Though a little unsure about trading on ad exchanges, European publishers have shown real enthusiasm for yield optimisation platforms. Being able to manage ad network relationships and extract value from unsold inventory has attracted top-tier publishers to yield optimisers.

The market here is still wide open, and there are now a number of players looking to partner European publishers. Ultimately technology and results will win the day: publishers will use the yield optimiser that can save on resources and generate more revenue.

Admeta, a Swedish optimisation specialist, offers publishers a yield management tool for unsold inventory. As it seeks to compete with established yield specialists in the European market, Admeta CEO Johan Klaesson took time this week to speak to FarneyMedia about technology and the importance of improving yield for publishers:

Can you provide an overview of your technology?

We deliver a technology platform that enables large online publishers and ad networks to set up their own, private ad exchange to handle their unsold/remnant inventory. We have a real time optimization technology that selects the best performing ad for every ad impression.

To complement the ad exchange we also provide a real time ad network optimizer as filler. This way we can guarantee our customers have a 100% sell out at eCPM rates way above what they would get from just handing their inventory over to one or several ad networks.

Our optimization technology combines different targeting technologies such as contextual, behavioral, time of the day, frequency cap and several other parameters empowered by machine learning (AI). What differentiates our optimization technology from many others is that we have been targeting and optimizing ads in one way or another since 2002. Since machine learning is a lot about analyzing aggregated data we have a good head start to other yield optimization technologies.

You work with publishers, agencies and ad networks. Are you looking to build a platform similar to an ad exchange?

What we offer our customers is the ability to set up their own private ad exchange where they decide what business models to use (CPM, CPC , CPA or CP whatever), what advertisers they want to work with and what types of creative’s they want to show. Hypothetically we have the ability to aggregate all our customers’ inventory into one big open ad exchange. However, while it would be a very efficient market place if it all was handled by machines, publishers and ad networks customers are not machines, they are people. Open ad exchanges provide efficiency and liquidity to the market but should be used as a backup rather than a prioritized sales channel.

How does your offering differentiate from your competitors?

First of all, there are not many competitors able to offer a solid secondary sales channel strategy together with real time optimization technology and an ad network optimizer. We are compared with both traditional yield optimizers and open ad exchanges but even though we all are aiming at maximizing ad revenues for our customers, our offerings are quite different.

What we offer our customers is really a second chance to sell their inventory as premium. We allow our customers to create verticals, offer multiple business models, offer their customers self service applications, and create customized reports and much more. This way publishers and ad networks can adapt their offerings so that it suits the specific client and thereby generate higher eCPMs.

Is there more efficiency to be had in buying and selling display ad inventory? And if so, how does your offering address this?

There is a huge potential for improving efficiency in the market place as it looks right now. Especially as the European market place is quite fragmented as people do business and approach problems in different ways from country to country. I think that while the online ad market has been converging over the last couple of years, it is important to be aware that every publisher, ad network and advertiser is different. What works for one publisher might not work for another and a business concept appreciated by one advertiser might be hated by another. It is very rare that flexibility is the answer to efficiency but this time I really think it is the answer.