Ad servers for publishers are a basic ingredient in digital advertising, but with significant advances in the online marketing ecosystem – including the rise of programmatic – some are questioning whether they are still relevant to today’s digital marketers. In this article, Tim Preston, Director, Ad Server Business Development EMEA at OpenX discusses how ad servers fit into the modern marketer's toolkit. 

Ad servers were originally designed to support manual, direct ad sales, with a heavy emphasis on features such as sales and order entry support. The emergence of programmatic ad trading – which is now used by 62% of marketers for brand objectives – has resulted in new ways to sell, such as RTB (Real-Time Bidding), PMPs (Private Marketplaces), and automated guaranteed. As publishers adapt to these new channels, the feature differentiation of ad servers to support direct campaigns is no longer as important.

So, in a marketing ecosystem where programmatic has become mainstream, is there still a need for ad servers?

Ad servers act as gateway to monetisation

Monetisation platform providers continue to build or acquire ad servers and include them as part of their wider product range, indicating there is still a role for this technology to play. These platforms still need to support some direct-sale campaigns, and also require the ability to facilitate programmatic sources of demand. Owning the ad server on the publisher’s page provides monetisation platform providers with a greater level of control than using a third-party ad server.

Some traditional ad server functions are still of great importance to publishers – such as forecasting, incorporating viewability, and consolidated reporting. However, the reduced value of traditional functionality has resulted in a shift towards an increased number of programmatic ad servers that undertake the bare minimum in terms of managing inventory and connecting to a web page, and use programmatic technology for the rest. Ad servers can act as a gateway to other platforms, such as ad exchanges that allow preferred access to publisher inventory – depending on where the exchange is prioritised within the demand stack – which often results in the first opportunity to monetise it.

Aggressive providers discredit technology 

Publisher concerns over some ad servers have fuelled uncertainty over their future. Technology providers need to be unbiased and welcome tag-based network demand from quality sources that do not already operate on their own network. Some technology providers have aggressively pushed their own ad exchanges and networks in the past, which can fuel concern and erode publisher-provider relationships. It is imperative for providers to combine demand, in a fair and optimised way, with their existing exchange to help win back publisher and industry trust. There have also been trust concerns over data policies, with ad server providers using publisher data to build products for their buyers without compensating the publisher. Some ad servers are also seen to work against the interests of publishers by driving down prices and lowering competition, or by competing with publishers in their own industry.

However, not all technology providers operate in the same way. Ad servers are available that welcome other sources of demand – including guaranteed direct demand and indirect demand from ad networks – to compete fairly with the provider’s own exchange. These providers are fully aligned with publishers – driving results for publishers while ensuring the advertiser’s needs are met. By providing support for emerging models, such as PMP and automated guaranteed, ad servers can combine sources of demand to achieve the best yield for the publisher. They can also offer additional features such as audience extension, viewability, reporting, targeting, and forecasting – enabling internal operational efficiency for publishers, generating optimal advertising experience for advertisers and users, and boosting revenue.

The rise of programmatic has shifted the demand for traditional ad serving features, but ad servers are responding and evolving. Publishers are seeking the best sources of programmatic optimisation and ad server providers who support emerging programmatic models, as well as offering a fair and neutral service that acts in the publisher’s best interests. While the direct value of ad servers may be lessening, their indirect value is increasing and they still play a key role in the programmatic marketplace.