Dozens of Right Media clients got “eggs-actly” the information they needed at our Eggs & Exchanges breakfast series held on March 2 in New York and March 11 in Santa Monica.
Our first session, Our DSP and Yours, focused on enabling demand-side platform partners to find the maximized advertiser ROI golden egg. Megan Pagliuca, senior director, Right Media Professional Services, outlined the many improvements made to the Right Media Exchange, such as facilitating transparency, integrating with third-party brand-safe vendors, pruning undifferentiated clients, and supporting branding with surveys and other features.
Clients were given a wealth of information about Exchange transparency including that approximately 84 percent of impressions served by Right Media show accurate, targetable validated URLs. Megan also discussed third-party online brand studies, buyer and seller best practices, and brand safety and emphasized that diligence and creativity were needed to excel with RMX. “If you don’t add value, you get squished,” she said. Megan and Daniel Tse, manager, Right Media Professional Services showed how a top cosmetic brand for the first time was able to measure and monitor purchase intent, which led them to profitably redefine its target audience.
During the second session, A Closer Look at Real Time Bidding, Pedro Ponce de Leon, senior manager, Right Media Solutions Architecture, explained the advantages of RTB for ad networks, intermediaries, publisher aggregators and buy-side platforms. He also addressed concerns such data collection and rights and whether there’s a risk of eCPM cannibalization on premium inventory.
Even the most hard-boiled clients profited from the eggs-posure to Right Media’s presentation, which came with a tasty and generous breakfast buffet. Right Media clients can watch their e-mailboxes for an invitation to the next one!
Using Yahoo!’s science, art and scale to deliver audience-based buying
Earlier this month at the 4A’s conference, we talked a lot about how Yahoo!’s unique combination of science, art and scale unlocks exciting new opportunities for advertisers. Based on conversations we’ve been having with marketers, agency partners and technology providers, one area that’s in need of further exploration and innovation is in how media is purchased. At Yahoo!, we’re very focused on finding new ways to research, plan, target and measure digital media so we can help speed the flow of ad spending online. We believe that demand-side platforms (DSP) represent an interesting new way to leverage Yahoo!’s science, art and scale to deliver on the promise of audience-based buying.
As a result, Yahoo! is working closely with DSP leaders, including Invite Media, Mediamath, Data Xu, Turn and X+1 as part of a new pilot program to establish best practices in audience buying for their clients. DSPs are driving significant innovation in the science and underlying technology of audience-based, display buying for our largest partners. Some early innovations are focused on identifying and engaging audiences, controlling frequency of ad exposure more effectively and developing real time bidding (RTB) capabilities for buyers.
The pilot will demonstrate how Yahoo!, in partnership with these industry leaders, can provide marketers with access to the audiences they most want to reach by leveraging insights from buyers, sellers and 3rd party data providers. This pilot will also enable DSPs to establish a more integrated, deeper relationship with the Yahoo! Network and the Right Media Exchange. Many of these DSPs have been members of the Right Media Exchange for years, and through this pilot, they will gain access to Right Media’s real-time bidding (RTB) capabilities.
DSPs have made great strides to provide the largest display media buyers with enhanced technology and services that make digital media more effective overall. We look forward to exploring this exciting opportunity with our pilot partners, and we will share updates on our progress here on this blog.
There’s a huge audience out there, and it’s going to take a little science, art and scale to really unlock the potential of audience buying.
—Ramsey McGrory (VP, North American Marketplaces) & Seth Dallaire (VP, Mid Market Sales)
We are really excited about the momentum we’re seeing in the real-time bidding space. Right Media was the first marketplace to offer real-time bidding (RTB) in our own marketplace over five years ago (see the story we posted on this last year). We have been testing a new kind of RTB for over the last six months. In the newer version of RTB, we broadcast bid requests to companies who have a decision engine to return a bid. While this may not seem like big news, RTB provides some big benefits for buyers, sellers and consumers.
Buyers benefit because they have greater control of their bidding across all available inventory. For example, buyers can control campaign ad exposures more discretely. When bid requests happen, buyers can assess whether a user has seen an ad and determine whether another ad is appropriate. Because of the way ad serving happens today, that’s hard to do across all buys.
Sellers (e.g. publishers) benefit from less latency and redirects and can monetize their ad inventory more effectively. Far too often, an internet page loads more slowly than it should in part because of the way the ads are served. Also, RTB allows for more buyers to bid on ad calls and competition drives revenue yield for sellers.
Consumers benefit because the ads will be delivered faster and with less redirecting, piggybacking and all the things that create latency when delivering an ad. Research has shown the faster you deliver content (including advertising) to consumers, the better their experience is and the more likely they will be to engage.
RTB is a necessary step toward improving the overall digital advertising process, but there’s still a long ways to go until RTB becomes a reality for the entire industry. Among other things, the companies that provide RTB don’t all do it the same and the infrastructure required is different. In an advertising world that is part science and part art, we have our best and brightest engineers working to stay at the forefront of the innovation and driving value for all partners in our ecosystem. Stay tuned, more to come on RTB.
Staying Open While Closing the Door on Harmful Content And Behavior
The following is an excerpt from an AdExchanger.com article by Bennie Smith, Yahoo! VP Exchange Operations/Platform Policy.
Online advertising in the age of media fragmentation does not have to be like a box of chocolates. Both advertisers and publishers should know exactly what they are going to get with every ad impression.
Ad exchanges have played a crucial role in making this possible – by running transparent, fair, and open platforms that have enabled targeted and efficient media buying in the highly-fragmented and ever-expanding media universe. However, the benefits of seamless transactions in an open ecosystem can quickly be eroded (along with your brand equity), if appropriate controls are not put into place.
Threats to the online advertising ecosystem include harmful ad and Web site content, spyware, traffic quality and the emerging and rapidly evolving threat of malvertising (the delivery of malicious code or software via Internet advertisements). These threats have the potential to cause significant harm to all the primary stakeholders in the online advertising ecosystem. Advertisers face the risk of brand erosion and publishers can face user attrition, loss of revenue and public relations risks. Ultimately, consumers are exposed to harmful content and privacy and security risks.
In light of these risks, Right Media remains committed to helping its customers do business in an open ecosystem with greater transparency and control. These issues are not unique to us, but impact the Internet as a whole. In fact, recent malvertising incidents at New York Times and Gawker.com were direct buys and have illustrated the need for every stakeholder in the online advertising value chain to work equally hard and collaborate with each other to address these growing threats.
Our continued investment in protective measures and the implementation of innovative mechanisms are helping Right Media protect participants in the exchange ecosystem from potential harm. For example; in response to new malvertising threats that were observed this year, we made some enhancements to our Creative Tester tool that help us detect and ban creatives that load non-standard file types that can install malicious code by exploiting security vulnerabilities in standard applications that open such file formats; contain an automatic page redirect that is non user-initiated and also identify ads that triggers click streams or click activity without any user interaction. In addition, we continue to educate our customer base about Right Media Exchange tools and policies and how customers can work to prevent the introduction of harmful content, viruses and other malicious code into our ecosystem. By implementing their own controls and being more diligent about whom they do business with, we can work together to preserve our vibrant and secure marketplace.
An SMX East panel yields research and strategy for combining search with display
For the online community, today marked another step forward in understanding how to service multiple products for advertisers. At the Search Marketing Expo East conference, our own Megan Pagliuca, Director of Professional Services, participated in a panel discussion with the clever name “Search Meet Display; Display Meet Search.” Also on the panel were executives from iProspect, ComScore and Didit. To quote “Law and Order,” here are their stories…
We first heard from ComScore and iProspect, who had very exhaustive research proving that when search and display are incorporated into a single media buy, the overall results are much better. Comscore contends that in the search + display synergy, 1 + 1 = 2.5, whereas iProspect asserts that it’s actually 1 + 1 = 3.
And it’s not just based on performance improvements (increased CTR and conversions), but also specific, very interesting, data points:
Display ads drive search: Consumers are still leery of clicking on display ads; however, they will search for a brand name using their favorite search engine (which should be Yahoo!’s, naturally) after viewing a search ad.
Display ads also drive the halo effect with search: Consumers will sometimes search for competitor keywords after viewing a display ad.
Offline sales are impacted by the synergy: Search lifts offline sales and display lifts offline sales, but search + display lifts offline sales more than the two do individually.
Yahoo! has experienced the same results from our own research, and we applaud the detailed research that these two companies undertook.
Next up, Kevin Lee from Didit dove into some sophisticated best practices around search retargeting, which is another excellent starter strategy for marketers looking to blend a search and display budget.
Then Megan finished up the round of presentations, and focused on the “how” of search + display. Given that it’s a complex capability to develop end to end, Yahoo! has two main flavors: We’ll manage it for you, or we’ll enable you to build the capabilities in house with specific tools and practices. Megan started with a quick review on how the consumer consideration cycle works, and pointed out that display and search need to work together to seamlessly guide the consumer down the funnel to the point of sale. She then moved into the two ways that Yahoo! delivers a great search and display product.
The first way we do this is by enabling our network partners to buy Yahoo! display inventory and Yahoo! search keywords, and ensuring that users who search on certain keywords are retargeted with relevant display ads. The second way we do this is by providing a technology platform and services team (Right Media, and Professional Services, respectively) that can work to enable an agency or marketer’s business to buy display and search from multiple sources. In this way, we manage the product or enable eligible businesses to develop the capability on their own. Or both.
This is something that we’re really proud of at Yahoo! Fact is, we should all be making the size of the digital market bigger, so listen up marketers and agencies: Here’s another way to bring your digital spend online!
Right Media and Yahoo! are on the scene at Advertising Week in New York’s Times Square right now. To follow events as they happen, check out: Yahoo! AdBuzz on Twitter.
Naturally, Right Media and Yahoo! will be there to offer news, insight and context.
First, look for some big news from Elisa Steele, Yahoo’s EVP and chief marketing officer. In her keynote address at IAB MIXX (Tuesday, September 22 at 9:45 a.m.) Elisa will discuss what’s new at Yahoo! (and there’s lots of it) and where the company—and where digital media in general—is headed.
Next, look for Bill Wise—he’s Yahoo!’s head of display platforms and Right Media’s VP and general manager of Global Exchange—who will be on a panel with the catchy title, “Sleeping with the Frenemy: Ad Nets vs. Web and Mobile Publishing.” During the panel, which happens down the street from MIXX at OMMA Global the same day at 11:45 a.m. (you might have to run if you can’t hitch a ride), Bill and his fellow panelists will provide valuable insights on how ad networks can and must work for small and medium-sized publishers.
And, of course, there will be tons of parties, galas, awards ceremonies and other assorted brouhaha all week. Can’t make it? Follow the action here and on Yahoo! Ad Buzz via Twitter.
The following is an excerpt of an AdExchanger.com article by Frank Weishaupt, Yahoo! VP of North American Marketplaces. For the full article, click here.
One reason I love this business is that it’s always evolving. Change is essential to success in online advertising…especially when it comes to ad exchanges.
As the needs of ad networks, publishers, agencies and advertisers continue to change, exchanges have had to stay ahead of every impression and develop marketing solutions that can help these players improve and differentiate their businesses.
We know these players are already doing part of the work on their own—gathering the data and insights necessary to manage yield and return on ad spend. But it’s not enough. Exchanges provide a larger marketplace that’s needed to efficiently leverage that data and quickly turn it into revenue. There is no better place to do that than in an open exchange ecosystem. Here’s why:
- An open exchange helps participants in the digital advertising ecosystem conduct business with each other in a seamless fashion.
- An open exchange delivers marketers the greatest number of options in how they define and reach their relevant audiences.
- An open exchange helps solve supply fragmentation by offering a complete, multi-level solution for servicing marketers’ needs. A closed network cannot accomplish this… .
…Marketers take note: We get it. Budgets are precious and the market is increasingly fragmented. We know you work with multiple exchanges and we look forward to working with them and integrating with them for our partners. Hopefully, they will follow our lead and embrace openness because the industry will be best served by transparency and liquidity.
—Frank Weishaupt, Yahoo! VP of North American Marketplaces
We love to meet our clients, hear first-hand what’s on their minds and offer solutions to your business needs. That’s why we host a breakfast series for our clients called “Eggs & Exchanges” where we highlight strategies for helping them to increase revenue on the Right Media Exchange.
The next breakfast series will be held in New York City on September 16 and in Los Angeles on September 24. We’re particularly excited about the program:
Session 1: “Servicing Brand Advertisers: A Yield Opportunity” As offline advertising dollars shift online and brand campaigns move to performance, networks and publishers are presented with several opportunities to increase yield. This session looks at how ad operations teams can increase yield by having tools in place to drive better performance results than their network competitors and by providing site transparency to alleviate brand advertiser concerns.
Session 2: “Improving Quality: How to Create Revenue with the Least Risk.” Proper creative management affects all Exchange members. In this session, we will look at the process from the perspective of buyers, sellers and networks as well as share troubleshooting techniques and escalation procedures.
If you’re already a client, we hope to see you at Eggs & Exchanges. If you’re not currently working with Right Media and would like to learn more about us, drop an email to rightmediaevents@yahoo-inc.com and we’ll get back to you.
–Liza Cichowski, Brand Experience Manager, Right Media Exchange
The health and safety of an exchange depend upon its participants
Online security is a problem as old as the internet itself. Despite the ongoing efforts of the computer software and security industries to combat threats such as viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other malicious code, we and other online businesses, find ourselves in an arms race with the perpetrators, who continue to launch attacks with increasing sophistication. Unfortunately, advertisers, agencies, networks, publishers and consumers are becoming more vulnerable to these insidious new threats, which threaten not just the online advertising industry, but the Internet economy as a whole.
What can you do? As frictionless trading between ad networks becomes more and more important, advertisers are looking for innovative ways to maximize their return on investment and publishers are looking to limit the amount of unsold inventory. Liquidity in the marketplace should not come at the expense of quality, and we are committed to balancing the revenue or performance goals of our customers while at the same time helping them to drive a positive user experience. This means that all stakeholders must be even more diligent about whom they do business with and use reputation as one of the determining attributes, instead of relying solely on revenue. If we sacrifice quality, there is a much higher risk of driving away brand advertisers who are turning to performance advertising as a more targeted, measurable and cost-effective marketing strategy.
Since the Right Media Exchange is an open technology platform that our customers—advertisers, agencies, networks and publishers—use to do business more directly and with greater visibility and control, we are not involved in ad creation or in the purchase or sale of online media. That’s why the overall health and safety of our marketplace depends on the efforts of all platform participants.
The Right Media approach Our approach to combating threats to the Exchange includes trying to proactively implement industry-leading safeguards that protect our customers, their constituents and, ultimately, their end-users.
For example, all creatives or ad tags that run through the Exchange are tested by our Creative Tester technology (part of Media Guard) in an effort to detect and ban creatives exhibiting malicious behavior such as viruses and program installs, or that display attributes we consider to be high risk. Creative Tester subjects every creative or ad tag trafficked into the Exchange to a series of tests which simulate an impression, load the creative and record the technical attributes detected during the creative load. When Creative Tester detects certain types of malicious behavior, it automatically deactivates the creative and notifies the Exchange member who trafficked the creative or ad tag.
The Exchange also uses an automated detection program called SCOUR that checks Exchange traffic regularly, searching for patterns exhibited by desktop software and flagging sections that exhibit what, in our opinion, may be malicious traffic patterns. If we detect that some or all impressions from a particular section of a site on the Exchange have been initiated by applications that are prohibited by our policies, they are automatically deactivated (thereby making them ineligible to receive further ads via the Exchange and to generate any revenue for the publisher).
Keeping up the fight Our continued investment in protective measures and the implementation of mechanisms like the ones highlighted above are helping Right Media protect all participants in the Exchange ecosystem from potential harm. However, attackers continuously find new, sophisticated ways to circumvent safeguards and malicious software applications continue to evolve in their behavior and delivery methods. We’re always working to understand these new threats so we can develop tools that can weed them out as quickly as possible.
Although the task at hand is challenging, we believe that by partnering with Exchange participants who are equally committed to eliminating these threats at their source, we can make meaningful progress. Right Media welcomes all thoughts and suggestions on this important issue because we believe that if we work together, we can maintain our leading position as the largest, healthiest and most successful online Ad Exchange on the market.
—Nilesh Zacharias, Director, Policy and Operations
Marketplace Select helps you avoid surprises with your ads
It’s Monday morning. You have your coffee, your bagel, and your morning meetings ready. Then, the call comes: “What the *#% is my finance ad doing on an adult site?” Well, your Monday and next-quarter budget are instantly undone.
This is exactly why people get nervous working with blind ad networks or exchanges. And it is exactly why brand advertisers can have a hard time making the transition into the nonguaranteed space. Never ones to shy away from a challenge, we decided to tackle this issue on our blog.
Know where your ads are
It’s clear that the way around this problem is transparency and control: transparency from sellers and controls that allow both buyers and sellers to help ensure proper delivery of ads. That’s why we created the Marketplace Select program at Right Media. We aim to create an open, transparent environment where even the most brand-concerned advertisers can have visibility into the content that they are purchasing through the Exchange.
Participation in the program is, of course, voluntary.So we decided to ask who would be willing to share a list of sites with approved partners for transparent media buys. The response has been overwhelming. Most networks and publishers on the Exchange not only don’t mind sharing a list, but care just as much about cleaning up inappropriate content and creating a trustworthy marketplace as buyers. That’s a good thing, because this goal takes cooperation from everyone.
Everyone benefits from a better marketplace, too. As one publisher said, “I can’t imagine anyone saying no. I’d think all Exchange participants would want brand campaigns with higher CPMs.”
Managing ad placement Marketplace Select enables partners to share, manage, and approve site lists. We also recommend best practices for reducing content risk through, among other things, URL targeting and auditing.
Inappropriate content often shows up because networks have trouble controlling where their publishers place ad tags. To help alleviate this, we worked with Exchange members and derived a targeting solution for Marketplace Select that doesn’t depend on publisher classifications.
This system uses something called validated URL targeting, which lets the Right Media Exchange read the top level domain that an ad call comes from. That way you know exactly where the ads are running, regardless of publisher tag placement. This solution has become the preferred method by most Marketplace Select members and speaks to a growing commitment toward working together to keep the Exchange a viable and safer place to do business.
So, if you’re not part of the program, what are you waiting for? Contact your account manager to get involved. Your buyers will love you for it.
—Maggie Neuwald, Consulting Services Sean Smith, Engagement Management
