1. Balancing Act: Maximizing Value From Multiple SSPs AdMonsters Publisher Forum: Newport Beach Emry DowningHall General Manager

2. Multiple SSP strategies power our revenue We operate four student-focused websites reaching over 90% of the students in the US Serve +8B impressions per year 100% non-guaranteed inventory Average pageviews per user session 10.5 If you created a bibliography over the past 10 years online, chances are it was with us!

3. Why work with multiple SSPs? Maximize the value of your unsold inventory by increasing competition Diversify your partner revenue streams Take advantage of unique ad serving opportunities and technology Pricing fragmentation Header-Bidding PMPs Unique ad products and sizes

4. Why not work with multiple SSPs?  Complicates and increases workload  Revenue upside < UX and ad quality concerns  Payment issues  Increased latency  Conflict with internal sales team  Duplicate demand

5. When evaluating potential ad partners Key Drivers Talk to your fellow publishers! Create and enforce a category/brand block list Determine how this partner will add additional value Mutually define what a successful partnership looks like Monitor data closely after a launch

6. When evaluating potential ad partners Key questions How is reporting handled? How are price floors/defaults adjusted? What are your payment terms? Seek credit references. Will 1-on-1 client support be available? How are ad-quality concerns handled?

7. DO YOU OFFER UNIQUE DEMAND?

8. Responding to automated pitches

9. Key metrics for performance MeasurementWhat does it measure?Formula Real CPMCPM based on total impressions, not paid Revenue / (total impressions / 1,000) Revenue per 1,000 pageviews Revenue earned for every 1,000 pageviews Revenue / (total pageviews / 1,000) Revenue per 1,000 sessions Revenue earned for every 1,000 sessions Revenue / (total sessions / 1,000) Pageviews per sessionAverage pageviews seen per user session Pageviews / Sessions Impressions per pageviewAverage impressions seen per pageview shown Impressions total / Pageviews Ad type SOVPercentage of total revenue per ad type Ex. Header, AdX, Rich-Media Ad type rev total / Total rev

10. Header-Bidding: no longer just a buzz word Header-Technology is an essential part of maximizing non- guaranteed revenue Important considerations: Weighing initial latency vs. passback latency Single or multiple partners? Container tag vs. on-page implementation

11. Header-Bidding: metrics to monitor MeasurementWhat does it measureFormula DFP impression total vs. partner impression total Impression discrepancyPartner imp / DFP imp DFP revenue vs. partner revenue Revenue discrepancyPartner rev / DFP rev Impression weight% of total impressions HB partner accounts for Partner imp total / total header impressions Revenue weight% of total revenue HB partner accounts for Partner rev total / Total header rev Header-Bidding revenue vs. total revenue % of total revenue header- bidding accounts for HB rev total / Site rev total Pageview vs. Impression growth Difference between pageview and impression growth abs(Imp growth % - Pageview growth %)

12. Managing Defaults OptionTypeDescription 1Header-BiddingGuaranteed bids eliminate the need for passbacks 2100% fill partner100% of impressions are sent to the same partner 3‘Daisy Chain’Defaulted impressions pass directly to another ad partner 4Passback to ad-serverDefaulted impressions passed back to ad-server

13. Managing Defaults OptionTypeDescription 5House AdsPromote in-house subscriptions, contests, etc. instead of passing to ad partner 6Collapse DivNo ad shown. Great for partners who don’t want to show ads below a certain price floor ?Re-call highest header bid on default Store and re-call the highest value header bid vs. defaulting externally

14. Monitoring discrepancy AD Server SSP Partner 1 1,000,000 impressions served 750,000 impressions received 250,000 impressions lost SSP Partner 1 SSP Partner 2 Ad server to partner SSP 500,000 impressions defaulted 400,000 impressions received 100,000 impressions lost Default scenario Type 1: Ad server to SSP Type 2: SSP to SSP

15. Performance Optimization: level 1 Separate ad unit performance data by position/size Segment inventory by device and GEO Avoid defaulting impressions and low fill rates Assume as little as possible…. TEST! Document and reuse common items for on-boarding Boomerang your emails

16. Performance optimization: level 2 Adjust line item values to reflect ‘real’ CPM (rCPM) Push for scheduled calls with large partners Monitor partner and ad server data for discrepancies Attempt to negotiate better payment terms and revenue shares Ad positions don’t need to be static (300x250 or 300x600) Share win rate and bid rate data anonymously with partners

17. Performance optimization: level 3 Institute A/B testing wherever possible Header-Bidding: Blend standard javascript tags with header-tags Good: Multiple tiers to handle floors Best: Learn and pass dynamic floors Use KVPs to track average bids per pageview Use automated browser testing to find version specific ad serving issues

18. Thank you! emry@studybreakmedia.com