Why would a publisher need an ad server?

If you are a publisher that operates a content website with articles, games, discussion forums or user-generated content, a lot of your time is going to be devoted to ensuring that you have high quality and fresh content. These types of sites are very much on the radar of advertisers because premium ad placements on quality websites are more likely to convert into actual sales. While it is certainly exciting for publishers to go out and find advertisers that are willing to spend good money to advertise on their website, it is a task that can become incredibly time consuming. Not just that, publishers are often asked to deliver reports and updates about how well the ads are doing once they has been placed, which can become a full-time job on its own. Therefore, an ad server provides a platform for publishers to manage the advertiser’s ads on their websites, track the ads’ performance and display reports on ad metrics such as impressions, clicks, events, conversions and ad revenue.

Manage multiple advertisers and ads

There is no better feeling for a publisher than being contacted by advertisers to run ads on the website. This is a sure sign that you are doing something right as a publisher, and that there is money to be made. However, managing multiple advertisers can be difficult and an ad server makes it much easier. It’s all about saving time and money when managing and serving many ads. You get to save both when using a suitable ad server. Advertisers often want to run more than one ad, and when you have several advertisers all vying for the same space, a good ad serving solution can help you monetize all those ad placements quickly and affordably.

Target ads

The goal is not just to make money, but also to provide ads that are interesting and relevant. Basically, ads that your viewers respond to. It is important to detect and avoid ads that are boring, unrelated or slow to load. Not every advertiser wants to display his/her ads to anyone and everyone. Depending on the business, an advertiser might simply want to target certain countries, regions, or cities in which he/she does business. The advertiser may want to limit the number of impressions per single viewer or want to go after a certain demographic. It would be very technical and challenging for the advertisers and publishers to accomplish these ad targeting criteria without an ad server. On the other hand, these restrictions and conditions can be easily set up within an ad server.

Track and report ad metrics

If you are lucky enough to have several different advertisers running ads on your site, you must track how they are doing. The ad server will record activities for all the ads, placements into a central database for analysis and reporting. Even if you have a good relationship with your advertisers, they will probably still want to see independent ad reports from a third-party vendor that show how their ads are performing. The data on impressions, clicks and other ad metrics that you get from an ad server fits that bill to perfection.