PubMatic Extend Header Bidding; Mobile Ad Network Ranking
ExchangeWire round up some of the biggest stories in the European digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: Header bidding for mobile in-app by PubMatic; AppsFlyer Performance Index; Ericsson test mobile ad platform; YOC add subtitles to Facebook autoplay ads; adsquare partner with AOL; and Protected Media get TAG verified.
PubMatic extend header bidding to mobile apps
Five years ago, PubMatic launched their header bidding technology for desktop, and later extended to mobile web. Now the automation expert is taking their tech to mobile apps, with the intention of giving mobile app developers more insights into their inventory.
The mobile in-app header bidding solution comes with two options: a lightweight, non-SDK version for the simple adding of the PubMatic code to an existing app’s ad serving SDK, as well as a full SDK version that provides access to more data such as device ID, location (lat/long), mobile carrier, operating system version, etc.
Why are PubMatic extending header bidding to mobile in-app now? “Although the majority of consumer time spent on mobile is in apps, mobile app developers haven’t had access to the benefits of ad decisioning tools, like header bidding and wrappers, until recently. Mobile app inventory already garners a 59% premium over mobile web; and mobile web publishers that adopt header bidding see on average a 50% increase in eCPMs, according to analysis conducted for our recently released Q4 2016 Quarterly Mobile Index (QMI)”, explains Pubmatic-CMO, Jeff Hirsch to ExchangeWire. “On our platform alone, mobile app paid impression volume increased by 21% in Q4 2016; and mobile-monetised header bidding impressions also grew nearly 50x year-on-year. In light of these trends, it’s clear that the introduction of header bidding to the mobile app ecosystem will provide publishers with even greater opportunities to monetise their already valuable mobile app inventory.”
AppsFlyer Performance Index: Ranking for mobile ad networks
AppsFlyer’s Performance Index 2017 compares the performance of the world’s most important advertising platforms and networks. The finding: Facebook and Google remain in the top positions when it comes to mobile advertising, at least in terms of generating new downloads. But the global ranking also shows that other market players, such as Vungle, Twitter, and AppLovin, are overtaking the two giants in the area of retention.
Focusing on Western Europe, advertising on Android games, for instance, is dominated by Facebook, which garners top scores for the total number of installs generated as well as the retention score. Google ranks second in install numbers, and third in retention score rank. For iOS gaming, Facebook holds the number one spot for total of installs and ranks third for retention. Google AdWords only ranks at number six, overall, while AppLoving comes second for iOS gaming in Western Europe.
The index reflects that video ads on games are extremely well suited to gain loyal and active users. Here, retention values are 23% higher than the average. “Video teasers for games are better than other formats, when it comes to visualising what users can expect after downloading. That ensures very good recovery rates”, comments Ben Jeger, managing director DACH, AppsFlyer.
Ericsson test mobile ad platform
Formerly known for hardware – now branching into ad tech? The Swedish tech company has started testing a new platform for mobile advertising, hoping to compile data specifically from telecommunications providers for targeting purposes.
According to reports, Ericsson are putting their platform to the test in the US and Singapore, with plans for opening the platform this spring. Aggregated user data, such as demographic details, can be accessed by advertisers to target specific audience segments.
With the platform, Ericsson could bundle their own audience data with external data by other players in the telco market – and diversify their own business away from communications technology and services towards mobile advertising.
YOC react to Facebook autoplay ads
After Facebook recently announcing their autoplay videos to play with sound by default, mobile advertising provider YOC are responding with a solution that pre-empts the potential backlash from users against the forced audio element.
The new YOC products aim to draw attention to the promoted product in a video and increase the number of advertising contacts: through the subtitle function, text units can be integrated which display the video’s spoken content synchronously. When the audio function of the video is activated, the subtitles will be hidden.
“Our aim at YOC is to make ads useful, convenient, and yet thrilling for all parties”, Evgenij Tovba, chief technology officer, YOC, tells ExchangeWire. “Our nonintrusive product features, like subtitles, not only fulfill the advertisers’ and publishers’ objectives, but are also aligned with user behaviour. Users don’t get disrupted, while advertisers can still raise the amount of advertising contacts.”
According to YOC, the option of additional subtitles does not interfere with the user’s primary usage of the mobile offer. It does, however, ensure that the entire ‘story’ of an ad, including also the sound, is delivered to the users.
The new subtitle feature applies to YOC’s Inline Video Ad and Understitial Video Ad.
adsquare snag AOL mobile data deal
Not long after opening an office in the US, adsquare team up with AOL. A new partnership with the media company will bring adsquare’s demographic, interest, intent, psychographic, and behavioural mobile data to AOL’s ONE platform.
“By bringing adsquare’s data on board, we are enhancing our already strong ability to deliver quality, scalable, holistic audiences for advertisers to reach and for publishers to monetise. Our open philosophy means we can offer multiple data sets to help advertisers build powerful brands and publishers to grow revenues”, says Alex Timbs, head of data & attribution, AOL International.
Speaking to ExchangeWire, Tom Laband, CEO, adsquare, explains the motivation behind the new partnership: “Like adsquare, AOL pursue the idea of the open marketplace as an alternative to walled gardens. Our common objective is to make audience data available, allowing advertisers to target their campaigns more specifically, as well as supporting publishers in their monetisation efforts.”
Covering the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, and Switzerland, the partnership is aimed at improving publishers’ inventory and allowing advertisers to connect with new audiences. Moreover, the cooperation also extends to AOL’s own media, as well as Microsoft brands MSN and Outlook for their own data needs.
Protected Media join TAG
Protected Media have just announced their participation in TAG, aimed at ensuring viewability, eliminating fraudulent traffic, combatting malware, and creating transparency in the digital ad supply chain – and enhancing their clients’ confidence in their digital advertising solutions.
Protected Media’s solutions are aimed at weeding out suspicious and underperforming traffic before it reaches the marketplace – ultimately, with a view to increasing ROI for publishers. “We help publishers take control of ad traffic; because, due to online ad fraud, their share of the pie keeps shrinking, while advertisers can always choose to shift their budgets elsewhere. By giving them more information about where low-quality traffic comes from, they can improve their traffic quality and protect their revenues”, Asaf Greiner, CEO/founder of Protected Media, tells ExchangeWire.
The approach: “Protected Media use approaches and tools borrowed from cybersecurity to pinpoint specific transactions that are fraudulent and then determines the source of suspicious traffic. This information is used to open up a communication channel between all players in the ad ecosystem, to improve collaboration, and develop best practices to clean up ad traffic.”
TAG is a collaborative effort by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, ANA, and IAB.
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