Signal dynamic pricing floors proven to increase CPMs and programmatic revenue across multiple SSPs

BOULDER, CO – March 13, 2024 – Sovrn, a publisher technology platform that helps content creators earn and keep more revenue, today announced that Sovrn’s Signal product has proven to deliver a 10% revenue uplift. Over a 90-day period starting in December 2023 across 8 billion auctions, with publishers representing 190 domains, testing proved that Signal delivered an unmatched ability to create higher yields, increased CPMs, and greater programmatic revenue across multiple SSPs.

Results included:

• 10% revenue increase across all programmatic channels throughout the testing period.
• Increased yield across all ad units versus the control group.
• Steady revenue uplift even amid traffic spikes, dips, and cyclical demand trends.
• Yield increase across all programmatic channels, including in Google AdX.

Signal measures the attributes of a bid request and sets the optimal price, then broadcasts and routes it via multiple SSPs to buyers most likely to bid at the estimated market price. Available through a free, 21-day trial, Signal is a simple software solution, priced at a one-cent CPM impression fee. In addition, publishers have the option to bundle the Sovrn Ad Exchange to receive a zero percent take rate on impressions sent through the Sovrn Exchange. Signal is currently available for Prebid activation, with future versions offering dynamic pricing within Google Ad Manager (GAM) and Amazon Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM).

Two publishers involved in the testing, Mumsnet and Daily Voice, each saw significant overall revenue increase. Mumsnet, the go-to online community for UK parents with eight million unique users, realized a 21% yield uplift when a floor was present. Similarly, Daily Voice, a digital news platform reaching over two million unique monthly users, also saw a 20% yield uplift. 

“A better understanding of our first-party data assets and their value has been the key to unlocking yield success” said Nino Stylianou, head of programmatic yield at Mumsnet. “So many factors play into the challenges of dynamic pricing, which is why we partnered with Sovrn to help us with the heavy lifting. We’re thrilled to continue to strengthen our collaboration with Sovrn, allowing us to elevate our pricing strategies and face the future head-on.”

At its core, Signal is a data decisioning engine that enriches a publisher’s first party data in a privacy-compliant manner with intelligence and insights from the Sovrn Data Collective, the largest source of privacy compliant, open-web behavior data in the world, to understand and generate maximum value from every advertising transaction. Signal is a plug-and-play solution, allowing publishers to capture and activate page-level data without changing their Prebid settings or making any ad server modifications. 

“At Sovrn, we are always looking for opportunities to help publishers capture higher revenue from their quality content, which is why we created Signal in the first place,” said Babac Vafaey, vice president of data products at Sovrn. “By embedding robust data intelligence into dynamic pricing, we help publishers maximize their earnings across every programmatic channel and with all their SSP partners in the ad stack.”

Learn more about Signal dynamic pricing and how to get started with a free trial.

About Sovrn

Sovrn provides products and services to thousands of online publishers to help them understand, operate and grow their business. Sovrn is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in New York, San Diego, and London.

With thousands of customers deploying advertising, affiliate commerce, and data products across more than 50,000 websites, Sovrn reaches 500 million active consumers across more than 40 billion page views every day. Sovrn has been a leader in online publisher technology since its founding, and has been recognized by IAB, JICWEBS and TAG for its role in combating fraud and promoting pro-transparency initiatives. Sovrn is dedicated to helping content creators do more of what they love, and less of what they don’t. www.sovrn.com 

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In theory, buying and selling programmatic ad inventory should be a relatively simple transaction. Yet, countless variables can influence an ad’s value — including ad size and position, context, site traffic, geographic location, audience demographics, audience engagement, device type, day and time, market demand, and so much more. Then there’s seasonality; simply put, the same ad on Cyber Monday commands a much higher price because more buyers are bidding during Cyber Five than on January first.

The result? A system that makes it a challenge for buyers and sellers to land on a mutually agreeable price for each ad impression given the myriad of constantly changing variables and inherent complexity.

And, while buy-side technology uses sophisticated algorithms to help advertisers optimize their bids and ultimately save money, most publishers lack the robust data to effectively determine and broadcast to buyers the fair market value of their ad properties. Supply-side technology that leverages data-rich, dynamic pricing can level the playing field and help publishers drive more revenue from their valuable ad inventory.

Price floors 101: static vs dynamic

A price floor is the minimum price that a publisher is willing to accept in exchange for a given ad placement, providing a degree of control over how ad inventory is valued and sold. 

Static price floors specify a fixed minimum bid for a given ad placement. Some ad tech platforms allow for tiered price floors based on certain basic variables (such as geographic location or device type) — but even then, the price floor does not change once it’s been set unless it is manually updated. 

So finding the optimal static price floor for each ad impression is tricky. Set a floor that’s too high and buyers may not be willing to meet the minimum, leaving unfilled ad space. Set a price that’s too low and risk missing out on valuable ad revenue.

Dynamic floors are different, using advanced technology and data intelligence to estimate the fair market value of an impression at the moment of the auction. Similar to the algorithms used by demand-side platforms (DSP), dynamic pricing tools analyze massive amounts of data in an instant to set the optimal price floor for every impression.

But wait, isn’t price flooring a bad thing?

Recent criticism from The Trade Desk (TTD) regarding price floors and their subsequent decision to essentially ignore price floors established by publishers and supply-side platforms (SSP) has been in the news. While many argue this is a step too far, TTD has raised valid concerns about abusive pricing practices:

1. SSPs adding their own commission (or “take rate”) on top of a minimum asking price. For example, a publisher setting a minimum bid of $1.00 might have its inventory sold by an SSP at a rate of $1.20. The publisher receives its minimum asking price ($1.00) and the SSP keeps the additional $0.20. This practice can artificially inflate minimum asking prices set by publishers, so they no longer reflect the actual value of ad impressions.

2. Layers of complexity, duplication, and non-transparency. The average publisher works with 20+ different SSPs and exchanges, each of which may apply their own fees and formulas that alter the minimum price presented at auction. As a result, the same buyer may see 20+ different price floors for the identical ad impression. This inconsistency makes it hard to rely on price floors as anything more than an approximation or guideline.

Sovrn Signal is designed to solve both of these problems and provide clear (and fair) price guidance by generating an estimated market rate for an ad impression and then sending it to all demand channels – one price for all. 

Plus, bundling Signal with Sovrn Ad Exchange eliminates the take rate for impressions sent via the Sovrn SSP, creating a more transparent indicator of fair market value. Not only does this ensure publishers keep 100% of their ad revenue, it offers buyers greater efficiency and ROI, making bids without a take rate more attractive.

Impact of a Zero Take Rate

Dynamic price floors increase ad revenue

It’s easy to see how dynamic price floors could improve programmatic yield in theory. But these two Sovrn customers demonstrate a real-world impact to the bottom line.

• Digital news platform Daily Voice relies on programmatic channels for 90 percent of its ad revenue. They ran static price floors on several SSPs which were updated regularly to capture market movement. However, they needed a better way to maximize programmatic yield. Daily Voice used the data decisioning engine in Sovrn Signal to understand and generate maximum value from every advertising transaction, resulting in a 20% average yield uplift across all ad formats. (Visit the case study for more details.)

• Longtime Sovrn customer Mumsnet was looking to increase both programmatic ad yield and operational efficiency. Despite leveraging static price floors across several SSP partners, they wanted a better way to optimize ad pricing and increase revenue during peak periods. Using the dynamic pricing tool embedded in Sovrn Signal, Mumsnet achieved a 10% overall revenue increase and $0.39 average CPM uplift per ad unit. (Read the case study.)

By adding a single line of JavaScript code to each webpage, both Daily Voice and Mumsnet were able to implement dynamic price floors to:

• Measure the attributes of all impressions including visit details, viewability and attention, audience segments, and addressability.
• Price each ad using those attributes to predict and set the optimal price floor.
• Broadcast the price floor in bid requests to all SSPs.
• Monetize by routing buyers most likely to bid at or above the estimated market price. 

Get started today

Ready to start maximizing your ad revenue with Sovrn Signal? Sign up to start your free trial today or reach out to sales@sovrn.com with questions.

The post Why (and How) You Should Use Dynamic Pricing appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Looking back on the second half of 2023, it’s clear that advertising and commerce performance was strongly influenced by conflicting macroeconomic factors. Ad rates began a much-needed comeback, inflation rates dropped, and consumer spending hit record levels during the holiday season — yet turmoil in the publishing industry continues, as evidenced by ongoing  layoffs.

In our new H2 2023 Industry Report, we examine these trends to understand their impact on programmatic and commerce results. We also share top tips to help optimize your strategy for 2024.

Key Takeaways

• Advertising: After suffering through declining ad revenue in 2022 and early 2023, ad rates recovered in H2 2023 — and that growth is expected to accelerate throughout 2024. Cyclical events like the Olympics and the US presidential election will drive ad growth in 2024, so take steps to capture this “bonus” revenue through effective ad pricing.

• Commerce: Lower inflation in the second half of 2023 led to strong online sales, especially during the record-breaking holiday shopping season. Our data shows positive overall trends in several year-over-year performance metrics, including conversion rates and EPCs (earnings per click). That said, results varied significantly by category. 

To succeed in a rapidly changing environment, you need to be both smart and proactive with your decision making. That means staying on top of evolving market conditions, having a reliable source of data and insights, and working with strong partners to help ensure your strategy is sound. 

In this report, you’ll find data-backed insights and performance metrics to help you prepare for what is shaping up to be another challenging year.

Ready to learn more?

The post H2 2023 Industry Report: Insights for the Year Ahead appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Publishers faced significant headwinds in the first half of 2023, as last year’s difficult economic conditions continued unabated. At the same time, new challenges emerged — from the proliferation of AI in the digital ecosystem to widespread budget cuts that led to record-setting layoffs in the publishing sector.

Yet there are signs that a post-pandemic, slow return to normal is beginning to take shape with the economy proving resilient. All of this bodes well for consumer spending in the latter half of 2023 – and adjusting your strategy now to optimize for future benefit is key.

In our new H1 2023 Data Insights Report, we examine the trends that shaped the first half of 2023 to understand how they influenced commerce and programmatic results. We also explore three key areas where publishers should focus their attention in the coming months, to increase their chances of success:

1. Protecting your valuable investment in quality content. Today’s reality demands improved efficiency to decrease costs and maximize profit margins. Doing both effectively requires you to identify and broadcast the value of your most engaged audiences, and understand how you can effectively leverage the right tools to help you avoid the high costs of doing so. Our report provides actionable tips for making smarter decisions that drive more results from every dollar.
   
2. Future-proof against uncertainty. Preparing for the future is more important than ever, now that we know the end of third-party cookies is (really) coming in 2024. Read our report for advice on diversifying your revenue streams and how to ensure you have the data to understand all of your audiences, at scale.
   
3. Control your own destiny. The digital publishing industry has been on a wild ride these past few years, from the highs of pandemic-driven online shopping to the lows of inflation and consumer belt-tightening. The best way to insulate yourself from future volatility is to make the most of the assets you have — and embrace the opportunities at hand. Our report tells you how.

Today’s smart digital media leaders are focused on operating a lean, efficient business; locking down their first-party data strategy, and putting operational rigor behind their revenue diversification efforts. This report provides the insights and guidance to help you do the same.

Ready to learn more? 

The post H1 2023: Data Insights to Set Yourself Up for Success  appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Collaborative effort aims to optimize ad ops yield at scale

June 6, 2023 – Boulder, CO – Sovrn, a publisher technology platform that helps content creators remain independent and thrive on the open web, today announced the launch of a new steering committee to collaboratively tackle the challenges publishers face in efficiently optimizing programmatic ad operations and yield at scale.

Composed of leading publishers such as Ziff Davis, LoveToKnow Media, and Publishers Clearing House, among others, the committee’s mission is to provide a roadmap and guidance to prioritize development of new tools, processes and technologies that deliver the products they need from their ad tech partners to maximize ad operations efficiency. 

“I am excited to be part of Sovrn’s steering committee,” said Mark Obermoller, Senior Director of Programmatic Strategy for Ziff Davis. “Not only can Ziff Davis help influence the development of key products that better align with our strategic objectives, but we can also help positively impact the broader industry.”

The digital media advertising industry is at a significant crossroads. With rapid technology advancements, shifts in consumer behavior and tighter data privacy regulations, the landscape publishers and advertisers must navigate is transforming at an unprecedented pace. To remain nimble and ensure profitability for the long haul, publishers need simple yet robust tools that drive the greatest value from their content and audience engagement. 

Over the next 12 months, the steering committee will focus on unlocking seemingly intractable issues such as addressability, first-party data deployment, marketplace development, yield management and robust data insights. The group will work with the Sovrn Ad Management team to explore and extract the functionality delivered with the Ad Management platform, including its efficient management of programmatic ad operations and yield across hundreds of websites, in order to innovate new solutions for publishers who require control over their owned and operated media properties.

“At Sovrn, we believe that the challenges confronting publishers can be better addressed through collaboration and shared insights,” said Peter Cunha, Managing Director of Sovrn Ad Management. “Our intention with this steering committee is to create a platform for shaping the future of our ad operations software, and more importantly, to engage our customers and partners in ways that foster an environment of collaboration that benefits the industry as a whole.”

About Sovrn

Sovrn provides products and services to thousands of online publishers to help them understand, operate and grow their business. Sovrn is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in New York, San Diego, and London.

With thousands of customers deploying advertising, affiliate marketing, and data products across more than 80,000 websites, Sovrn reaches 500 million active consumers across more than 40 billion pageviews every day. Sovrn has been a leader in online publisher technology since its founding, and has been recognized by IAB, JICWEBS and TAG for its role in combating fraud and promoting pro-transparency initiatives. Sovrn is dedicated to helping content creators do more of what they love, and less of what they don’t. www.sovrn.com  

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Online advertising faced a challenging year in 2022, and 2023 is shaping up to be just as difficult. Ad budgets have been slashed across the board, leading to a significant drop-off in year-over-year CPMs in 2022. Forecasts indicate that ad spend is expected to fall even further in the year ahead. 

Faced with these challenging conditions, publishers need a new approach to optimizing their ad programs. In 2023, one of the keys to success for publishers is to think like an ad buyer. They’re under tremendous pressure to meet their KPIs, do more with less, AND deliver the best possible ROI, so every ad dollar has to work harder. They are looking for publishers that deliver content that captures attention, and those that do should be rewarded with a larger share of ad spend. The key to this is enabling publishers a way to ensure buyers can target based on attention.

Simply put, advertisers need consumers to engage with their ads — which means they must be confident their ads will actually be seen.

The importance of attention deals

Advertisers know that an engaged audience is more valuable than one not paying attention. Engaged users are more likely to view an ad, click on it, and eventually make a purchase. Buyers are willing to pay higher rates to reach these audience segments, because they represent a more efficient use of ad spend. 

That’s why smart ad buyers have begun to seek out attention deals — high quality, highly-engaged ad inventory that’s been segmented and packaged in unique Deal IDs. These attention deals are available through a DSP’s deal library, and some buyers even work with their partners to create custom attention deals targeting specific audience segments. 

As a publisher, you’re in a great position to help advertisers capitalize on audience attention — and earn more ad revenue in the process. It starts with creating high quality content that resonates with your readers and keeps them coming back for more. But you also need a tool that can help you quantify user engagement, package up high value audience segments, and broadcast them through attention deals. 

Capture audience attention with Sovrn Signal

Every time a user visits your site, they emit “signals of intent” — things like clicks, swipes, scrolls, and mouse movements. Every interaction tells you something about where the reader’s attention is focused and their level of engagement. 

This idea is the foundation of Sovrn’s engaged time attention metric, which combines viewability with more than 50 distinct on-page reader actions. As a result, engaged time goes beyond basic viewability to help you truly understand the attention visitors are paying to your content. It measures not only when an ad is in view, but also when a person is actively engaged with the content. This falls under “proxies derived from engagement,” one of the IAB’s main methods of measuring attention. 

This ability to analyze attention and forecast performance is the foundation of our data product, Sovrn Signal. With Signal, publishers can:

• Understand the metrics buyers use to value ad inventory
• Benchmark your ad performance against the market and other sites like yours
• Identify, segment, and broadcast your most engaged audience segments
• Deliver higher value inventory to buyers through attention deals

Across the entire programmatic ad stack, Signal leverages attention metrics to pinpoint the most engaged — and most valuable — ad inventory. That same data tells buyers which ad units are most valuable and which factors contribute to higher ad engagement.

At Sovrn, we believe attention is a common ground where advertisers and publishers alike can solve some of their top challenges — from declining ad revenue and budget cuts to addressability and cookie deprecation. And while the “attention economy” has been a focal point of countless articles, webinars, and industry events over the past year, including Cannes Lion 2022, advertisers and publishers are still struggling with a way to quantify and scale attention deals. To help solve this dilemma, Sovrn is an active part of the IAB’s working group to define attention and is partnering with an attention measurement organization, Adelaide, in a groundbreaking initiative to bring buyers and sellers together in a curated high-attention marketplace.

Quantifying the value of engagement

Our interest in attention goes far beyond the theoretical. Signal offers a simple, scalable way to measure user attention, package high-value ad inventory, and broadcast engagement signals to ad buyers. To deliver these audiences to buyers, we have established 20+ high attention Deal IDs on the Sovrn Exchange.

In order to qualify for these attention deals, inventory must meet stringent quality thresholds, including staying in view of engaged users for at least five seconds. Buyers are willing to pay more for these deals because of their high-engagement impressions — and our data shows they deliver a significant uptick in performance as well.

Get started today!

Change is coming to the ad ecosystem, which means both buyers and publishers will need to adjust. But change often brings opportunity for those who are prepared to embrace it. If publishers have the right tools to capture attention metrics and broadcast engagement signals to advertisers, everyone stands to gain.

Sovrn Signal harnesses the power of attention, delivering more value to ad buyers and increased opportunities for publishers to optimize revenue from highly engaged audience segments. To see Signal in action, just email us at sales@sovrn.com to request a demo. 

If you’re an ad buyer looking for new ways to identify and purchase high attention inventory, we can help. 

The post Attention: The New Currency of Value for Ad Deals appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Results show a greater than 60% increase in bid win rate when Ad Management and Ad Exchange used together 

March 27, 2022 – Boulder, CO – Sovrn, a publisher technology platform that helps content creators remain independent and thrive on the open web, today announced that all customers using its Ad Management and Exchange products bundled together will have the advantage of the industry’s first zero take rate. Beginning on April 3, publishers using Ad Management and Exchange products bundled together will simply pay a usage-based fee.

According to a recent study by ISBA, only 65 percent of advertiser dollars make it back to the end publisher. Sovrn has created a direct path between a publisher and the more than 55 demand-side partners on the Sovrn Exchange. This immediately increases the revenue for its Ad Management customers. A direct zero take-rate path between publisher and demand ensures a more competitive auction by requiring other bidders, including Google’s AdX, to increase their prices in order to remain competitive.

“Most SSPs charge a 10 to 20 percent revenue share for connecting publishers like Salon to DSPs,” said Justin Wohl, Salon’s Chief Revenue Officer. “In bundling its Ad Management service with its Exchange, Sovrn is directly increasing revenue for publishers, improving profitability that can be pumped back into operating and growing our digital media businesses.”

Starting in December 2022, Sovrn tested the savings and revenue impact of a bundled Ad Management and Ad Exchange solution with 20 publishers. The test revealed that marketers allocated more spend to the publisher via the more efficient direct-to-publisher Sovrn Exchange path. 

Sovrn’s Ad Management product includes complete ad operations software plus a highly skilled, dedicated team of programmatic advertising specialists to help publishers do more with less. The software runs a unified page-level auction, offering individual auctions for each ad placement on the page. This improves advertising yield by utilizing bid responses more efficiently, thus requiring fewer bid responses and a more direct path. 

Sovrn’s Ad Exchange delivers advertising revenue to publishers using private marketplaces and enhanced CPMs through the open market. Connections to the biggest and best advertising demand gives publishers access to a wide variety of buyers, from The Trade Desk to niche ad agencies.

“We are working to eliminate the ‘adtech tax’ so that more of the marketer’s dollar finds its way into the publisher’s pocket.”  said Walter Knapp, Sovrn CEO. 

About Sovrn

Sovrn provides products and services to thousands of online publishers to help them understand, operate and grow their business. Sovrn is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in New York, San Diego, London and Lugano, Italy.

With thousands of customers deploying advertising, affiliate marketing, and data products across more than 80,000 websites, Sovrn reaches 500 million active consumers across more than 40 billion page views every day. Sovrn has been a leader in online publisher technology since its founding and has been recognized by IAB, JICWEBS, and TAG for its role in combating fraud and promoting pro-transparency initiatives. Sovrn is dedicated to helping content creators do more of what they love, and less of what they don’t. www.sovrn.com  

The post Sovrn Eliminates Take Rate with Bundled Offering appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

CEO Walter Knapp honored for career achievement

At Sovrn, we believe honesty, safety, and transparency are the pillars of a healthy advertising ecosystem. We’re dedicated to providing one of the cleanest ad exchanges in the industry — and promoting fair market principles that benefit brands and publishers alike. That’s why we’re proud to be seen as leaders in today’s most important anti-fraud, pro-transparency initiatives. 

For the eighth consecutive year, the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) has awarded Sovrn the “Certified Against Fraud” seal — a designation that requires adherence to strict anti-fraud guidelines and a demonstrated commitment to reducing fraudulent traffic in the digital advertising supply chain. Sovrn is currently one of just 23 TAG Platinum Member companies, recognized for their comprehensive approach to ad safety and multi-discipline TAG certification across three key areas: fraud, malware, and brand safety. 

In addition, this year TAG recognized Sovrn CEO Walter Knapp as one of just two  inaugural TAG Career Champions for his long history of giving his time, energy, thought leadership, and action to support trust and transparency across the industry. Under Knapp’s stewardship, Sovrn was one of the first companies to earn both the TAG Certified Against Fraud seal and TAG Platinum Status. 

These achievements reinforce our firm belief that the programmatic industry can only survive if we work together to ensure trust, safety, and transparency. We are honored by the individual and collective recognition, and we will continue to uphold the high standards to push the ad ecosystem forward.  

Get Started with Sovrn Today

If you’re not already working with Sovrn Ad Exchange, sign up now. Or, reach out to sales@sovrn.com and our team will be happy to provide more information and help you get started.

The post Eight Years and Counting: Sovrn Recertified by TAG appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Sovrn is dedicated to helping publishers turn their high-quality content into reliable revenue. Now, with Ad Exchange’s enhanced reporting features, you can drive more earnings from your unique ad inventory by tapping deeper insights into your ad program performance. 

Three new reports are now available to deliver a deep, granular view of key advertising metrics. Just click on “Analytics” in your Ad Exchange dashboard and select “Advertising Reports” to see:

Get ad performance reports on your timeline

Our new scheduled reporting feature delivers all of these insights to your inbox, when you need them. Just select the report(s) you want to receive, choose your preferred frequency (daily, weekly, or monthly), and enter an email address for each recipient. You can even send performance reports to people who aren’t Sovrn platform users, to share key insights across your organization. And it’s easy to edit or pause your scheduled reports at any time.

Ready to get started?

Our new reporting capabilities are just one example of how Sovrn can help you optimize your advertising strategy and drive more revenue. Log in to the Ad Exchange platform to run your own custom performance reports and get immediate insights to take your ad program to the next level. And, we are always interested in your feedback! Please reach out to support@sovrn.com with any suggestions about additional data we can provide in our reports.

Not yet earning on the Sovrn Ad Exchange? Just email sales@sovrn.com. Our team will be happy to provide a free demo and help you get started!

The post Better Insights, Smarter Decisions with New Ad Exchange Reports appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

2023 promises to be a challenging year in the programmatic space, as the cookieless rubber finally meets the road. What options do publishers have to meet ad buyers’ requirements for addressability at scale, and how do we ensure that stakeholders across the ecosystem are working together toward the right solution?

Recently, our own Peter Cunha, Managing Director of Sovrn Ad Management, dug into these timely topics at ID5’s Identity 2023 conference. He partnered with Justin Wohl, Chief Revenue Officer at Salon.com, to host a session titled, “How Publishers Can Fill the Identity Gap.”

Key insights from their conversation include:

• In general, advertisers are working with smaller budgets this year — and they require new data tools to activate those budgets effectively.
• Scalability is an ongoing challenge with many possible solutions, but universal IDs appear to offer significant potential value.
• Publishers have an opportunity to take control by creating data-driven audience segments based on first party-data, observed reader behavior, and more.
• Adoption of universal IDs is growing, and the market is consolidating behind a few primary vendors.
• While there is no “silver bullet” solution to the addressability problem, publishers should stay agile and be willing to experiment as the situation evolves.

Addressability benefits of Signal + ID5

In late 2022, Sovrn and ID5 tested the efficacy of combining Sovrn Signal and the ID5 universal ID to deliver privacy-safe solutions for enriching and segmenting first-party data. In the study, permissioned first-party data from the Sovrn Data Collective was linked to an ID5 ID on each applicable user visit, then passed to buyers for evaluable. Results showed that using Signal plus the ID5 ID allowed publishers to realize nearly 2x lift in CPMs.

Watch the full session from ID5 Identity 2023 for more data and insights on filling the identity gap. Then download the case study to learn more about the power of Signal plus ID5 universal IDs.

The post ICYMI: Filling the Identity Gap (ID5 Identity 2023) appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

Digital advertising has evolved dramatically since the internet’s early days. And while people are now conditioned to ignore traditional formats like banner ads, video has an undeniable ability to capture audience attention — and help you drive more ad revenue. 

If you’re not yet capitalizing on the video advertising trend, you’re missing out on a tremendous opportunity to diversify your monetization strategy. Here are a few reasons why:

• People love video. Thanks in large part to social platforms like TikTok, the demand for content has shifted from text and images to video — and online video consumption is growing fast.
• Advertisers love video too! In May 2022, IAB predicted that spending on video ads would exceed $49 billion in 2022 — a year-over-year increase of 26%. 
• Video ads offer higher CPMs. Brands are willing to pay a premium to reach an engaged audience, which is why video ads tend to command a higher rate than other ad types. 

Understanding video ad formats

If you’re considering video advertising as a revenue stream, one of the first decisions you’ll have to make is the type of ad you want to use. In general, video ad units are divided into two categories:

1. Instream ads

Appear within existing video content. Instream ads typically run 10-60 seconds and may be placed at various points within the main video content:

• Pre-roll instream ads appear as soon as a video starts playing. 
• Mid-roll instream ads appear at some point during the video, as determined by the publisher.
• Post-roll instream ads appear after the end of the video.

2. Outstream ads

Standalone videos that are embedded in non-video content, like a blog post or article. These ads appear on top of the content — in other words, “outside the stream” of content on the page. This is commonly seen as a sticky overlay in the footer. There are many different types of outstream ads. Some start playing automatically when the player comes into view and pause when the user scrolls away. Others follow the user as they scroll down the page, and then switch to a larger video player size.

Last fall, the IAB released new ad format guidelines for high-quality video needs for cross-screen video advertising in mobile, desktop, and connected TV. The guidelines can help publishers communicate requirements and specifications for their video ads.

Pros and cons of instream ads

Instream ads are an attractive choice for many reasons. One major advantage is that they offer higher CPMs than outstream ads. Advertisers know that instream ads will only appear within existing video content, where users expect to see ads — so they’re likely to stick around and watch the entire ad. 

That said, instream ads also come with a few downsides. They can only be used with existing video content — and many publishers lack the resources to create a rich video library. You’ll also need to choose a video player to host on-page video content, which can be a daunting decision. (We’ll dig into options for video players in a future blog post.) Additionally, instream ads can be intrusive to the user experience — depending on how they’re used:

• Pre-roll ads have the greatest reach because they appear immediately when a user tries to watch a video. Because they appear right away, before the user is fully engaged with the video content, the user experience is relatively positive.
• Mid-roll ads tend to have a high completion rate because a user is unlikely to leave when they’re already engaged with a video. However, mid-roll ads are highly disruptive and may harm the user experience.
• Post-roll ads offer the best instream user experience because they don’t interrupt the video content. However, they’re also the least lucrative because few users will stick around to watch them.

Pros and cons of outstream ads

Outstream ads hold a few advantages over their instream counterparts. Most importantly, because they can run anywhere, any publisher can use outstream ads — even if they don’t have video content on their website. Outstream ads also tend to be more visible because they’re located directly on the page, rather than being embedded within another video. 

However, outstream ads also have some flaws. They require large video files, which can slow down your site and increase load times. They can be less memorable than instream ads, because outstream ads are required to play with the sound muted by default. And as we already noted, advertisers tend to pay lower rates for outstream ads. 

5 tips for effective video advertising

As a publisher, earning revenue is all about delivering a great user experience — and keeping your audience coming back for more. Video ads can enhance the on-site experience if they’re done properly, but it’s a delicate balance. Here are a few tips to help you get it right:

Get started with Sovrn today!

While video ads present a valuable opportunity for publishers, they’re also more complex than traditional online advertising. That’s why you need a partner with the tools and expertise to help you modernize your ad program and maximize ad revenue. Fortunately, the Sovrn Ad Exchange supports both instream and outstream ad formats, across a wide range of ad networks and video players. 

Already partnering with Sovrn for advertising? Contact support@sovrn.com for help adding video ads.

Not yet working with Sovrn? Contact sales@sovrn.com to learn more about our video ad capabilities. 

The post Thinking About Monetizing with Video Ads? Get Started Here! appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

This article originally ran on Digiday.com

It seems like only yesterday that publishers were scrambling to understand the ramifications of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and U.K. and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). A new set of state-specific privacy regulations is scheduled to take effect in 2023. 

Starting in 2023, five U.S. states (California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah) will require companies to offer an opt-out on the collection and sale of personal data, as well as targeted advertising. California’s new regulation amends and expands on the requirements of CCPA, while the other four represent an entirely new set of obligations.

The post Publishers: Are you ready for 2023’s new privacy laws? appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

While the future of media buying and the broader ad ecosystem in 2023 may be murky, one aspect is clear: online advertising is broken. Why? The incentive system that largely excludes time and attention causes perverse behaviors. There are too many ads, many of which go unseen. And even if they are seen, most are only partially visible for a fleeting moment, not nearly enough time for a consumer to recall an advertisement with any meaningful clarity.

Moreover, the market is cluttered with intermediaries that simply trade traffic between each other, exploiting inefficiencies in the system. Every so often the inefficiencies generate a fee rather than adding value for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. The more volume, the more inefficiencies, and thus the more opportunities to grab a fee. 

The result? Less than 50% of advertising dollars ever reaching the publisher.

In its latest report, digital marketing consultancy Jounce Media stated that “the average RTB enabled publisher monetizes through 27.8 directly integrated sell side technology companies and authorizes 16.2 of these partners to initiate resold auctions. Rebroadcasting supply chains account for 45% of display auctions and 37% of video auctions.” In addition, Jounce estimated that in the past three years, the volume of bid requests for the top 10,000 websites, mobile apps, and CTV apps that collectively represent 94% of all real-time bidding requests has more than tripled in just two years — from 205 supply paths in 2020 to 622 as of late 2022.

An unnecessarily complex system that relies on trading and reselling ad space to generate fees, rather than one of transparency and directness, drains revenue from publisher pockets, decreases advertisers’ return on spend — and most of all — makes the consumer experience miserable. 

All of this contributes to the outsized carbon footprint of digital advertising. Identifying and measuring inefficiencies in the advertising supply chain, as advocated by companies such as Scope3, Cavai and others, and making that data visible to ad buyers so they can make “carbon conscious choices” in how they spend their ad dollars, is a solid step forward to reducing carbon emissions. 

Here are a few of the ways that Sovrn is working to create a more efficient, better quality, and more sustainable ad ecosystem.

Reducing ad waste by delivering on attention

Multiple studies have shown that the longer the viewable time of an ad, the greater its effectiveness, whether in driving conversions or brand recall, although this impact is only observed once the ad has been in view for at least two seconds. Frequency is important too: seeing the same ad twice for 15 seconds is worth more than seeing the same ad once for considerably longer. 

To help capture the information publishers and buyers need to identify and target engaged audience segments, Sovrn has devised a new measure of attention called “engaged time.” Engaged time measures not only when an ad is in view, but also when a person is actively engaged with the content. This ability to analyze ad performance and turn attention into increased revenue is the foundation of Sovrn Signal. 

It makes sense, then, that the most valuable audience segments are those paying the most attention. And publishers who can deliver clear attention signals to buyers can command higher rates for high-value inventory. Instant scarcity is created; as much as 40% of all digital advertising wouldn’t make the cut. From there, the price paid scales up alongside the ad performance until it hits a diminishing return.

Solving for quality

Sovrn strives to provide buyers and sellers with a safe, transparent, and fair marketplace and consistently ranks as one of the top exchanges when compared to our peers. This is based on how few security violations are served by Sovrn ad tags. To do so, our team of supply quality experts ensures each publisher transacting on the Sovrn Ad Exchange meets a set of site, ad inventory, and traffic guidelines. This reduces supply that exists solely to exploit algorithmic buying on the open exchange, and increases the probability that our publishers’ ad experiences deliver on marketer outcomes.

Filtering low- to no-demand ad requests at the front door

Before conducting an ad auction, we filter out ad units with a low likelihood of generating viewability and attention before sending them to Demand Side Platforms (DSP) partners. If we determine an ad request is unlikely to receive bids from a DSP, we discontinue processing and no auction is held. This eliminates approximately 20% from our Ad Exchange’s 80 billion daily requests, reducing the energy needed to serve up that traffic.

Reducing our infrastructure footprint

Starting this quarter, we are migrating our traffic to the Amazon Web Server cloud to dramatically cut down the infrastructure required to operate the Sovrn Ad Exchange. According to Amazon, companies using AWS rather than their own on-premises infrastructure typically reduce carbon emissions by nearly 80% by tapping into a cleaner mix of solar and wind power. By the end of 2023, 100% of Sovrn Ad Exchange traffic will be hosted in the cloud on AWS.

Optimizing our traffic shaping by DSP

In 2023, we are strengthening our traffic shaping capabilities to better predict which DSPs will participate in an auction to ensure we are issuing bid requests to probable auction participants. In other words, rather than sending bid requests to every DSP for every auction, we use historical bid data per DSP to predict whether or not they will submit a bid. This way, if we don’t expect a bid, we don’t waste energy by asking them to participate in our auction.

Our commitment to sustainability

These are just a few of the actions Sovrn is undertaking today to help improve the digital advertising ecosystem. Our goal is to add value to the advertising supply chain by routing requests to the right buyers, eliminating unnecessary ad calls, providing great products like Signal to help buyers find valuable audiences that are paying attention, and deliver quality content supply to make the internet an awesome marketplace of ideas, content, and commerce.

As we continue to innovate and deliver on our sustainability goals, we will share our progress to highlight what we are doing, how we are measuring it, and how we are holding ourselves accountable. 

Get Started with Sovrn Today

If you’re not already working with Sovrn’s Ad Exchange, or if you need to add Signal to your current ad ops tech stack, just email us at sales@sovrn.com. Our team will be happy to provide more information and help you get started.

The post Cleaning Up Ad Tech: Solving for Quality and Eliminating Waste appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

When brands and ad buyers create digital ad campaigns, they typically target audiences by selecting from a list of IAB-defined categories. Depending on the content of the ad, an auto parts retailer might choose a category like Auto Parts, Auto Repair, Electric Vehicle, Performance Vehicle, and the like. Category information is then attached to the bid request and used to match the ad to the most relevant inventory.

While the list of IAB categories is extensive, there are still plenty of gaps and overlap. They may be useful for approximating an audience segment, but they aren’t granular enough to guarantee an engaged audience. However, a new protocol called seller-defined audiences (SDAs) is emerging in the ad ecosystem that has the potential to give publishers more control in targeting by balancing targeting options between both buyer and seller.

Understanding SDAs

As a publisher, you know your site visitors better than anyone else. You have first-hand insight into their interests and demographics, the content they consume, and how much time they spend on your site. SDAs provide a way for publishers to package these first-party data insights into relevant audience segments and broadcast them to demand partners. On the buyer side, SDAs make it easier to target audiences based on demographics, interests, and purchase intent without the use of third-party cookies.

For example, a health and fitness publisher might know they have an audience of 15,000 parents who enjoy running with their kids. SDAs would let that publisher offer this audience segment to brands that want to target this unique group — like retailers who sell running shoes, jogging strollers, and more.

The Sovrn Ad Exchange was the first SSP to support SDAs for programmatic ads through Prebid. And while the approach is still gaining traction, ad giant Google recently announced that SDAs would be supported in Google Ad Manager.

Engagement takes SDAs to the next level

While alignment with the buyer’s target criteria is important, the most valuable audience segments are those who are also paying attention. To help capture these attention signals, Sovrn has devised a better measure of attention — called “engaged time” — which analyzes more than 50 distinct on-page actions like clicks, swipes, scrolls, mouse movements, and more. Sovrn measures not only when an ad is in view, but also when a person is actively engaged with the content. This ability to analyze and act on user engagement is the foundation of our data product, Sovrn Signal. 

Layering engagement data from Signal onto the demographic and interest data via SDAs lets you deliver more targeted (and more valuable) inventory to ad buyers. It’s a win-win: buyers can confidently direct their ad budget to target the right audience, and you’ll drive more revenue from engaged site visitors.

Now is a great time to test SDAs

As with any new technology, there are limitations facing SDAs today; currently, there isn’t a way to regulate SDAs or for advertisers to validate the data they receive from sellers. Without enough historical evidence to support using SDAs over the long term, the ad ecosystem requires more publishers and advertisers to start testing SDAs to establish a track record.

These gaps are making many advertisers hesitant to adopt SDAs while third-party cookies are still available. As Sovrn’s John Rosendahl said in a recent AdWeek article, “A small subset of publishers will put whatever information in their bid requests makes them the most valuable. Third-party cookies used to verify that, but right now it’s an open question.”

The best way to counter buyer uncertainty is to run experiments in browsers that have already eliminated cookies (like Safari and Firefox). Using either your own SDAs or any number of UIDs (universal IDs), you can add your audience data to the bidstream, where buyers can use it to bid on your ad inventory. You can then compare the performance of cookie-free ad placements to those in a standard cookie-based auction, and fine-tune your SDA data to improve results over time. Because these tests mimic a future where cookies no longer exist, they provide a reliable forecast of ad performance in a cookieless environment.

As buyers experience positive results with SDA-targeted ad placements, they’ll become more receptive to embracing this protocol as a viable replacement for third-party cookies. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you don’t need to dive head-first into the SDA pool — start by dipping a toe in the water, monitor results, and see what works.

Get started with Sovrn today

If you’re not already working with Sovrn’s Ad Exchange, or if you need to add Signal to your current ad ops tech stack, just email us at sales@sovrn.com. Our team will be happy to provide more information and help you get started.

The post Get More Control with Seller Defined Audiences appeared first on Sovrn, Inc..

This blog was originally published on Digital Context Next InContext.

Speculation about the future of digital advertising abounds, now that the end of third-party cookies is almost certain — whether that’s in 2024 or years down the road. Most predictions focus on the negative: how an inability to target ads will lead to a less personalized experience, more paywalls, diminishing ad value, and loss of revenue. In fact, the IAB’s most recent State of Data report suggests that advertisers could lose up to $10 billion in annual revenue.

However, there’s another side to the story. For publishers who recognize the opportunity, the coming loss of third-party cookies may provide a way to take control of ad rates and even increase ad revenue by capitalizing on one of their most valuable assets: audience attention.

Attention creates an opportunity in a cookieless future

In the current ad marketplace, ad buyers hold all the cards when it comes to ad pricing. But with the loss of third-party cookie IDs, advertisers will be forced to rethink how they execute ad targeting, optimization, and measurement. Without a universal way to identify and authenticate users across the web, ad buyers will become more reliant on publishers for audience data that ties back to useful performance metrics.

This represents a pivotal change in how advertising is bought and sold. Rather than simply selling ad space to the highest bidder, publishers will be uniquely positioned to identify highly desirable audience segments, broadcast audience data to ad buyers, and set appropriate prices on valuable ad properties. For those who can get out ahead of the coming changes, there is a real opportunity to shift the balance of power in the ad marketplace back to publishers.

Attention puts publishers in control

Smart publishers have long understood the importance of audience engagement. Engaged readers are more likely to become repeat visitors — and over time, repeat visitors who trust your content are more likely to generate revenue by clicking an ad or making a purchase through an affiliate link. 

Ad buyers are beginning to embrace this connection, and there’s an increased willingness to pay premium rates for ads that reach relevant, engaged visitors. Advertisers even appear ready to move on from viewability — which fails to consider whether a reader interacts with or even notices an ad — as the standard metric for ad performance.

This trend toward attention was evident at the recent Cannes LIONS event where the “attention economy” was a key theme. Speakers there noted that buyers are looking for new, attention-focused metrics and technology to scale their campaigns, and advertisers show a clear preference for publishers who can demonstrate high levels of reader engagement through clear attention signals.

Capturing the signals of audience attention

To capitalize on this opportunity, publishers need a reliable way to capture, measure, and broadcast engagement data to ad buyers. But the fact is, there’s currently no universal definition for audience attention — much less a widely accepted methodology for measuring it.

As the IAB’s Elizabeth Lane stated in our recent ebook, Capturing the Signals: How Reader Attention Can Drive More Revenue, “Advertisers are excited about using attention to measure [ad] effectiveness, but they’re confused about all the different definitions being used in the market. The risk is that this confusion will lead to them not using attention as a metric and not taking advantage of the insights it can offer.”

The need for a scalable measure of attention is clear. Yet today’s ad marketplace isn’t set up to reward user attention. As a result, publishers often miss out on potential ad revenue because they struggle to identify, target, and broadcast valuable audience segments to ad buyers.

The power of engaged time

Engaged time combines viewability with 45 distinct on-page reader interactions — including clicks, scrolls, mouse movements, and more — to help publishers truly understand when visitors are paying attention to their content.

To analyze the correlation between engaged time and the current attention metric, viewability, Sovrn partnered with demand-side platform Avocet and attention technology company Lumen. Using Lumen’s eye tracking data and predictive modeling, the study identified that engaged time is a truer measure of a reader’s attention, capturing more than double the attention and three times greater CTR than viewability alone

Pay attention to attention

Change is coming, and players on both sides of the ad ecosystem will need to adjust. But change often brings opportunity for those who are prepared to embrace it. And just as the loss of one sense can heighten those that remain, the absence of third-party data may clear the way for new and innovative ways of evaluating audience segments, measuring ad performance, and driving ad revenue. Luckily, with the right tools and mindset, publishers have the power to use attention to identify and target their most desirable audience segments, and broadcast that value to buyers.

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