Note that existing and new CPMatic.com users will have to email our support team (or hit the Feedback button) to get this feature switched on in their accounts. After which they will be charged a low CPM rate for adserving, charged automatically to their credit card based on volume.

CPMatic.com’s Ad Library offers the user bulk upload functionality whereby clients can upload tens or hundreds of SWFs or image files with individual clickthrough URLs in seconds into the system for adserving or CPMatic-managed campaigns. Contact us to get your account enabled for adserving.

Please note that we changed our name to XA.net and our new blog is located at http://xa.net/weblog

Please note that we changed our name to XA.net and our new blog is located at http://xa.net/weblog

CPM Advisors has been a participant in the BlueKai Certification Program, which allows marketers to easily define a standard in-market audience profile using BlueKai data while reaching audiences via their media partners, since September 2009. This new enhanced partnership helps reach desired target audiences by offering clients access to BlueKai’s in-market data on over 160 million unique shoppers online all directly within CPMa’s CPMatic (www.cpmatic.com) media buying platform.

“We’ve enjoyed working with the BlueKai team over the past year as they’ve continued to expand their data offerings, and we are pleased to now offer our clients direct access to BlueKai targeting data within our CPMatic display buying platform,” says Rob Leathern, Founder and CEO of CPM Advisors. “We believe that our cross-platform media management and optimization methodologies are uniquely positioned to maximize the value of their data for our clients’ display advertising campaigns.”

“CPMatic is a proven media buying platform, well-utilized by some of the largest online advertisers,” says Omar Tawakol, CEO of BlueKai. “Providing CPMa’s clients enhanced targeting capabilities by means of BlueKai intent data is a win-win.”

ABOUT CPM ADVISORS

CPM Advisors, Inc. (CPMa) was founded in early 2008 and is based in San Francisco, California. CPMa operates CPMatic.com and provides optimized cross-platform media and data buying for advertisers and agencies, integrating with major publishers, ad exchanges, data providers, aggregators and marketplaces. The company’s founders and board members have previously built and funded Internet advertising optimization systems for some of the largest online advertisers. More information is available at http://cpmadvisors.com and http://cpmatic.com.

As I point out in a comment there, research I did at Jupiter (now Forrester) and presented to the FTC several years ago showed that over 53% of users used the same password and username at substantially all the sites they visit. I think the real number is probably still pretty high, despite companies doing a lot to force people to choose better passwords – because there are so many more sites and services that require account creation.

Ad-Juster, Adacado, adap.tv, AdBrite, AdBuyer, adfinity, adfunky digital media, Aditall, AdJuggler, adknowledge, AdManage, adMarketplace.com, Adoori, AdOptim, adperio, AdSide, Adsmarket , AdsMe, ADTECH, Adventive, Advertise.com, Advertising Database.

It’s an ad-world!

For ad networks that work in the RMX system, there are a few problems and things you cannot do currently some of which that were possible in earlier iterations of the system. 1) if firms are connected via the exchange, they cannot directly buy/sell behaviorally-targeted campaigns, 2) controls for directing campaigns to specific publishers are sometimes cumbersome and are very general, 3) there is a limit on the ‘depth’ of serving connections allowed, meaning that you cannot buy on another site or network via a partner even if it would make economic sense, due to limitations in the RMX adserving capabilities, and 4) we can of course apply our proprietary optimization techniques to make campaigns work.

We have had several networks buying media from us, and we certainly encourage them to set up an account and initiate it. While our system allows for the upload of ad tags for campaigns, please do note that we very closely scrutinize ad tags to prevent any issues from being introduced into the ecosystem. If you have any questions please contact us.

About.com has a lot of inventory and to monetize, and has been an aggressive user of various ad exchanges including the Doubleclick Ad Exchange where it is disclosed as one of the participating publishers. That is not to say that is the reason for their good performance of course, just an interesting data point. Online revenues dropped for the other parts of the company but not as much as the problems on the offline side of the business:

The company posted a loss of $35.6 million for the quarter. On an operating basis, the company reported a profit of $80.6 million ($0.16 cents a share). Total revenues were down 16.9 percent. Revenues at the About Group unit were up 7.2 percent, but on the digital front in total, it was a different story. Website dollars dropped 7.2 percent. The main point of the NYTCo’s digital struggles in Q3 were centered at the News Media Group, which posted an 18.5 percent decline in online ad revenue. On the print side, the digital declines don’t seem nearly as bad.  Advertising revenues fell almost 30 percent for the News Media Group, as print ads declined 31.2 percent.

Publishers need to start thinking about how they can extend the reach of their inventory into various online exchanges, including those that will be enabled for real-time bidding. As our CEO Rob Leathern mentions in this piece on AdExchanger, publishers will only be able to have a voice and shape the online advertising environment and hence their revenue picture by having a seat at the advertising exchange / real-time bidding table. Part of this will relate to participating as providers of data into these ecosystems, about attaching that data to their inventory but there will also be innovations that none of us can yet predict that need strong publisher participation to help make happen.

As someone selling media, CPM seems great but for the buyer it’s not the best experience. The seller need do nothing, really, for any particular deal. They collect money regardless of performance. Obviously in the overall sense, as word gets around that their CPMs are too high relative to performance, people will not buy from them, but in the micro case the onus is on the buyer to know the underlying characteristics of the media and make an assessment about whether to buy it or not. On the other hand, CPA gives the power to the buyer. They determine an activity or metric and the price they can pay for it, it’s performance-based, and absent any issues with fake leads or anything like that (not to be addressed here) they are happy. The incentive for the seller now is to collaborate and cooperate with the buyer and try to get the ads to work better to improve the likelihood of conversion. Some things are in their control – they can choose where to place the ad, when, what sub-segment of audience to target and so on, and if they are smart or have a very targeted audience they can sometimes make a lot more money than they could in the CPM case. But it takes work, and all-too often the incentives for the advertiser to care and make things work better are not there.

Run display ads with one of the big CPA networks. What do you see? Awesome Flash-based ads with great production values? No. More often it is crappy JPG and GIF-based ads with little interactivity or pizzazz to them. Part of this is a legacy issue related to making it simple for CPA pubs to pull these creatives down onto their site but REALLY in the age of pretty-much free adserving, sub-10c/Gig CDNs and the like you’re telling me you can’t get ad tags or flash onto a publisher’s page? It’s not that these ads don’t exist – the same advertisers are running the flash-based good stuff in their own often-CPM-based ad campaigns while their poor affiliates are sitting with the second rate JPG ads. The incentives are not properly aligned.

We need a new hybrid performance-model that gives incentives for the sellers and the buyers of media to come together to make campaigns work. We’ll be sharing some of our ideas on this with the industry soon, but we encourage idea sharing from others. This also means we need to empower publishers and media sellers with tools to better match their inventory with likely performing ad campaigns in a non-black-box way (some of their insights ARE useful, but with so many CPA options out there it’s a bit overwhelming for the average site owner). BUT the first thing I’d say is if you’re an advertiser using CPA or affiliate channels, bring your best creative game AND demand and actually use data and feedback they can give you about what’s working and what’ s not. Every impression is an opportunity to gather data, and make a sale. Put the crappy JPGs to bed and build a better marketing ecosystem for yourself.

CRS is for small to mid-sized publishers looking for insider tips on how to maximize AdSense revenue, increase revenue opportunities via contextual optimization technologies, advertising network exchanges and the latest affiliate/lead generation alternatives.

Display Advertising for Search Marketers: Banners Aren’t Just for Branding Anymore
MODERATOR:
- Dax Hamman, VP, Display Media, iCrossing

PANELISTS:
- Roy de Souza, CEO, Zedo
- Rob Leathern, Founder and CEO, CPM Advisors
- Div Bhansali, Director, Self-Service Products, AOL Advertising