So, im dabbling in media buys and i quickly discovered that i need an ad server as trusting the traffic source (even if they tell you they will be transparent) is flat out bullshit...
So, im running a campaign, i give them the banners, for 2 days everything is going good... 100% ROI at 100/day spend, then i tell them to open up the campaign no limit, same bid... Traffic is trickling in...
I watch for a couple of hrs and its not really looking like much spend.. I tell the rep are you sure you opened cap?
She says "lemme try something"... Couple hrs later traffic is coming in, but my CR went down by half and my CTR dropped....
Im like WTF, i tell her, what did you change? She says "i wont tell you"
I figured she gave me a high frequency cap...
I ask her what is the freq cap? She tells me its at 6/24
I ask, what was it yesterday.... She tells me 3/24
Lesson learned, when you are working with DMB, get your own damn adserver....
I am setting up revived adserver right now.. What are the things that an adserver allows me to control?
Im assuming i can upload new ads and run/test them at will, set freq cap, etc...
Depends on the ad server, but yes, everything you've listed there should be possible!
With Revived, you'll also be able to do targeting based on geolocation, day and hour parting, and I believe it has conversion tracking too.
SWEET! How about device blocking?
Yup, definitely need an ad server.
Are any of them actually very good?
I like the looks of SiteScout's offering and have explored it with a rep but it's a bit pricey for entry-level stuff. DFP?
I have looked at a few and honestly I tend to think the interfaces and way you go about setting up campaigns is just plain unintuitive.
Seems like the language they use and configuration of the systems caters to a completely different world to internet marketing o.O.
@Zeno What did the SiteScout team quote you at entry level?
Minimum fee was $500/month which covered some number of impressions.
Not really much if doing volume but prohibitive if you just want to throw say $500-$2000 at a few small buys.
Furthermore, I think the CPM overage charges may be a bit tight if you are running high volume on very cheap traffic.
E.g. if you are paying $0.10 CPM for the ad serving, and are buying Brazillian traffic at $0.90 CPM... that's a large % gone just to serve the ads.
Disclaimer: I can't really remember much more than the minimum so the latter example is just from urr gut memory?
@karim0028 - not sure on device blocking, I'm afraid.