Digital Advertising: Introduction to Yield and Ad Optimization Presented for General Assembly by Emry DowningHall, Cristina Calderin, Kristina Dzenis and Samuel Youn

2008 After early success, we begin monetizing 100% of the ad inventory of our largest competitor. Neal and Darshan created EasyBib.com as high schoolers to solve an annoying problem – handwritten bibliographies We acquire our 3 rd largest competitor (BibMe.org) and now manage 100% of the advertising inventory of the top 3 online bibliography sites ImagineEasy Solutions forms StudyBreak Media as its digital media division To help manage the increased ad inventory and to scale the business the SBM team expands from 1 to 7 employees. Sites expand from 3 to StudyBreak Media is recognized for excellence in programmatic yield optimization by Google StudyBreak Media is now serving over 6 billion ad impressions a year and reaching over 85% of the students in the United States Neal and Darshan begin working EasyBib.com full- time. I joined the team to handle the ad effort. How we got here…

What are you doing here?

Course Goals 1.Introduce you to, or increase your understanding of ad optimization. 2.Take an introductory look at what ad optimization means, different ad partner types, ad serving and how to analyze your data. 3.Answer your ad specific questions in as personal a manner as possible. Well be available as long as there are questions after class.

Digital Advertising. Whats the point? 728x90 placement 300x250 placement

Standard Ad Units 300x250/Box 728x90/Leaderboard 160x600/Wide Skyscraper

Why Is Ad Optimization So Important? Direct ad relationships with brands and agencies are rare and do not scale Unlike direct deals, solutions and relationships scale with your audience It allows you to maximize the full value of your websites audience The ad industry as a whole is shifting towards a programmatic approach which requires optimization

Ad Optimization: What You Should Know Communicate: Share your experiences in the space, positive and negative Dont be greedy: Theres plenty of premium inventory to go around! Testing a solutions performance is the only way to be certain it will work for your site Trust your ad partners but draw your own conclusions from their ad data Mistakes will happen, thats fine. Malcolm Gladwells 10,000 hour rule applies (Brace for clichés)

ad partners: who they are and how to work with them

ad partners: agenda common types and brand names out there what to communicate with introductions ad chain – combining your ad partners to make money

common types and some names we trust A broker between publishers (websites) and advertisers Ad Network Real Time Bidding, the technology that sells ad inventory in an auction-like manner to advertisers RTB Sells ad space (inventory) through an auction using RTB technology Ad Exchange

how do you get them to notice you?

Subject: MarketPlace| EasyBib Ad Inquiry Hi John Smith, My name is Cristina, and I'm an advertising rep at EasyBib.com. I'd love to discuss the opportunity to work with MarketPlace. Here's a bit of background on EasyBib: EasyBib is an online bibliography generator, providing research tools to students since All our content is 100% brand safe. We represent the largest 100% online student audience in the U.S., reaching over 85% of students in the nation. Every month, EasyBib attracts 10 million visits, 5 million unique visitors, and over 80 million pageviews. Our average user session is 8 pages per visit, with 10 minutes duration per session. Ad units include 728x90, 300x250, and 160x600 all above the fold Please feel free to contact me via or phone. I look forward to speaking with you soon! Best, Cristina What your site is all about – what makes it unique Whos coming to your site? Traffic info from Google Analytics Ad units displaying on your site Show off….

friends with benefits…. Setting mutual performance goals Negotiating the right price The right payment terms

putting them all together in an ad chain Partner 1 - $3.00 rate Partner 2 - $2.00 rate Partner 3 - $1.00 rate Partner 4 - $0.50 rate

The Ad Serving Process

<!--//<![CDATA[ var ut_ju = ' ut=new Object(); ut.zoneid=45867; //]]>--> From Talks to Technical, Now What? Ad Partner: Undertone Ad Tag: EasyBib.com 300x250

Ad Serving: What Well Cover An ad server, what? Ad server features and how it works From ad server to site: walk-through

a platform that hosts all operations related to displaying advertising creative on a website Ad Server:

An Ad Server, the Ad Machine An ad server brings the ads from the websites back-end to live on site Like operating a machine, youre in control and need to tell it what to do What to serve Where to serve When to serve Who to serve to In what priority (rank, preferred order) to serve

Ad Server Features An interface to run your ad solution Create advertising units Host advertising creative Deliver the ads you want to display Determine delivery time: over what period, where to, who to, etc. Prepare campaigns and creative to serve

Lets put it all together… Your Websites ads are like a Restaurant!

Your Websites Restaurant, featuring: Your Websites RestaurantDigital Advertising Term Restaurant Patrons Food Chefs Wait Staff Restaurant Tables Menu Website Site Visitors Ad Creative/Ad Tag Ad Partner (Creates Ad Tag) Ad Server (machines behind the process) Ad Units Whats Available/Ready to Serve (Ad Inventory)

Restaurant in motion! Chef (ad partner) prepares the food (ad tag) Wait staff (ad server) brings food (ad tag) to patron (site user) The patron (site user) enjoys his food!

Ad-ding to Your Site! Ad creative here Site, ad-free Create ad units Set ad code to communicate between site and ad server (invocation code) Set up ad campaign

Why Use an Ad Server? Stay organized Serve with flexibility Target specifically Set baselines and accountability Cost and features

Intro to Analyzing and Optimizing Data

1.Goals of Optimization 2.Optimization Metrics 3.Analysis and Optimization Setup 4.Principles of Programmatic/Auction Buying 5.Optimization Guidelines

1. Optimization Goals 1.Monetize all available impressions 2.Maximize revenue for each ad unit

2. Optimization Metrics Total Impressions Paid Impressions Fill Percentage = Paid Impressions/Total Impressions Revenue CPM Price Floor/Auction Floor

3. Optimization Setup Ad PartnerTotal Impressions Paid Impressions Fill Percentage RevenueCPM AdX100,00050,00050%$50$1.00 Revenue = CPM x (Paid Imps/1000) Fill % = Paid Impressions / Total Impressions CPM = Revenue / (Paid Imps/1000)

4. Principles of Programmatic Buying

Principles of Programmatic Buying There is an inverse relationship between the CPM price floor and the fill percentage.

Remember! The end game of our optimization efforts is to achieve maximum total revenue for each ad unit (not maximum revenue for each individual ad partner).

Optimization Setup

5. OptimizationGuidelines 1.Optimize all inventory. 2.Maintain a high fill percentage before raising price floors. 3.Dont be afraid to make changes. 4.Give your changes time to adjust. 5.Trust your data, make your own conclusions.

Visit our Blog for more information!

Questions?

Contact Us Emry DowningHall Director Cristina Calderin Digital Account Executive Ad Partners Section Kristina Dzenis Senior Digital Account Executive Ad Serving Process Section Samuel Youn Digital Account Executive Optimization and Yield Section

Thank you!