Run a Display Advertising Campaign

There are three different ways in which display ads get sold, so practically, what do you do when you want to run some display ads? Here are the approaches you can take.

1. Direct sale/ Premium Display Advertising

We said before that directly sold advertising, which people sometimes refer to as premium advertising, is typically for larger buyers with bigger budgets. And, many companies that run these kinds of campaigns work on them with their advertising agencies. These campaigns will often also be part of a multimedia buy where a complementary campaign runs on TV, in magazines, etc. The media bought for a campaign like this is typically part of a large website, with a large audience, think sites like NYTimes, CNN.com, ESPN.com, Yahoo!, and Buzzfeed.

For publishers who run these direct campaigns, there is a very specific function related to display advertising that you should know about. The Ad Ops (Advertising Operations) function.

Advertising Operations

Once a sale is done, the publisher needs to create what is called an ‘Insertion Order’ (IO). That is basically how they instruct the ad server to insert the ad in the right content at the right time. The publisher also needs to keep a schedule and manage the sold inventory, and they have to makes sure the inventory they sold is actually available. They use sophisticated models and processes for that. The department that keeps track of it all is called ‘Ad Operations’ or ‘Ad Ops’. These are basically the people that control the publisher’s ad servers.

There is an increased amount of automation in this role as well, where direct advertising is copying some of the programmatic sales process by inserting direct orders in the programmatic process.

2. Buying through an Advertising Network

Advertisers will buy from an ad network if they want to reach their audience through a variety of sites. Also, ad networks make it easier to buy in smaller quantities. Typically, when you deal with an advertising network you will be assigned an account manager, who will help you find the right way to run your ads. Some ad networks are self-serve, meaning that you don’t need to talk to a salesperson, you can just go ahead and set up your campaign online. That is the case in the Google Display Advertising network, and we will see in the next lesson how that works.

Other than Google’s Advertising Network, there are many other Ad networks. Examples are Media.net, Adcash, and the Yahoo! Advertising network.

If you want to run ads exclusively on mobile devices, you can use networks like AdMob or InMobi. And if you are interested in running video ads you can use networks like Youtube (through Adwords), Tubemogul, or Yahoo!’s brightroll.

Examples of Ad Networks

Ad networks

• Google Advertising Network (GAN)
• Media.net
• Adcash
• Yahoo! Advertising Network

Mobile Ad Networks

• AdMob
• InMobi

Video Ad Networks

• Youtube
• Tubemogul
• Brightroll (Yahoo!)

3. Buying through an Advertising Exchange

If you would like to buy ads on an advertising exchange, you will either need a partner who has what they call ‘a seat on the exchange’, or you need to be recognized as a qualified buyer so you can access the self serve environment some exchanges offer. You can think of it a bit as a wholesale environment. Most ad exchanges don’t allow individuals in. Some do, but you need a membership card of sorts. When you choose an exchange to bid in, make sure it is one with plenty of high quality inventory, so you can find the audiences you need.

Examples of Ad Exchanges are: OpenX, Doubleclick Ad Exchange, and Advertising.com. Mediahub is an example of a self serve platform.