Central ad server

Ad serving describes the technology and service that places advertisements on web sites. Ad serving technology companies provide software to web sites and advertisers to serve ads, count them, choose the ads that will make the website or advertiser most money, and monitor progress of different advertising campaigns.


Ad server functionality


The typical common functionality of ad servers includes:
Uploading advertisements and rich media.
Trafficking ads according to differing business rules.
Targeting ads to different users, or content.
Tuning and optimization based on results.
Reporting impressions, clicks, post-click & post-impression activities, and interaction metrics.
Advanced functionality may include:
Frequency capping so users only see messages a limited amount of time. (Advertisers can also limit ads by setting a frequency cap on money-spending)
Sequencing ads so users see messages in a specific order (sometimes known as surround sessions).
Excluding competition so users do not see competitors' ads directly next to one another. (Usually done by bidding on keywords)
Displaying ads so an advertiser can own 100% of the inventory on a page (sometimes known as Roadblocks).
Targeting ads to users based on their previous behavior (behavioral marketing or behavioral targeting).
Targeting specific IP-addresses i.e. targeting specific individuals or companies

One aspect of ad serving technology is automated and semi-automated means of optimizing bid prices, placement, targeting, or other characteristics. Significant methods include:
Behavioral Targeting - Using a profile of prior behavior on the part of the viewer to determine which ad to show during a given visit. For example, targeting car ads on a portal to a viewer that was known to have visited the automotive section of a general media site.
Contextual Targeting - (also known as Semantic targeting) Inferring the optimum ad placement from information contained on the page where the ad is being served. For example, placing Mountain Bike ads automatically on a page with a mountain biking article.
Creative Optimization - Using experimental or predictive methods to explore the optimum creative for a given ad placement and exploiting that determination in further impressions.