Home > Paid Traffic Sources > Mobile

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Adservers for Mobile (21)

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I'm seeing small success with mobile but I'm finding it hard
to manage all the places I'm buying traffic from.

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

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Not sure if this is what you're looking for:
http://mobafftracker.com/

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so are you looking for a tracking solution or are you looking for a adserver? if your looking for tracking solution then mobafftracker is hands down the best, if you want to go with something thats free and self hosted and is also in the works of being pretty damn amazing, get the STM tracker. IF you are looking for a mobile adserver to serve your ad tags on mobile media buys then you probably need to get something built, or you can check out the site scout adserver, it does the trick sometimes, depends on if its a mobile or app buy

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ya i mean site scout is not optimized for mobile, but it can get by. you can stretch your dollar using sitescout, hit me up on pm and lets discuss more in depth if you would like on skype or something.

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Try this

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If you are working with serious budget then the mobile DSPs might be worth a look - people like Adsmobi, Human Demand, Trademob, Tapit etc that help you buy across multiple networks, exchanges from a single dashboard. I am just about to publish an article on the subject so hold tight for that.

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I run significant amount of volume through MobAffTracker and I never had any issues.
If you want self-hosted version, have a look at imobitrax.

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The key distinction in terminology is whether you want to:

1) Track what happens when a user clicks on your ad

2) Track what happens when a user sees your ad

People usually call option #1 "click tracking" and option #2 "ad serving." The majority of affiliates, especially on mobile, are using click tracking systems.

Because clicks are a subset of impressions, option #2 (ad serving) necessarily generates more data than option #1 (click tracking), so you'll have more things you can optimize. However, ad serving is dependent on the network you're buying from allowing you to host your own creatives (rather than uploading them through a self-serve system). This is less common on mobile than it is on desktop advertising.

If all of this is new to you, you should start with a click tracker like the MobAffTracker or STM Tracker described below. These will help you create one interface to track all the clicks you're buying.

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Also, just to preempt all the replies to my post above, I want to make it clear: this is a simplification.

There are some other differences in the terminology, but since it sounds like you're new, this is the easiest way for me to explain the differences.

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Let me tell you what the challenges in mobile ad serving are so you understand the difference between web and mobile.

With mobile you will need an ad server that can serve impressions based on Carrier, Platform, Device etc... there are very few Mobile Ad Servers that can do that. In addition if you're going to serve into mobile certain ad tag types like iframe and javascript won't work on certain devices. If you want to integrate with an app you're going to need an ad server that has an SDK for them to install.

We did a lot of research into mobile ad serving and the two solutions I suggest are:
mOcean - paid solution
mAdserve (mobfox) - open source solution

It really comes down to what you're looking to do, neither will be a perfect fit right out of the box.

As for how we do media buying we just send our assets (creatives and links) to the ad network or publisher and have them host the content. We use our tracker to audit the traffic to ensure they are sending us what we asked for. We lose control over serving creatives but reduce latency by having their ad server serve up the ads.

Hope this helps.

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You're probably looking for a DSP like TapIt.

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Do you know what a DSP is?

Tapit is an ad network...

http://tapit.com/mobile-ad-network

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/tapit

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Yeah tapit is not a DSP. Self serve adnetwork.

Adsmobi is one of the DSPs' with lots of volume worldwide.

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Tapit indeed can be considered as a DSP.... Please read more at:

http://tapit.com/mobile-demand-side-platform

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The problem is that TapIt uses the terminology interchangeably unlike everyone else in the real-time bidding industry. There are no other DSPs that also call themselves an ad network. There are no other DSPs that also have a page for signing up publishers.

The defining characteristic of true RTB is a separation of buy-side and sell-side systems. It's not a specific set of targeting features, or a reporting API, or a level of impression volume. If TapIt doesn't have the ability to transparently buy Google, PubMatic, Nexage, or Smaato inventory, they probably aren't doing RTB.

I haven't used TapIt so I can't speak at all to their technology. That said, I think it's a lot more likely that the employee who wrote the copy for their website made a mistake in jargon than it is that they are simultaneously running a DSP, SSP, and ad network.

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Don't get too caught up in DSP vs SSP vs Ad Network etc., I don't think it really helps you figure out how to deal with your problem. From what I gather, you are running mobile campaigns on multiple different traffic sources and finding it difficult to manage them all. What I think you need is a tracking platform, e.g. with MobAff, allowing you to analyse the data across multiple traffic sources from one central location, and then from there make optimisation decisions. You might run into some annoyances with synchronising data between the traffic source and tracking platform (e.g. by uploading subid reports). Once you have that information consolidated, you're still going to have to go over to the traffic sources individually to pause ads, adjust bids, etc - no real way around that with any software or platform.

Also, adservers as far as I understand are a dynamic way of serving adverts. Usually you would upload a creative at a traffic source, whether it be a banner or a small image, an animated gif or a flash swf. With adservers your more dealing with having a placeholder/frame as your creative, say for instance a frame that is 300x250 and the content that gets displayed inside that frame is decided by your adserver. So when a user views a page, the browser tries to download whats in that frame, contacts your adserver, and it decides what to deliver. The adserver itself can then detect things about the users beforehand, rotate images, cookie them, etc. The creative material/images are hosted on your adserver in this instance and not at the traffic source. If you're dealing with mobile you a) need a fuck off shiny ad server that can handle the intricacies of mobile users and b) need minimum latency and maximum serving speed. In this respect it's likely easier to use the traffic source because their purpose is to deliver these ads in the first place, so they obviously have things worked out.

//disclaimer, don't have any experience in mobile.

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All ad networks that have exchange traffic have DSP technology. You're mistaken if you think ad networks are a whole different entity as a "DSP". DSP is largely technology. Ad network is a service business that uses that technology.

Some companies that have built DSPs use it internally, some bought someone else's technology, and some focuses only on the technology and allows media buyers to use that technology to bid on exchanges.

mDotm is a DSP. They also have pubs. Moolah has DSP technology, but they also have pubs. They also have offers.

Just because they are 1 doesn't prevent them from being another.

End of story.

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Your problem is that you're incorrectly using terms that were defined years ago. This is the same problem TapIt has with the copy on their website. I can't speak to the functionality of TapIt's software because I've never used it, but your overly generous definition of DSP is fundamentally wrong. No one else uses DSP the way you're using it except for other uneducated affiliates.

Buying exchange traffic does not make a company a DSP. All the retargeting service providers buy exchange traffic. Are AdRoll, FetchBack, and Criteo DSPs? Most desktop ad networks buy exchange traffic. Are ValueClick, CPX Interactive, and Advertising.com DSPs? All trading desks buy exchange traffic. Are Xaxis, Cadreon, and Accuen DSPs? By your definition, they all "have DSP technology."

End of story.

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Nat Turner, the founding CEO of Invite Media (the DSP acquired by Google) has this to say: http://www.adexchanger.com/data-driv...is-a-true-dsp/

The DSP should not, under any circumstances, own or operate an ad network. This is in direct conflict with the neutrality aspect.

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Yep! DSP = demand side platform. Are they on the demand side? Then yes, they have demand side tech.

Different people different definitions.

PS, I respect Nat Turner. The guy is 1000x more accomplished than I am. Exchanged a couple emails, went to the same school, some mutual circles. But, they built a DSP, so they want to feel special. However, it doesn't mean they are the authorities on terms.

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There is definitely a big overlap between DSPs and ad networks and ad servers/ SSPs - at the end of the day it's all buying and selling mobile ads. Ad networks are reversing into being DSPs (offering access to inventory from exchanges as well as via their own base of SDKs/ publishers) - case in point the 'mobile ad network' Adfonic is now calling itself a "Buying Platform". Adsmobi mentioned above is actually the same company as Smaato - which is an ad server/ SSP!

Where the overlap is coming into play a lot more is in the DSP space as there is loads of surplus inventory swimming around in mobile which is moving onto exchanges with Real Time Bidding. These pools are being opened up to all sorts of third party buying platforms which include both new startups (e.g Human Demand) as well as to other parties in the ecosystem. @ffclogin is right - these new hybrids are not pure-play DSPs but they still have elements of that in them.

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