Tag Archives: SuccessStack

The inside scoop on native advertising: What is it, why does it matter and do you need it?

The final part of the #SuccessStack looks at the hot topic of native advertising. You’ll learn what it is, why it’s on every advertiser’s radar and whether it’s right for your site.


What is native advertising?

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), native ads are paid ads that have the goal of being “so cohesive with the page content, assimilated into the design, and consistent with the platform behavior that the viewer simply feels that they belong.”

Native ads allow you to have an ad styled to fit within the page and it’s surrounding content, unlike traditional display banners. They are designed to match the look, feel, and function of your site.


Why does native advertising matter?

Since most people access the Internet from a mobile phone, it’s important to prioritize a mobile first user experience. This shift in thinking requires a change in the way we approach our ads too.

You’re likely already putting a lot of effort into shaping your site to meet the high expectations of a clean and mobile-optimized user experience. It’s just as  important to experiment with how you deliver ads to meet those user expectations and retain users’ interest in your site. Native ads can open up new earning opportunities on your site where traditional ad formats weren’t appropriate before. Ad formats, like banner ads, are effective but sometimes limited by size and placements. Native Ads can be customized to fit seamlessly within your content’s look and feel. 


Do you need it?

According to new BI Intelligence estimates based on historical data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), PwC, and IHS; US native display ad revenue will make up 74% of total US display ad revenue in 2021, up from a 56% share in 2016.1

Supporting and offering this ad format will provide you with access to a huge portion of the market for advertiser budgets. Additionally, as mobile consumers increasingly drive the publishing industry, native advertising is a key strategy for  connecting with that audience and  delivering a profitable mobile experience.


Finding inspiration

If you’re looking for a reason to get started on native ads, then take a look at some of our success stories. 
  • Unidad Editorial is a leading multimedia group in Spain with 20 million daily users. See how they achieved a 4X increase in mobile CTR and and 6X increase in desktop CTR using native ads.
  • The New York Times also saw a huge boost in viewability and ad engagement metrics using native ads. Read their story here.
  • Leading publishers Aller Media (Scandinavia) and Grupo Expansión (Mexico) both saw serious uplifts in their viewability metrics using native advertising units.

When implementing native ads, consider the following:
  • Prioritize your audience: Consider your users’ expectations of your site and how they’ll respond to the type of ads you choose. Native ads meet users’ expectations by seamlessly fitting within your site’s user experience. 
  • Test first to optimize for user experience and ad revenue: It’s important to consider how to create the best user experience while maximizing your ad revenue. Strike a balance between content and ads by testing new native ad units and formats to measure their impact on revenue and user engagement.

Next steps

Ready to get started? With 54% of global marketing leaders already using native advertising, native ads are the solution to help grow your ad earnings.2

Our team of experts can offer a personalized consultation to help you offer native ads to your advertisers and grow your publishing business. Book a slot time to speak with one of our experts.




Posted By: Jay Castro, from the AdSense team

1 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-native-ad-report-forecasts-2016-5?IR=T
2 “Current vs. Planned Use of Select Digital Ad Formats Among Marketing Leaders Worldwide, Jan 2016”, eMarketer, 2016. 

Source: Inside AdSense


Discover the next generation of programmatic advertising technology

Forget what you think you know about programmatic advertising, these tools are game changers. For the ninth part of the #SuccessStack series, we’re revisiting the topic of programmatic advertising and looking at some of the latest technology that is starting to shape it.

1) Matched content provides a more intelligent user experience
Matched content units allow publishers to suggest further content that might interest the reader, based on what they have looked at already. This means that someone on a sports site reading an article about football can have further football content suggested to them. This can result in an increase in pageviews and time spent on the site.

AdSense users who are eligible to use matched content units for ads have an additional advantage as they are able to synchronize their ads by topic also. This means that someone on a sports site reading an article about football can be shown native-styled ads most likely to appeal to football fans. This in turn can potentially increase ad engagement and quality clicks on the ads.

2) New programmatic deal structures redefine the space
Programmatic Direct is an innovative solution that bridges the gap between traditional ad sales and programmatic selling. It offers three flexible deal structures that bring the best of direct and programmatic together:
  1. Private Auctions: Negotiated minimum price. Invitation only auctions. Non-guaranteed volumes. 
  2. Preferred Deals: Fixed price. One-to-one deals. Non-guaranteed volumes.
  3. Guaranteed Deals: Fixed price. One-to-one deals. Guaranteed volumes. 
The technology combines the power of real-time bidding (RTB) infrastructure with access to brand safe, reserved publisher inventory. This shortens the time it takes to book and execute high quality reservations type deals.

Using this tool, you can lock in revenue through reservations, forecast against programmatic deals, and enjoy the ease of automated billing and collections. All that without the need to email tags, worry about creative controls, resolve discrepancies, or fax orders back and forth. Check out this story from Televisa and Unilever to see how it could work for your business.

3) Advanced inventory management tools allow greater flexibility
You no longer have to make a choice between selling your inventory programmatically or direct. Modern ad management tools like DoubleClick for Publishers make it very easy to do both at the same time, with less coding and manual work. They also give you a clear picture of your inventory availability in real-time, so you are less likely to make conflicted bookings or leave inventory unsold.

See how German media company G&J doubled their programmatic revenue and increased their mobile revenue 10x with a smart implementation of Doubleclick for Publishers and Doubleclick AdExchange.

Or, if you’re already using DoubleClick for Publishers, watch this video from The Economist who integrated DoubleClick for Publishers with DoubleClick Bid Manager, surpassing all their revenue and growth goals for the campaign.

Next steps

We want to help you get the right tools in place so you’re set up for success and potential ad earnings growth. To check whether your setup that suits your plans for your site/s, have a conversation with one of our experts. They can offer a personalized consultation to help you make smart choices for your business. Book a time to speak with an expert.

Source: Inside AdSense


5 steps to improve PageSpeed and boost page performance

The eighth installment of the #SuccessStack takes a second look at PageSpeed, specifically tips you can implement that may improve your metrics.

Last week the #SuccessStack illustrated lots of reasons why mobile PageSpeed is critically important to the ongoing success of your publishing business. Now you can explore what you can do that could improve this metric and boost your overall page performance as a result.

Step 1: See how much more you could earn

Before you put time and effort into improving your mobile speed, you want to see what it’s worth to you. This useful tool will help you make a personal calculation of how much more you could earn with a faster mobile experience. However, this tool does not calculate user experience or user loyalty, both of which are impacted by either a fast, or slow, mobile experience. 

Step 2: Look at how you measure up

Using tools to measure different aspects of your site will help you identify areas for improvement more easily than if you were to just estimate. Here are a few of our favorites:
  • PageSpeed Insights analyzes your site performance, scoring its speed and user experience and identifies issues to fix. The best practice is a score of 85 or above.1
  • Webpagetest provides a Speed Index that indicates the average time at which visible parts of the page are displayed. Aim for a Speed Index of 3,000 or less and load time of 3 seconds or less — ideally 1-3 seconds.2
  • Chrome DevTools is a versatile real-time tool for evaluating your website’s performance right in the browser. You can simulate network and CPU speeds, examine network loading details and see how your site’s code is impacting your page.
  • Mobile-Friendly Test is designed specifically for mobile sites. This tool analyzes exactly how mobile-friendly the site is, and focuses on elements beyond speed as well. 

Step 3: Have a clear out - reduce the size of your pages.
Reduce the size of your pages.
  • Target 50 or fewer requests and 1,000 or fewer bytes to optimize load time. 
  • Compress and select efficient images, and prioritize download of visible content.
Assess the ads and trackers running on your page.
  • Use a tool to measure the bandwidth and latency impact of pixels and other elements on your pages (e.g., Ghostery). Evaluate if trackers are needed and used, and if they provide enough benefit.
  • Review latency of your ad partners, especially those delivering video ads, and remove low performing monetization partners.
Step 4: Prioritize the order your page loads in

It sounds obvious, but prioritizing loading of the elements that are visible above the fold will enhance your user experience, even of your net page loading speed doesn’t change.
  • Prioritize loading elements that are visible above the fold first: Minimize the amount of pieces that show above the fold of visible content. Load styling, javascript logic and images that are only accessed after direct interaction later. 
  • Enable HTTPS and HTTP/2: Support modern HTTPS to provide site integrity, encryption, authentication, and better user experience. More than 1-in-3 of top 100 sites run on modern HTTPS, and a quarter of them use HTTPS by default
  • Limit server requests where possible: Each mobile page makes an average of 214 server requests,3 some of which happen simultaneously and some that can only happen one after the other. Review each request on your site to understand the benefit it provides.  
Step 5: Measure, test, repeat

As the shift to mobile continues to grow, so will users expectations of lighting speed experiences across the web. This means that improving your mobile speed isn’t a one off job, you need to have a process in place to regularly evaluate and improve it. Follow the steps outlined above at regular intervals and record the results of the adjustments you make to refer back to when deciding on new optimization techniques in the future.
  • Continually assess your ad-related calls to remove low performing monetization partners.
  • Pick third-party ad-tech partners with lower latency.
  • Remove or reduce any bulky content.
  • Consolidate data and analytics tags.
  • Investigate open-source tools such as Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Progressive Web Apps (PWA). 
Implementing the strategies outlined in this article could have a serious positive impact on your business. Check out these inspirational stories from Sinclair News and What to Expect to see how significant shifts in mobile speed were achieved with a few technical tweaks.

Next steps
From your interest in PageSpeed, you’re clearly committed to doing all you can to improve the performance of your site and grow your publishing business. With this in mind, you may benefit from a chat with one of our experts. They can offer a personalized consultation to help you make the right technology choices to support your business growth. Book a time.


Post content Posted by Jay Castro, from the AdSense Team

1. Google Developers
2. Google and kissmetrics
3. DoubleClick, “The Need for Mobile Speed”, , September 2016

Source: Inside AdSense


Increasing viewability could boost earnings from video ads

For the seventh installment of the #SuccessStack, we’ll explore the topic of viewability for video ads and take a look at how mastering this could boost your earnings from video ads on your site.

Why is viewability for video important?

On YouTube, over 50% of viewership happens on a mobile device and the number of hours people spend watching videos on mobile is up 100% YoY. So, adding video content represents a huge opportunity for publishers and advertisers alike. But as with display advertising, advertisers are now looking to transact only on viewable video. This means that publishers looking to grow their earnings from this dominant media type will have to ensure they are delivering viewable ads.

How do we classify viewability for video ads?

A video ad is viewable when at least 50% of the ad’s pixels are visible on a screen for at least two consecutive seconds, as defined by the Media Rating Council (MRC), in conjunction with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

What factors affect viewability for video ads?

  • Device: Video ads are more easily viewed on mobile (73%) or tablet (81%) devices than desktop (64%).1
  • Location: 76% of non viewable video ads were never on screen at all, for instance because they are on tabs situated behind the one the user is looking at.2 Additionally, videos positioned in the center of the page and towards the top are the most visible locations on the page.3
  • Player Size: Bigger players deliver better viewability. The most popular player size of 300x250 offers only 20% viewability whereas the 848x477 is the second most popular size but offers a huge improvement of 89% viewability.4

What can you do to improve viewability in your video content?

  • Choose a bigger player: Larger player sizes have been shown to have a positive correlation with viewability and other key metrics that advertisers care about, so advertisers are increasingly targeting them. In Q1 2016 on DBM, growth in spend on large players outpaced all other player sizes combined by 17%.5
  • Spread your content: The average viewability of video ads across the web is 66%, whereas YouTube offers 93%.6 Hosting your video content on YouTube as well as on your site could allow you to benefit from this uplift.
  • Be more mobile: Mobile friendly sites that encourage traffic from mobile devices and tablets can increase viewability for video ads. For example YouTube viewability rises to 95% on mobile devices.7
  • Give video content top billing: As we’ve seen above, placing content at the top of the page in the center and using a larger player size both increase viewability. So give your video content the highest possible profile on the page to increase viewability.

Next steps

Alongside your work on video viewability, you’ll want to make sure you have the right tools in place for managing the video ads you serve. To make sure you’ve got the right tools in place, have a chat with one of our experts. They can offer a personalized consultation to help you make the right choice for your business. Book a slot.


https://goo.gl/c5MWaa

  1. https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/doubleclick-prod/documents/State_of_Play_-_Video_Insights_Report__v23.pdf 
  2. https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/5-factors-of-video-viewability.pdf
  3. https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/5-factors-of-video-viewability.pdf
  4. https://think.storage.googleapis.com/docs/5-factors-of-video-viewability.pdf
  5. https://www.doubleclickbygoogle.com/articles/global-state-play-programmatic-video-insights-report/
  6. https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/doubleclick-prod/documents/State_of_Play_-_Video_Insights_Report__v23.pdf
  7. https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://storage.googleapis.com/doubleclick-prod/documents/State_of_Play_-_Video_Insights_Report__v23.pdf

Source: Inside AdSense


The ultimate mobile page speed infographic

In the next edition of the #SuccessStack series, we look at page speed, a metric that became even more important in 2016 and directly impacts the first interaction your site has with its users.

What is page speed?

Page speed measures how quickly the viewable elements of a web page load. In other words, it measures how long it takes before a user can view and interact with a page on the site. It’s a particularly critical metric for the mobile user experience --- recent research from DoubleClick indicates that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load.


https://goo.gl/c5MWaa

Consider page speed a user-centric measurement since users typically focus on one page at a time and expect fast experiences on every page they interact with. If your page speed isn’t good, you may lose the opportunity to keep users engaged and on your site for longer.

How does page speed impact ad revenue?

The more quickly a user can access your content, the more likely they are to engage with the content on the page and explore more pages on your site. Our study shows that ads on faster mobile pages are likely to be more viewable. The study also projects that mobile sites that load within 5 seconds vs 19 seconds earn up to 2X greater revenue.

While revenue can be impacted by many factors, improving page speed will lead to a better user experience and possibly increased ad revenue.

The ultimate page speed infographic

Our recent page speed studies found many notable learnings that may help paint the picture of the importance of page speed and the impact it can have on your site’s earnings.

Next steps

If you’re wondering which Google tools will be most useful to help grow your business, then you’ll benefit from a chat with one of our experts. They can offer a personalised consultation to help you make the right choice for your site. Book your consultation today.


https://goo.gl/c5MWaa

Source: Inside AdSense


Discover why leading publishers and marketers are using Programmatic Direct

In the next article in our #SuccessStack series, we look at a tool used by leading publishers and marketers that offers your publishing business an opportunity to grow.1

Programmatic Direct allows advertisers to programmatically execute deals that were once reserved and transacted directly. Advertisers can now use real-time data to reach the right people in the right moments in brand-safe publisher environments. A shift is happening, and more and more advertisers are adopting Programmatic Direct deals to optimize their direct and guaranteed transactions.

What is Programmatic Direct?

Programmatic Direct unites traditional media reservations with the power of real-time bidding. It offers early access to premium inventory, data-driven targeting, a direct relationship between the advertiser and publisher, and automated workflows. Programmatic Direct offers four different deal types and lots of flexibility to meet the needs of advertisers and publishers.

Why are 90+ Ad Age’s top 100 global marketers1 and 50% of ComScore top 50 US media owners2 using it?

  • Advertisers are empowered: Programmatic Direct offers real-time data, flexible deal structures, efficient workflows and brand safe premium inventory. These benefits can improve user engagement and may translate into greater ad spends with your business.
  • Publishers grow new relationships: Programmatic Direct creates more opportunities to deepen relationships with existing advertisers and generate new business in a brand-safe environment. Darby Sieben, President at Mediative says, “We see Programmatic Guaranteed as another important step to connect advertisers with premium publishers’ inventory. Google’s technology helps automate the buying and selling of premium inventory, which is important to ensure that we can deliver the best experience for our advertising and publisher partners.”

Is Programmatic Direct right for your business?

Programmatic Direct isn’t for everyone. Publishers who don’t currently use DoubleClick for Publishers or negotiate deals directly with advertisers may not see advantages to adopting programmatic.

Others, though, will find it a great fit for their businesses. Here are a few signs that Programmatic Direct might be the right direction for your publishing business:

  • You’re looking for operational efficiencies on the traditional direct model: Programmatic Direct reduces the administrative burden of creating and managing direct ad deals with features like automated billing and collections. This usually offers substantial cost savings to the publisher.
  • You need control: Advertisers and publishers alike benefit from the controls offered by Programmatic Direct. For publishers this means greater control over the ads you show on your sites. 
  • You have the resources to support it: You don’t need hundreds of full time employees, but you will need someone with the time and energy to dedicate to creating and managing your Programmatic Direct deals for optimal earnings.

Next steps

If you’re wondering whether Programmatic Direct might be a good move for your sites, then you’ll benefit from a chat with one of our experts. They can offer a personalized consultation to help you make the right choice for your business. Book a slot.

1 - DoubleClick Ad Exchange data, Oct 2014-Dec 2015. Minimum $1K spend.
2 - DoubleClick Ad Exchange data, Oct 2014 - Dec 2015. Cross references with ComScore 50 US list December 2015.

Source: Inside AdSense


Viewability is vital for publisher business growth

In the fourth article of the #SuccessStack, we explore viewability and its increasing importance in retaining and growing ad revenues for your publishing business. We’ve recently received a lot of questions on viewability from our AdSense publisher community, so this post should answer the most frequently asked ones.

What is viewability?

Media Rating Council (MRC) and IAB standards state that a display ad is counted as viewable when at least 50% of the ad is within the viewable space on the user’s screen for one second or more.

Why is it important for your ad revenue? 

An ad served doesn’t necessarily equal an ad viewed, and digital advertisers and publishers are catching onto this as the industry shifts toward valuing viewable rather than served impressions. This is because ads that are considered viewable have a higher chance of being seen and are more likely to engage an advertiser's target audience.

As a result, more savvy advertisers are paying closer attention to ad viewability and it is increasingly becoming a factor in their decision making around ad spend.

If an ad isn't seen, it can't have an impact, change perception, or build brand trust. That's why measuring viewability matters. For AdSense publishers, this means that increased viewability may encourage greater investments from advertisers.

Let’s get started

Before you get to work on increasing viewability, make sure you choose the right tool to give yourself the best possible potential earnings. To help you with this, be sure to schedule a free consultation with one of our experts who can help you to choose the right solution for your business.

How can you increase the viewable impressions delivered by your site? 

1. Put ad units just above the fold.
Interestingly, ads placed just above the fold of a web page produce higher viewability metrics than those at the top of the page. Try horizontal ad unit sizes, e.g. 320x100 for optimal increase in viewability metrics. It’s important to note that it's against the AdSense ad placement policies to place a 300x250 ad unit above the fold on mobile pages, so be sure to place those larger ad sizes below the fold. 

Bonus tip: Switch 320x50 for 320x100 ad units.

Replacing your 320x50 ad units with 320x100 on your mobile device can improve viewability and potentially increase earnings. Revenue per thousand impressions (RPMs) tends to increase when you move to the larger mobile banner ad. This is because using the 320x100 ad unit allows both the 320x50 ad and the 320x100 to compete for the same ad space, doubling the fill-rate competition. It’s best practice to put the ad just above the fold as mentioned above, which could further boost your revenues.

2. Use mobile-friendly ad formats.

Mobile is becoming an ever more important part of online ad sales. Here are three mobile friendly ad formats to try:

  • Use large high impact ad units such as the medium rectangle (300x250), large rectangle (336x280) and large mobile banner (320x100) to get the best results. The first two work well on desktop and mobile (below the fold), with the third being designed specifically for mobile. 
  • AdSense also offers two kinds of page-level mobile ad formats, anchor ads and vignettes. Both are designed to increase mobile viewability. 

Once you’ve implemented the tips above, you can find even more advanced best practice viewability tips in this infographic.

Source: Inside AdSense


Three ways to grow ad revenue this holiday season

A staggering $6.9 billion was spent on mobile digital ads in Q4 2015. In this second installment of the #SuccessStack, learn how you can claim your share of advertising budgets spent this quarter and grow your revenue.

Tip 1: The early bird catches the worm

Does it feel like the holiday season gets bigger and starts earlier every year? You’re not wrong. This year Black Friday set a new record with over $3 billion in online sales. The entire holiday shopping season has evolved into a truly multi-month, online affair.

Take advantage of the holiday ad spending spree by placing ads on your site. A good first step is to choose the right tool to sell and manage ads on your site. Then, make sure your available ad space is optimized and mobile friendly. Finally, when the holiday season is in full swing, you can use experiments to measure and improve your use of ad space further.

Tip 2: Tailor your content to what users are looking for

The holiday shopping season creates big opportunities for AdSense publishers. According to Luth Research*, the way people search when shopping becomes more niche as they move closer to buying an item. For example, individuals may start their shopping journey with search terms like “gadgets for men” or “laptops” but finish a few weeks later with searches for specific models or screen sizes.

To capture audience attention and increase your ad impressions, build a content strategy that taps into this insight. Try creating content that taps into each stage of the buyer journey like gift inspiration articles for those early stage “i need ideas” moments, and product comparison content for those “i want to know” moments before users make a purchase decision. To help you make the most of these moments check out our guide to help you draw the crowds to your site.

Tip 3: Use the right advertising partner

Partner with an ad network that can help you earn more during this peak advertising period. AdSense, with its access to millions of Google AdWords advertisers offers an easy, profitable and low touch advertising solution.

Already an AdSense user? Enjoy an expert consultation to walk you through DoubleClick’s suite of tools to help you manage and optimize the ad inventory on your site. It could help you grow your revenues even further this holiday season.

*Google/Luth Research, U.S. Google partnered with Luth to analyze the digital activity of its opt-in panel participants. The data was analyzed between April and Aug. 2016.

Source: Inside AdSense