Is Online Ad Market Gaining Maturity?

Despite the persisting hype and hiccups in the online ad business, advertisers as well as publishers are moving along a steep learning curve that is supposed to bring stability in the market.

While this online commotion is happening, Admeta – which provides a technology-driven ad platform – promises to be a harbinger of hope for the publishers who want to maximize their earnings.

At the same time, it acts as an effective interface between advertisers and publishers.

To discuss the critical issues in the online ad market, RMN Digital invited Ola Tiverman, CEO, Admeta for an exclusive interview with RMN Digital managing editor, Rakesh Raman.

Here’s what he says:

1. How would you rate the online ad marketplace – encouraging, depressing, or fledgling?

From what we experience, it is very encouraging. There is an interesting phase of maturing in many ways on both the publisher and advertiser sides. There is no “one size fits all” model as different alternatives are mixed in different ways to best suit each large publisher.

2. In a market still marred by click frauds, unreliable analytics, disturbing online ads that even obstruct content reading, what needs to be done to bring some order to the chaos?

Fraud detection and data quality algorithms need to improve. Additionally, more awareness needs to be raised to dispel incorrect or outright fraudulent data. I think all ad tech companies are working on this continuously. When it comes to disturbing or obstructing ads, the publisher needs to work with the lay-out and they need to have good quality control of ads being allowed.

3. What should be the right and empirically measurable method for advertisers to know the return on investment made on online ads?

There is not one single answer to that question as it depends on a number of components. The general approach with our system is to encourage advertisers to price their campaigns according to how they value different effects like views, clicks and different measured actions. In our experience, the possibility to use hybrid combinations of bids ensures a higher ROI.

4. When technology-driven ad exchanges interface between advertisers and publishers, don’t you think the role of most ad agencies is over so far as media buying is concerned?

To some extent, yes. The ad agencies need to adjust their business offering to ensure they add value to their advertisers. I think that larger agencies will make their own DSP (Demand-Side Platform) system.

5. What should be the escape route for smaller publishers to avoid the arm-twisting tactics of big online ad exchanges that don’t pay even a fraction of money earned from advertisers to publishers?

I think they can follow route with the large publishers, because I think there will be an overall opposite trend where all middlemen between advertiser and publisher will have to be transparent and thus allow a larger portion of the ad spend through to the publisher.

This will ensure using the right middleman that adds substantially more value than what they charge. For example, sometimes you have an ad agency, then a DSP, then an ad exchange, then an SSP (Sell-Side Platform), then an ad server – and every layer will charge a substantial fee.

6. What’s Admeta’s offer to publishers so that they could maximize their earnings?

Admeta offers a branded technology platform for large publishers to run a direct sales private ad exchange. This allows publishers to extend their premium sales with performance premium while keeping full control of brand, data and pricing.

We have the best performing real-time optimization (without losing a single optimization benchmark) and the best tools to enable brand safety and premium value. Our publishers benefit from our software and from our expertise. In short, we help our publishers to substantially increase their profit every step of the way.

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 Ola Tiverman (pictured above) is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Admeta.

This interview is published under the RMN Digital’s “Thought Leaders” series in which top tech market leaders of the world express their views on different burning issues and market trends.