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Selling ads directly vs. selling through ad networks

Publishers have two popular ways to monetize their ad inventory: selling directly to advertisers or selling through ad networks. Fortunately, these two approaches are not mutually exclusive. In many cases, publishers have both directly-sold ads and ads from networks. Which approach to take depends on the situation and size of your company in order to get the best mix and highest advertising revenue. From one of our surveys, two-thirds of our publishers have direct contacts with their advertisers.

Objective

With an understanding of these pros and cons, our goal is to design and offer a system that maximizes the advantages and neutralizes the drawbacks of each selling approach.

Selling advertising directly to the advertisers

When selling your ad inventory directly to advertisers, you set and negotiate the terms with the advertisers.

Earn 100% of the payment from advertisers
Earn a higher ad rate
Know each advertiser personally and build a long-term business relationship
Need to have your own sales force or put your own effort into selling ads
Need to offer unique contents and/or a large visitor base to attract potential advertisers
Need a good ad management solution to manage many advertisers effectively

Selling advertising through ad networks

When selling your ad space through one or more ad networks, you put the ad tag from these networks into your site and ads from different advertisers will be served.

Pay commissions, up to 50% of revenue, to the ad networks
Have a lower ad rate
Have little or no interactions with advertisers
Require no sales force because advertisers and ads come from the networks
Reach out to more advertisers as networks have combined inventory
Still need an ad management solution to manage and allocate inventory for multiple ad networks

Best of both worlds

Most publishers utilize both methods: sell their premium ad inventory directly while leaving the remaining/remnant inventory for the networks.

Posted in AdServer for Publisher Selling Ads Directly April 20, 2012 (first published November 2008)

Pros and cons of selling ads directly to advertisers or through ad networks
"As a publisher, you want to be in complete control of the advertising that appears on your website. You can choose to sell directly to advertisers or work with ad networks to get the ads that you need. " More
Pros and cons of selling advertising directly to advertisers
"Selling advertising directly to advertisers is a way for businesses to monetize their traffic and reach their target audiences. It allows businesses to control the types of ads that are shown on their website or platform, and it can be a good way to generate revenue. " More
Pros and cons of selling advertising directly to advertisers (part 2)
"In our previous article, we described several advantages of selling ads directly to advertisers including more control, more revenue, more customized service, and better relationships. However, it is not all rosy all the time. " More

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