Yield Optimisation has become a growing area of importance for publishers. With so many ad network and exchange relationships to manage, and needing to squeeze as much revenue from its impressions, publishers have come to rely on yield optimizers to boost returns. Admeld, the New York-based yield optimization specialist, was formed in 2007 with premium publishers in mind. Their proprietary technology is built from the ground up, and uses machine learning and automated decision making to maximise publishers’ revenue. Their data centres in the US and Europe Admeld can handle billions impressions with minimum latency. And their tools, like Firemeld, help not only to protect “big brand” publishers from inappropriate ads but also restrict sales channel conflict.

Admeld has established strong partnerships with a number of marquee publishers in the US. They work with over sixty five premium publishers, including FOX News, The Huffington Post, IAC, Thomson Reuters, and World Wrestling Entertainment. The company recently announced further funding of eight million dollars, some of which it plans to use to expand its operations in Europe.

Tom Jenen runs Admeld’s European office in London. Jenen is a veteran of the media technology sector – and has worked for a number of top ad tech companies, including EyeBlaster, Falk and Phorm. He has been based in London now for five months, and has been working closely with a number of premium sites to trial the platform. The feedback has been positive, and is excited about introducing Admeld to more European publishers. Jenen believes that Admeld’s focus on raising site revenues makes the technology attractive to big publsihers:

We specialise in lifting revenue for publishers, and no one does it better. ECPM, fill rate, all are important factors, but only in that they lead to more revenue in the end. In some cases, especially with news or entertainment publishers, there’ll be huge spikes in impressions, depending on a big news event or story. Typically, if the publisher is not using Admeld, you can see a big fall off in CPM rates because networks aren’t expecting to get that inventory – and you haven’t pre-sold it. It’s frustrating for publishers. As AdMeld monetises each impression separately, spikes in traffic are matched by a rise in revenue: The publisher gets rewarded for doing what they’re supposed to do, increase their popularity. For many publishers, AdMeld makes revenues more predictable.

Admeld supports the view that ad networks help premium publishers better monetise their discretionary inventory. Ad networks have the reach and the agency relationships to bring revenue to publishers. The company’s optimization service makes it easier for publishers to partner more networks: its platform has a centralized reporting system that consolidates data from each and every network. This allows big brand sites to establish new partnerships, and create a more competitive environment. Jenen believes that ad networks are vital in helping publishers to secure more revenue:

Ad networks are vital to most big publishers making the most money from their inventory. And the more networks a publisher works with, the more money they make - as demand increases for their inventory and more advertiser campaigns can be matched with the right users. AdMeld helps publishers work with as many networks as make sense for their inventory, by having one simple place to manage all the revenue and make it easier to communicate with the networks in real time. At the same time, networks win - they get access to more of the users they want and to more publishers, since the relationships are much easier to handle on both sides - leading to better results for their advertisers.

There is a consensus among some in the industry that yield optimizers are trying grow beyond their initial purpose: of providing publishers a means to better monetise their ad impressions. Jenen is keen to stress that Admeld has no interest in becoming either a network or an exchange – and has no plans to disintermediate the ad networks. It wants to partner publishers, networks and exchanges. Admeld ultimately views itself as a technology company that adds real value on the sell side:

We’re a vital new piece to the ecosystem, and we fit right in with publishers and networks to ensure the communication between them is much stronger, and help everyone make more money.

Admeld's expansion in Europe will allow them to showcase their platform to more premium publishers across Europe, introducing more competition to the yeild optimisation area. For cash-strapped European publishers, any new tool that lets them earn more money from their ad impressions will be seen as a welcome development.