Banner Ad Management Software
December 13, 2000
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Back in early 1999, I published an article titled "Ad Management
Software Roundup" which proved to be one of my most popular
articles ever. Things have changed a lot since then, and this
updated version probably comes none too soon. This article
includes an up-to-date listing of the banner ad management
software packages available, and supersedes the previous one.
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One trend that was noted in the previous article was that of ad
rep firms buying up, or partnering with, makers of ad management
software. This seemed at the time to be motivated less by the
virtues of vertical integration than by a desire to take the
software "out of circulation," and coerce Web publishers into
outsourcing their ad management needs. It has turned out,
however, that there is strong demand both for outsourced ad
management and for software solutions that can be run in-house by
publishers. As we shall see, most of the top-end ad management
outfits now offer both options.
Before proceeding further, let me point out that the process of
running banner advertising consists of three separate functions:
- Selling ads and designing campaigns - The work that agents
and rep firms do. This includes marketing the site to
advertisers, making contracts for ad campaigns, assembling the
creative (graphics) and collecting payment.
- Running Campaigns - Using the ad management software to
schedule which ads will run in which sections, at what times,
etc. This also includes tracking ad inventory and monitoring
traffic reports.
- Serving Ads - Administering the ad management software
itself.
Since any combination of these functions may be handled by
separate entities, three basic business scenarios are possible:
- Ad Network - A company called an ad network handles
everything. The Web publisher simply places a snippet of code in
each place where an ad is to appear, and waits for the checks to
arrive.
- In-house ad sales, outsourced serving - The publisher deals
with ad agencies and/or advertisers directly, but the ad
management software is run as a hosted application.
- All in-house - The publisher deals with advertisers directly,
and runs the ad management software on their own servers.
For most small publishers, the ad network would seem to be the
best option. The problem, as detailed in a
previous WDJ article, is that the large, reputable ad
networks work with only larger sites (usually those with at least
1 million page impressions per month). There are thousands of
small ad networks touting their services, but few are really
legitimate ongoing concerns, and fewer still are likely ever to
deliver any substantial revenue to publishers. Since the "payment
pipeline" in the advertising business is so long, it may take
several months from the time a site signs up with an ad network
before they can fairly judge if the network is going to do them
any good.
Also, many small specialty sites have relationships with
advertisers in their focus area, and are able to sell some small-
scale ad campaigns directly. For these and other reasons, some
small sites choose to run their ad operations completely in-
house, using one of the low-end ad management packages.
Medium and large sites (those with over 1 million page
impressions per month) almost always use a rep firm to be the
middleman between publisher and advertisers. Most large rep firms
have a particular ad management software package that they use
for all clients, so publishers who use a rep firm generally need
not worry about choosing a software package. The major software
products all have similar capabilities, so larger sites will
usually choose a rep firm based on their perceived ability to
market the site in question, rather than on the relative merits
of its ad management software. In fact, the distinction between a
rep firm and an ad network is mainly one of scale.
The largest Web publishers, and those with a lot of technical
expertise, may run their entire ad operations in-house. This
approach is not for the faint-hearted, to say the least. Medium-
size packages are complicated to install and maintain, and the
top-end packages are very complicated. Running any of the
behemoth industry leaders in-house will require some serious Web
server experts to install, as well as a certain amount of ongoing
technical support, and quite possibly some custom programming.
Contents:
Features to Look For
Currently Available Packages
The Big Three ... and More
Features to Look For - Page 2
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