On Thurs, Sept. 30th at 3 pm, OpenX Chief Technology Officer John Linden will address the AdMonsters OPS conference in a session entitled, The Power of Revenue Serving. Learn more here.
He’ll highlight the big challenges publishers face today: revenue pressures, sales channel control problems, revenue optimization complexity, growing buyer leverage…and outdated legacy ad technology.
He’ll show how the ad server is the most critical part of today’s complex advertising ecosystem. For publishers, it should be the ‘decision maker’ for all digital inventory. It should sort through different monetization options in real time to generate higher yields.
But current systems haven’t lived up to that challenge. The limitations of these legacy technologies have led publishers to look at ad servers as basic plumbing.
“When was the last time an advertiser said they wanted to buy zones? They want content, audiences, and sponsorships, right?” said John in a recent interview. “Why do publishers have to translate that advertiser request into ‘ad ops’ language?”
Arbitrary ad naming conventions and arcane packaging rules are based on how ad servers are defined, not how advertisers want to buy. John will emphasize that an ad server should accommodate how publishers really sell and advertisers really buy. And remove the pain from ad operations.
A next generation ad server must redefine how to classify, package, and sell ad inventory so publishers can launch new ad products in an increasingly competitive marketplace—while giving them better control over targeting data, more accurate forecasting, and instant access to global demand.
The industry also needs a smarter approach that replaces static ad serving with ‘revenue serving,’ so publishers can automatically maximize their direct and indirect revenue on one platform.
John will also emphasize that the industry needs a more flexible ad-serving architecture. Today “one size fits all” legacy technologies force publishers to work within the confines of their ad server, rather than making their ad server work for them. For example, many publishers find it difficult to integrate their custom or proprietary targeting data into their ad packages.
With OpenX Enterprise, robust APIs and a plug-in infrastructure enables publishers to customize their adserver to meet their needs.
Stop by John’s talk at 3 pm on the 30th at Chelsea Piers in NYC to hear more.
Editor’s note: Image courtsey of OpenX. This post originally appear on the OpenX Blog.