inventory in video format and will only match these ads to compatible ad spaces.

Why Do You Need a Video Ad Network?

As a publisher, a video ad network is a highly efficient method of filling any unsold ad space for video creatives and maximizing your earning potential. Video ad networks ensure that you can find advertisers with the creative types and relevant ads you need to monetize your website, app, game, or another digital property with video ad content.

These networks also use automation to manage each transaction, eliminating the need to manually contact each advertiser and broker deals for each of your ad spaces. These features make video ad networks the ideal solution for cost-efficient monetization.

Types of Video Ads

Although functionally similar, there are two primary methods to serve video ads: in-stream delivery and out-stream delivery.

In-stream Video Ads

An in-stream video ad is a type of ad integrated into video content displayed on a dedicated player. These ads typically take the form of a segment within a video posted to a video-sharing platform (e.g., YouTube).

The length of these ads usually ranges from 5 to 60 seconds, typically giving the user an option to skip the ad after a set period (after 5 to 30 seconds).

In-stream video ads may be linear or non-linear. A linear ad briefly pauses the content the user is currently watching to display the ad, whereas a non-linear ad is an overlay that partially obscures the content with a banner.

Linear ads are further categorized by when the ads appear relative to the video content’s runtime. Three categories are distinguished: Pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll.

• A pre-roll linear ad plays as soon as the user starts the video or clicks the Play button, displaying the ad before the content. This format is ideal to ensure ads reach the user but comes with an increased risk of skipping.
• Mid-roll linear ads play at a specific point in the middle of the video content, usually determined by the publisher. The primary advantage of mid-roll ads is their positioning; users are less likely to skip them as they are already engaging with the content. However, if not placed correctly, they risk interrupting the content with poor timing (e.g., mid-sentence)
• A post-roll linear ad plays at the end of the video content. This type of linear ad is the least disruptive but also has the lowest reach, as many users click away from the video before reaching the very end.

Out-stream Video Ads

An out-stream video ad is a self-contained video ad that is not played into or over existing video content. Instead, it appears to the user as a video player built into a webpage without using an existing video-sharing platform.

Initially designed for the mobile market, out-stream video ads also proved to be a powerful advertising tool on desktop devices. Today, out-stream video advertising is one of the most widespread website monetization methods.

There are three categories of out-stream video ads: in-slide ads, in-banner ads, and in-content ads.

1. In-slide ads are a type of video ad displayed in the corner of the page, usually inside a miniature video player (mini-player).In-slide ads are intended to attract the visitor’s attention without obscuring the content from view. They achieve it by using a mini-player that follows the user as they scroll up or down the website (scroll follow). Although every aspect of an in-slide ad is configurable by the publisher, a typical example is an auto-playing ad that starts muted and offers an option to skip or close after a few seconds.
2. In-banner ads are a type of video ad that uses the ad space of a website’s banner. That space will display the video creative instead of a standard banner ad when configured to accept an in-banner video ad.While in-banner ads do not possess the scroll follow feature of in-slide ads, this format helps publishers reuse existing spaces and can provide added interactivity to users.
3. In-content ads place video ad content into a website’s editorial content, popping open after the user has reached the page position where they have been embedded.Typically, these ads are designed to load but not auto-play until the user scrolls to the correct point. In-content ads are popular on websites with high amounts of editorial content due to the seamless experience they provide.

In-content ads function using one of four models:

1. 0% Visibility: Although the ad loads alongside the rest of the page, the mini-player remains hidden from view until the user scrolls to the exact point where it is embedded in the page. Auto-playing only begins when the mini-player is active.
2. 50% Visibility: When the page loads, the mini-player immediately activates and pre-loads the ad creative. However, it delays auto-playing until the user has scrolled the page enough to bring at least 50% of it into view.
3. Over 50% Visibility: Similar to the 50% Visibility model but with one difference: the player begins auto-playing only when over 50% of the player is visible. In other words, auto-play doesn’t start if the player is exactly 50% visible.
4. 50% Scroll-Past Visibility: This model is similar to 50% Visibility but with reversed visibility conditions. Instead of starting auto-play when 50% of the player enters the user’s window, it begins when at least 50% of it leaves the view, inciting the user to scroll back to the video.

Difference Between In-stream Video Ads and Out-stream Video Ads

The primary difference between in-stream and out-stream ads is the type of video player required to play each ad type. In-stream ads need a dedicated platform’s video player, whereas out-stream ads can play on any website.

Which is the Most Popular One?

Although in-stream ads were once dominant, partly due to the prevalence of YouTube and the video-sharing features of specific social media platforms (e.g., Twitter and Facebook), out-stream ads have become the most popular type of video ads.

The primary reason behind their popularity is their versatility: they can be played on virtually any website without relying on dedicated video platforms. Additionally, they can be configured by publishers with no prior experience in video advertising, making them more accessible.

What to Look for in a Video Ad Network

If you are a publisher seeking a video ad network to monetize your website or digital property, here are the most helpful features and functionalities you should look for to optimize your revenue.

1. Full-featured Analytics

A full suite of performance measurement features, such as an analytics dashboard, numerous Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and comprehensive data reporting, is critical for any publisher seeking to gather data about every aspect of a video ad campaign.

A quality video ad network should offer these features out of the box and let you change or modify your ad campaign even while it’s in progress, allowing you to adjust to the changes and measured fluctuations in performance as they happen.

2. Wide Range of Video Formats

A wide range of video formats is crucial to ensure that the video ads have the means to reach the highest possible number of website visitors. Users employ numerous device and browser combinations, requiring publishers to ensure their chosen ad network has access to ad creatives that are compatible with as many of them as possible.

3. Precise Audience Targeting

One of the best tools an ad network can provide to its publishers is robust audience targeting functionality. The more precisely the network allows a publisher to target its audience, the more likely the served video ads will be relevant, increasing the likelihood of views, clicks, and conversions. In other words, high-precision audience targeting tools are crucial for improving the revenue-earning potential of your digital property.

4. Brand Safety Tools

Two critical elements of brand safety are eliminating low-quality ad inventory from view and maintaining a high level of quality and relevancy when serving ads. Quality ad networks should commit to combating fraud by providing publishers with a curated selection of security features and other brand safety tools.

Common examples include block lists and allow-lists to let publishers control which advertisers and ad creatives appear in their ad spaces. Another example is the possibility of implementing brand-safe ad formats.

5. Robust Customer and Tech Support

Many ad networks contain numerous features and options that can be challenging to use and fully understand. High-performing ad networks should provide multiple avenues to help customers use the full extent of their functions.

Essential tech support should at least include free access to comprehensive documentation detailing each function. Other, more advanced forms of customer support include a helpdesk system or a live tech support platform, providing customers with a way to contact trained staff that can help and guide them into using the ad network’s features.

6. Technology and Backing Infrastructure

No matter how many features an ad network claims to offer, it is critical to ensure they have the technology and infrastructure required to provide high-quality services. Video ad creatives need significant amounts of data storage to keep each ad creative in as many different formats as possible.

Additionally, video ad networks must also be able to reliably serve ads to each ad space, with as few errors and service interruptions as possible and rapid remediation of any issues preventing ad serving.

15 Best Video Ad Networks for Publishers

Below is the list of the 15 highest-performing video ad networks for publishers. Discover what each network has to offer and why they are reliable choices.

1. Primis

Primis is a leading video discovery platform offering publishers some of the industry’s most comprehensive video ads and features. This ad network is trusted by hundreds of top-performing publishers worldwide and serves over 350 million unique impressions monthly.

Among the many features offered to publishers on Primis, the most significant include its extensive library of ad units, compatibility with in-stream and out-stream ads, and a wide array of brand safety measures and technologies, including ad fraud protection systems.

Payment features:

2. Xandr (previously AppNexus)

Although the platform changed its name to Xandr in 2018, it was previously known as AppNexus and is one of the oldest and most trusted names in the video ad network industry.

In operation since 2007, Xandr is one of the top video ad marketplaces, with access to over 175 supply-side platforms (SSP) as partners, integrations in over 80 demand-side platforms (DSP) worldwide, and an optional sub-platform to facilitate direct deals between advertisers and publishers.

Xandr also offers publishers access to a highly sought-after feature: video header bidding, opening their video ad unit inventory to multiple buyers simultaneously, allowing them to sell their ad space more efficiently. Although video header bidding primarily benefits larger publishers with high quantities of unsold ad spaces, this feature is available to all platform members, regardless of size.

Payment features:

3. OpenX

OpenX is both an ad network and an ad exchange with access to hundreds of partners on both sides of the advertising ecosystem: SSPs and DSPs. OpenX’s platform allows publishers to monetize property on all types of devices: desktop computers, mobile devices (phones, tablets), and televisions (CTV, streaming TV ads).

OpenX is renowned for its highly comprehensive real-time analytics engine, advanced infrastructure, and support for virtually any video player and ad format (both in-stream and out-stream). Publishers looking to improve their reach, create audience profiles, and serve high-relevancy ads can also use the platform’s natively-developed OpenAudience customer targeting solution.

Payment features:

4. SelectMedia

SelectMedia is a full-stack video ad network specializing in cross-platform out-stream advertising in the Asian markets. SelectMedia offers all types of out-stream ads (in-slide, in-banner, in-content) plus video ads for connected TVs.

Over 650 premium customers trust SelectMedia for their advertising needs. The platform offers real-time bidding (RTB), a fully-featured ad server, and numerous brand safety and anti-fraud mechanisms, ensuring safety for both publishers and advertisers by combating bots and other forms of invalid traffic.

SelectMedia is primarily intended for medium and large customers. The platform imposes a minimum traffic requirement of 10,000 unique visitors per month to publishers looking to join. However, customers that meet the requirements benefit from low minimum payout requirements and multiple convenient payment models and methods.

Payment features:

5. AdPlayer.Pro

AdPlayer.Pro is a newer ad network founded in 2016 specializing in web-based video ads powered using HTML5 player technology. The platform aims to be a comprehensive ecosystem suitable for publishers, brands, companies, ad agencies, and other entities.

AdPlayer.Pro offers a built-in, HTML5-powered video player that can support numerous ad formats for both in-stream and out-stream ads, compliant with all modern industry standards (VPAID, VAST, Google IMA).

The network also offers a comprehensive analytics and reporting engine, providing publishers with real-time, daily, and weekly measurements of ad performance KPIs. The report generator is also fully configurable, opening the possibility of creating 100% custom performance reports.

Payment features:

6. Unruly

Unruly is a British adtech company and one of the world’s leading video ad networks. The company was founded in 2006 in Shoreditch, London. Initially a 3-person startup, Unruly is now a world leader in ad technology with access to hundreds of DSPs and a comprehensive library of video ad creatives.

Unruly provides solutions to ensure even publishers with no video content can use video ads to monetize their digital properties. The platform and its ad library are 100% compliant with consumer protection and brand safety standards, including the Better Ads Standards (BAS) and the GDPR, ensuring a high-quality, high-relevancy, fraud-free experience.

Payment features:

7. PubMatic

PubMatic is a California-based online advertising firm with access to over 200 worldwide DSPs and media buyers.

PubMatic’s video ad network is a world-leading programmatic advertising solution offering publishers an easy-to-use interface, consistently high-quality ad creatives, highly competitive payouts, and an option to access a private marketplace (PMP) for premium deals.

PubMatic has offices in seven locations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The company’s services are trusted by some of the world’s largest publishers, including eBay, the Huffington Post, and other high-ranking ComScore firms.

Payment features:

8. Adsterra

Launched in 2013, Adsterra is an advertising network with a global reach and a long history of successful partnerships with advertisers and publishers of all sizes. Adsterra’s services serve over 30 billion ad impressions per month, with over 70% of ads served on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Over 13,000 brands and 21,000 publishers work using Adsterra.

Signing up on Adsterra’s platform allows publishers to benefit from one of the easiest-to-use dashboards and interfaces available, ensuring a high-quality user experience (UX) and a high degree of control over ad campaigns. All ads served through the platform are protected against malware, ad fraud, scams, and other threats to brand safety using internally developed security software.

As an additional benefit to publishers, Adsterra offers one of the industry’s lowest minimum payment thresholds, short payout frequencies for more frequent payments, and a plethora of payment methods, from standard bank transfers to cryptocurrency.

Payment features:

9. Magnite (previously Rubicon Project)

The advertising platform known as Magnite today is the result of a merger between the Rubicon Project and Telaria, announced in December 2019 and completed in March 2020. The resulting platform is the world’s largest independent SSP.

Although Magnite is an omnichannel SSP, the company’s video ad network services serve over 65% of the world’s top publishers, from Bloomberg Media and CNN to ESPN and the Economist. The platform is primarily intended for large publishers, with a minimum requirement of 5 million monthly pageviews to qualify.

Magnite lets publishers deliver all types of video ads on numerous device types, from in-stream and out-stream ads to in-app interstitials, rewarded video ads on mobile games, and many other formats. The platform also offers unique monetization options, such as ad podding, an ad serving grouping multiple ads into a single segment, similar to a television ad break.

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10. Fyber

If you are a publisher primarily seeking monetization avenues on mobile platforms, you may have heard of Fyber. Formerly known as RNTS Media, Fyber is a German, mobile-first adtech company specializing in all types and formats of video ads.

Fyber allows publishers to monetize mobile applications and other mobile digital properties through VPAID ad tags. Developers and publishers can easily integrate Fyber into a mobile application with the Fyber SDK, supported by highly comprehensive documentation.

The Fyber ad network has access to over 180 trusted DSPs and serves ads in the following formats: in-stream, in-app videos, rewarded videos, interstitials, and rich media.

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11. Meta Audience Network / Facebook Audience Network

The Meta Audience Network, better known as the Facebook Audience Network (FAN), is the social media giant’s dedicated ad network.

Publishers looking to monetize their properties using video ads on Facebook can use FAN. The platform allows publishers to join Facebook’s in-stream video ad system. Although FAN works on all platforms supporting Facebook, revenue streams are best optimized on mobile due to the prevalence of mobile traffic on the social media platform.

Payment features:

FAQs

FAQs

Mobile advertising SDKs and other monetization tools are essential for reliably earning revenue through a mobile game or application. App developers have access to several SDKs, ad unit types, and pricing models, allowing them to fine-tune their app monetization strategy and find the optimal revenue solution for their needs.

What is SDK Advertising?

SDK stands for “Software Development Kit.” In the context of mobile applications, SDK advertising refers to mobile SDKs specifically designed to connect an application to a set of third-party advertising technologies and services.

Although the overall purpose of SDK advertising is similar to advertising APIs and in-house systems, SDK advertising lets mobile developers leverage a unique selection of tools (e.g., libraries, codebases, technical guides, etc.) and access the SDK developer’s ad networks. These tools let developers display and configure the ideal in-app ads for their applications.

SDK Ads

Using an SDK for advertising has many advantages for both developers and publishers. Besides selecting the best and most relevant or impactful ad units, an SDK comes equipped with a suite of tools and configuration options to optimally plan, position, and implement in-app ads.

For example, a mobile game developer may use an SDK to implement interstitial or interactive ads and precisely configure placement (e.g., display interstitials between game sessions, such as after getting a “game over”) and frequency (e.g., only display an ad every 2 “game over” screens to balance engagement and monetization).

What is SDK Monetization?

Monetizing an application with an SDK allows developers to implement new revenue sources without the need to build them from scratch or compromise the application’s user experience (UX).

High-quality SDKs also allow developers to optimize their monetization options further because they provide access to the highest-rated ad networks and ad creatives. With systems such as programmatic mediation and advanced ad unit types (e.g., interactive ads), app developers and publishers have the technology to improve revenue and leverage ad units from advertisers at the cutting edge, improving earnings.

SDK Ad Units

Advertising SDKs offer multiple types of ad units, providing various options to plan and implement ads into an application. Examples of ad units include banner ads, interstitials, rewarded videos, playable (interactive) ads, native ads, offer wall ads, rich media ads, swipe ads, and many more.

How Does SDK Ad Monetization Work?

Although every SDK platform has different rules and processes, most of them require developers to follow similar steps:

1. Register on the SDK platform and obtain an access key.
2. Include specific code into the application to communicate with the SDK developer’s servers.
3. Download a copy of the SDK and integrate it into the application’s build. If needed, implement additional OS-specific functionality (e.g., to use geo-targeting on Android, you may need to install extra code to request access to the device’s location data).
4. Follow the development guidelines for implementing the SDK into your application.
5. Add the application to your SDK’s web platform via the control panel or configuration webpage.
6. Start integrating ads into the application.

Following this essential process is all that’s needed to implement ad units into your application. After implementation, ad revenue collection is done automatically by your SDK provider. Check the provider’s rules and terms of service to see payout conditions and parameters.

For example, you may be unable to withdraw ad revenue if you haven’t reached a minimum value, such as $100. Additionally, each provider can access different payment options, which may vary depending on the publisher’s country of origin.

Ad Pricing: CPM vs. CPA vs. CPI

Three of the most commonly employed ad pricing models for SDK monetization are Cost Per Mille (CPM), Cost Per Action (CPA), and Cost Per Install (CPI).

CPM: Cost Per Mille

In Latin, Mille means one thousand. Cost Per Mille (CPM) bills advertisers for every 1,000 impressions recorded on the advertisement. The most common type of impression is the ad view, meaning the number of recorded impressions corresponds to the number of times a user has been able to view an ad unit.

The primary advantage of the CPM pricing model is that users do not need to perform interactions to generate impressions. An impression is recorded simply for seeing the ad, and the advertiser pays out.

For example, if an ad unit is valued at $2.60 CPM and the ad has been viewed 3,000 times on your application, you will earn $7.80.the listed value for every 1,000 recorded.

From the advertiser’s point of view, the Cost Per Mille formula is as follows:

Total ad spend value / Number of thousands of impressions.

A potential disadvantage of a CPM campaign is relatively low average returns, especially on apps and properties that do not generate significant amounts of views.

However, it is the most popular pricing model because it requires the fewest actions on the user’s part, making it an ideal solution for passive ad revenue collection.

For example, if an advertiser spent $200 on an ad unit that users have viewed 500,000 times (500 thousand), that unit’s CPM is 200 / 500 = $0.40 CPM.

A potential disadvantage of a CPM campaign is relatively low average returns, especially on apps and properties that do not generate significant amounts of views. However, it is the most popular pricing model because it requires the fewest actions on the user’s part, making it an ideal solution for passive ad revenue collection.

CPA: Cost Per Action

Cost Per Action (CPA) is a pricing model that pays publishers a fixed rate for a specified action inside the application, such as new account registration, referrals and partnership programs, number of first-time application launches, or in-app events, such as purchases.

From the advertiser’s point of view, the CPA is calculated by dividing the total ad spend by the number of defined actions.

For example, if an advertiser spent $300 on a CPA ad campaign where the paid action is first-time application launches, and a total of 1,200 new users have launched the app for the first time, that ad’s CPA is 300 / 1,200 = $0.25 CPA.

A typical example of a CPA-rewarded action is purchasing premium currency in mobile games. A CPA monetized app may reward publishers with a set amount of money proportional to the quantity of premium currency the user purchased.CPA can be a highly effective pricing model, particularly on highly interactive mobile apps (games, etc.). However, it is also one of the costlier approaches from the user’s point of view, meaning the number of paying users may only be a small fraction of your total user base.

CPI: Cost Per Install

Cost Per Install (CPI) can be viewed as a specific CPA monetization type that explicitly rewards application installs. Because of this, CPI calculation is identical to CPA: total ad spend value divided by the number of actions (in this case, app installs).

This monetization approach pairs well with ad units inciting users to install the application, such as 30-second videos or interactive interstitials ending with an app store link, such as the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Under the CPI monetization model, an advertiser pays out for every user that visits the application’s app store link and installs the app on their device.

It is typically not required for users to launch the app for the first time; in other words, a successful app install still pays out even if the user never opens it.

Although less demanding than most CPA monetization models, CPI requires user interaction to function, which may be more challenging to implement than a CPM model.

However, the interactions required do not require the user to make purchases, making it possible to implement a CPI ad campaign with a free-to-play application.

Top 5 Mobile Ad Types and Monetization Models

The five most successful mobile ad unit types are banner ads, interstitials, rewarded videos, offer walls, and native ads.

1. Banner Ads

Mobile banner ads are rectangular ad units that can display static or animated creative content. They are among the most commonly utilized ad units, with multiple size formats available. Although industry-standard formats include 320×50, 320×100, 300×250 (IAB medium), 468×60 (IAB full-size), and 728×90 (IAB leaderboard), the most popular banner ad formats are adaptive.

Two primary types of adaptive banner ads are employed in SDK advertising:

• Adaptive height banners: Banners with a fixed, configured width (set by the publisher) and a variable height.
• Smart banners: Banners with a fixed height (32, 50, or 90 pixels high) and a width that automatically matches the screen resolution.

2. Interstitial Ads

Interstitial ads are ad units displayed in full-screen mode, covering or replacing the app’s interface temporarily to display an ad on the entirety of the screen space.

Typically, interstitials are interactive, allowing users to get snippets of gameplay or functionality before installing the application. This type of ad is commonly used for advertising mobile games, promoting engagement, and generating interest by letting users try a sample of an app before they install it.

Some interstitial ads are non-interactive, performing similarly to full-screen static and video ads. Although such ad units are less common, they are less expensive to produce and can be a cost-effective approach for monetization.

3. Rewarded Ads

Rewarded ads are ad units played in a full-screen format. They resemble non-interactive interstitial ads but feature multiple critical differences.

Unlike traditional interstitials, rewarded ads do not usually offer any interactivity. Instead, they are standard video formats. They also last for fixed durations, ranging from 20 to 60 seconds.

Lastly, there is no option to skip rewarded ads once started. Because the user initiates them, the only way to exit out of a rewarded ad is to watch it in full.

In exchange for watching the entire ad, the user is rewarded with in-app items or virtual currency. For this reason, rewarded ads are almost exclusively found in mobile games.

4. Offer Walls

Offer wall ads (alternatively spelled “offerwalls”) are a more complex form of rewarded ads, offering a variety of rewards (offers) on a list (the “wall”) to the user in exchange for completing different monetized activities.  

For example, an offer wall in a mobile game may offer varying quantities of in-game currency in exchange for activities such as watching ads, installing an application, playing another mobile game and reaching a specific level or progress point, completing a survey, or visiting an eCommerce platform and completing a purchase.

Offer walls combine multiple forms of engagement and monetization options, leaving users with multiple offers to choose from and allowing them to manage their level of engagement with ads.

5. Native Ads

Native advertising is ad content publishers seamlessly integrate into an application or website’s content, appearing to be an integral element of the application environment.

In the context of mobile applications, native ads typically match the application’s styling, user interface (UI), text, and appearance. The primary objective of a native ad is to minimize disruption and serve ad content without degrading the user experience.

Top 10 SDKs for App Monetization

The top 10 best-performing SDKs for monetizing a mobile applications are:

1. FB Audience Network

Facebook Audience Network lets publishers leverage Facebook’s considerable reach on the mobile market via its Facebook-powered audience targeting tools. Facebook Audience Network is one of the best high-performance mobile ad network SDKs, with a 27% share of the app market and approximately 47% of all app downloads.

The FB Audience Network SDK allows developers and publishers to use Facebook’s advertising algorithms and powerful targeting options, making it possible to target ads precisely by user age, location, gender, demographics, job sector, interests, and more. Ads served through the FB Audience Network SDK include interactive interstitials and rewarded ads, maximizing engagement and ad revenue.

2. MoPub

MoPub is one of the few top-performing mobile app advertising SDKs that are open-source. MoPub’s tools allow developers and publishers to select their preferred monetization methods, from direct ads to ad networks and programmatic real-time bidding. World-class MoPub users include WordPress, TuneIn, and Halfbrick Studios.

The MoPub SDK is well-known for its transparency and openness, robust analytics tools, and full support of multiple popular ad formats. Ads served with the MoPub SDK include static content, HTML5, rich media ads, videos, interactive ads, and many others.

3. AdColony

AdColony is a premium ad network SDK and advertising platform with over 1.5 billion worldwide users. AdColony has access to the latest technologies, some of the world’s most prestigious advertisers, and one of the best fill rates in the industry.

Ads served using the AdColony SDK can support high-definition video creatives and technologies such as instant play, delivering a premium-grade ad serving experience. The SDK also includes comprehensive audience targeting features and support for Aurora HD, making it a top choice for publishers looking to monetize their properties with high-quality ad content.

4. Google AdMob

Google AdMob is one of the best industry-leading ad SDKs, serving over 200 billion ad requests monthly and partnering with over 1 million advertisers worldwide. It is the world’s most utilized mobile app monetization SDKs, with an app share of 88%. Its features are included in over 1.3 million mobile applications, including 286,000 games.

The primary benefits of Google AdMob are the SDK’s ease of use and integration with Google technologies. Additionally, developers don’t need to worry about usage costs; AdMob is 100% free to use. AdMob’s features include detailed monetization reports, Google-powered analytics and insights tools, easy scaling, and access to quality Google-approved advertisers.

5. Smaato

The Smaato SDK is a popular choice for mobile game developers and publishers. Smaato has access to hundreds of different advertising industry partners, aggregating them on a single network and making them compete in real time for each impression.

The Smaato SDK is easy to integrate, providing developers with an easy-to-use interface and a feature-filled dashboard and control panel for integration options. It only takes a few clicks to add a new application before integrating the SDK into your app’s code.

Publishers using Smaato as their primary monetization platform can also use the Smaato Integration Center to gain control over the mediation process and further optimize their earnings.

6. Unity Ads

Unity Ads is the monetization SDK developed by Unity Technologies, best known for creating the Unity video game engine. The primary advantage of Unity Ads is its availability. Unity Ads is automatically available to you for free from within the game development SDK Unity Editor if you developed your mobile app or game using the Unity engine.

Although primarily designed for Unity engine applications, you can monetize non-Unity apps with Unity Ads simply by integrating the native SDK into your application project.

As an advertising and monetization SDK, Unity Ads is powerful and comes with many features: CPM and CPI ad campaigns, numerous audience targeting options, an intuitive user dashboard, and a built-in way to configure in-app purchases.

7. AirPush

AirPush is among the oldest and most established US-based advertising SDK developers on the market, with over 10 years of experience monetizing mobile traffic.

AirPush offers numerous unique features for publishers and developers to monetize all types of mobile traffic and maximize fill rates and effective CPM (eCPM) values.

AirPush uses internally developed, proprietary ad formats and the expertise of a skilled, global sales team to ensure developers and publishers earn the maximum amount of money. The result is significantly increased earnings compared to more commonly used monetization solutions. World-class AirPush customers include Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Toyota.

8. Fyber

Fyber is a mobile advertising technology company and mobile SDK developer based in Berlin, Germany. They specialize in multiple high-effectiveness mobile content advertising forms, letting developers take advantage of a robust network of advertisers and popular monetization features. Over 180 DSPs and thousands of advertisers partner with Fyber, ensuring publishers have access to high-quality ad content at all times.

Ad units served on Fyber include rewarded video ads, offer walls, interstitials, and virtual currency management systems for mobile games. Fyber ads are supported on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices and are powered by multiple proprietary technologies to increase engagement and user retention.

9. Mintegral

The Mintegral SDK provides app publishers access to a cutting-edge, Artificial Intelligence-driven programmatic advertising platform and a dense network of advertisers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Mintegral is the ideal full-stack solution for monetizing applications and games in countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Australia, and the South-East Asia (SEA) region. In 2021, Mintegral earned an ISO 27001 certification, meaning the SDK meets international standards for information security management. These certifications help keep the overall quality of ads served on Mintegral as high as possible, ensuring advertiser and publisher brand safety.

10. Yandex

The Yandex Mobile Ads SDK is the app monetization solution from Yandex, the leading search engine and information services company in Russia and the CIS region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan).

Publishers and developers implementing the Yandex SDK into their iOS and Android applications gain access to the Yandex Advertising Network and its thousands of advertiser partners. YAN sites and applications reach over 65 million users, making the Yandex SDK an essential tool for reaching Russian and CIS audiences.

Benefits of SDK Advertising and Monetization

Although integrating an advertising SDK into a mobile application takes more time and resources than simpler, less code-heavy solutions (e.g., APIs, ad tags), SDKs offer a complete suite of integrated tools and features, providing developers and publishers greater control.

For instance, an SDK comes with its own functionality and documentation, making it easier for non-developers and staff with less technical knowledge to use. Developers can use the SDK’s built-in structures and functions to increase implementation speed, spend less time on development, and monetize content more quickly.

Lastly, SDKs are better suited to scaling up and down than APIs, letting you adapt your monetization plans to your app’s exact size, reach, and audience. They typically come with built-in analytics and KPI tracking features, providing publishers with accurate, real-time performance information and data points needed to optimize revenue streams accordingly.

CodeFuel Provides Expert Monetization Advice

Monetizing your mobile applications, games, websites, extensions, or any other digital properties can be a daunting task without help. CodeFuel can help you earn money with all of your assets, optimizing your revenue streams and providing the best guidance and approach for your needs. Get started with CodeFuel today

Header bidding is one of the most critical elements of efficient advertising, where the ad space generates maximum ad revenue. There is much talk in digital advertising circles about the advantages of header bidding for programmatic advertising. But what exactly is header bidding, and how can you use it to maximize your revenue as a publisher? This post will give you an overview of header bidding, its trends, and how to implement it.

What Is Header Bidding?

With header bidding, publishers can offer their inventory to multiple SSPs (Supply-Side Platforms) and ad exchanges. In this type of programmatic auction, the bid requests are sent to multiple advertisers (demand partners) in real time.

Origin of Online Advertising Before Header Bidding

Before header bidding appeared, the auctions for ad space followed a waterfall model. In it, the ad space is auctioned and delivered when the page is loading.

The Programmatic Waterfall Model

In this model, the ad space is offered first to the publisher’s direct orders; then, if it is not sold, the space offer is passed down the line until it finds a better bid than the previous one. When this happens, the ad space is sold to this bidder.

The problem with the waterfall model is that you can easily miss higher bids. In the example above, the auction stops at the first “higher” bid, bid “B”, when the highest bid is “C” at $3.25, so actually, you may lose money with waterfall bidding. 

How Does Header Bidding Work?

1. Header bidding starts by adding a piece of JavaScript code in the header of a publisher’s page. This piece of code is what allows buyers to bid on an advertising inventory.
2. When a user visits a website, the publisher’s header tag sends requests to multiple ad networks.
3. The ad networks bid on the space. The winning bid is sent to the publisher’s ad server. 
4. The publisher’s ad server displays the winning ad.

Client Side vs. Server Side Header Bidding?

Client-side header bidding: you add the piece of JavaScript to the publisher’s website, which runs every time the page loads. The browser sends a request for bids, and the highest bid wins.

Server-side header bidding: here, the requests are sent from the ad server, not the browser.

How Header Bidding Solved The Problem Of Waterfall Bidding Issues?

In header bidding, the space goes effectively to the highest bid, regardless of its position in the auction.  The advertiser’s server shows the winning ad creative to the publisher’s server.

Header bidding lets publishers know what advertiser is bidding to maximize revenue and have better exposure for their brand.

How Do You Set Up Header Bidding?

The header bidding implementation requires the ad server to connect to the header bidding wrapper.  The wrapper, in turn, connects to the SSP adapter.

What’s a Wrapper?

Before wrappers, the publisher needed to insert each advertiser or DDP code snippet on their webpage. Inserting and deleting those code snippets every time an advertiser change is time-consuming and tedious.

Wrappers are software containers that hold the snippets from all demand partners.  Publishers can easily replace snippets without dealing with code if the wrapper has a graphic interface. The wrapper also contains the set prices and the timeouts. The most popular header bidding wrappers are Pubfood.js, BiddR360, and Prebid.js.

Steps to Implement Header Bidding in Google Ad Manager

Step 1: Building a wrapper

You can build it yourself or get it from a header bidding provider.

Step 2: Contact the SSPs. 

If the SSPs want to work with you, you can incorporate their adapters into your wrapper.

Here you can see how to set up a wrapper with Prebid.js:

1. Load the Prebid.js library. Go to prebid.org and download the library file in the version and with the adapters you want to work with.
2. Load the ad server library file. Using Google Ad Manager, you can load the GPT library file.
3. Run the header auction. Prebid pauses the first d server call, then sends bid requests to multiple demand partners. It fetches bids for the available inventory. Some useful features include ensuring the request doesn’t block the rest of the content or setting a timeout.

Step 3: Integrate the wrapper with your site.

Add the wrapper code to the header.

Step 4: Integrate the wrapper with the ad server. 

You can learn how to do it with Prebid.js here.

Step 5: Test the setup. 

Give the setup to your QA team or someone who worked on it previously and someone who doesn’t know about it, then check all bugs and fixes needed.

Implementation of Header Bidding Challenges

Publishers may find it challenging to implement header bidding. It is not easy to set up, and it requires to add many lines to the ad inventory. You need more upfront lift to traffic line items to implement header tag integrations.

Header bidding can impact page load speed because third-party tags may slow the loading time. The problem is when a visitor abandons the page before it loads, it will miss the ads.

Pros and Cons of Header Bidding for Publishers

How can header bidding benefit (+) publishers?

• Higher fill rates: with header bidding, more buyers are available, which increases the chances of filling the inventory. Header bidding makes it more likely to fill remnant inventory.
• Better visibility into inventory value: you can see the real price of what other publishers are selling their inventory, giving you a better picture of how much your inventory is worth.
• Higher cost per mile (CPM):  the header bidding system ensures the highest bid gets the impression.

What are the drawbacks (-) of header bidding for publishers?

Using client-side header bidding has some drawbacks:

• Increased latency: more scripts on a page slow down the load time, which hurts the user experience, reducing ad views, and, ultimately, conversions.
• Compatibility issues: the client-side header needs to be compatible with different browsers. Sometimes there are compatibility issues between the header and the browser.
• Slowed-down performance: the more code you add, the chances of slowing down the website and browser increase.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Header Bidding for Advertisers

Is header bidding only for publishers? Yes, and no. Let’s analyze the advantages and drawbacks of using header bidding for advertisers.

How can header bidding benefit advertisers?

The header bidding process was designed to help publishers maximize their revenue. However, advertisers may benefit from accessing premium inventory.  Advertisers see the available inventory and bid on premium spaces.  

What are the drawbacks for advertisers?

That being said, accessing premium inventory isn’t cheap. Large organizations with big advertising budgets can work with premium inventory, but the expense can hurt smaller brands. Additionally, header bidding companies have access to all the publisher inventory, preventing advertisers from doing deals directly with those publishers.

Why Header Bidding Is Better for Publishers?

The advantages of using header bidding are better for publishers. Header bidding is designed in such a way that publishers can get the most yield from their impressions.

Why?

1. It expands the advertisers’ pool, allowing them to reach more and better-paying advertisers.
2. The automated auction increases competition between advertisers, leading to a higher bid. You know that is true if you ever got into a bidding war on eBay.

Header Bidding Trends For 2022

The popularity of header bidding and its advantages for publishers resulted in the exponential growth of header bidding solutions. The evolution is not stopping, so here are some of its trends for 2022:

1. Too many options. Currently, header bidding is evolving to include multiple header bidding solutions available to publishers. Publishers have a hard time selecting the right solution. They need to consider the following factors:
   • The ability to generate maximum competition to increase revenue
   • The integration with the browser
   • Real-time optimization
   • Integration of demand channels into the same platform
2. Should you build, buy, or partner? Publishers face the dilemma of choosing whether to build their own header bidding or buy/partner with a third-party provider. Using a third-party provider has the advantage of addressing a larger demand market.
3. The appearance of the hybrid wrapper. Studies show that most publishers use hybrid set-ups (client-side and server-side combined) solutions. Additionally, omnichannel wrapper users are more likely to rely on hybrid wrappers.

What Is Open Bidding?

Open bidding is a programmatic bidding system that lets publishers invite advertisers to bid on auctions. The new auction is in real-time and server-to-server. It is easier to implement than header bidding because you can reuse your existing tags.

Header Bidding Vs. Open Bidding

Header Bidding vs. AdSense

FAQs

How CodeFuel Helps Marketers Maximize the Yield with Header Bidding?

CodeFuel is a monetization platform geared to maximize the revenue for publishers, and header bidding is one of the keys of its success. By increasing the competition among bidders, it ensures only the true highest bid gets the ad space. To achieve that, CodeFuel leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence technology. If you want to know more about how CodeFuel maximizes the monetization revenue for digital properties, request a demo today.