The success of an advertising campaign doesn't just depend on the visual quality of the banners. It also depends on its distribution. It's an aspect that's sometimes overlooked, yet can make all the difference.

Among the tools used to distribute banner ads are ad servers and ad networks. We'll be focusing on the latter in this article.

However, if you're still at the design stage of your campaign, we invite you to discover Abyssale. We develop solutions to facilitate the work of marketing and design teams.

After defining what an ad network is, we'll look at what aspects to focus on to choose the right one.

What is an ad network?

An ad network acts as an intermediary between:

  • Publishers who wish to host advertising on their website
  • Advertisers who wish to take advantage of the traffic on these same websites to display their advertisements.

The aim of the ad network is to bring together advertisers and publishers working in the same niche.

For publishers, this tool enables them to generate revenue quickly and find new advertisers easily.For advertisers, it expands their network of publishers and their audience. In addition, this tool enables them to increase the ROI of their campaigns.

Ad network: what's the difference with the ad server?

It's important to differentiate the ad network from the ad server. The former needs the latter to function.

The ad server allows advertisers to advertise on specific sites or platforms. Publishers can manage the ads that appear on their website from the ad server.

The ad network provides an inventory of publishers available to publish. It collects this information from ad servers, making ad management easier for advertisers

Programmatic advertising and ad networks, what are we talking about?

Programmatic advertising encompasses all automated means of buying and selling advertising space online. It also aims to connect advertisers with publishers who have advertising space. In particular, it enables:

  • Offer advertisers a consistent level of impressions
  • Private deals between advertisers and publishers.

The system is based on several technologies, including RTB (real-time bidding), DSPs (demand-side platforms), SSPs (supply-side platforms) and DMPs (data management platforms).

Ad networks are part of the programmatic advertising ecosystem. Except that nothing (or almost nothing) is automated. They do retrieve data and connect to technologies automatically, but human intervention is required to manage creatives and implement campaigns.

How do I choose the right ad network?

The choice of your advertising network can have a considerable impact on the results of a campaign, as it will be one of the factors influencing the volume and quality of traffic. It's therefore important, for your ROI, to identify the differentiating elements.

The interface

Some ad networks offer simple, intuitive interfaces. This is essential for ease of use. The dashboard must enable you to measure and analyze the results of your campaigns at a glance.

This is not a decisive factor in the choice of ad network, but it is nonetheless important to gain in effectiveness.

Targeting

From one ad network to another, targeting options can differ. Depending on the nature of your campaign and desired segmentation, you may be limited by the ad network's ability to target your audience.

When making your choice, consider that, the more options there are, the more customization you'll be able to push.

Price and payment options

This is often THE determining factor. Yet it shouldn't be so important. Paying less for a solution isn't always the best way to increase ROI.

Before focusing on price, ask yourself whether this ad network allows you to reach nested or global ad servers. Prices fluctuate from niche to niche, so find out what the rates are for your industry.

Most, if not all, ad networks offer a feature for managing your budget. You can choose a daily or weekly budget that you don't want to exceed. Once this budget is reached, the ad network will stop printing your ad to control spending.

A final point that differentiates ad networks is their business models. There are several billing methods:

  • CPM (Cost per thousand), i.e. cost per 1,000 impressions
  • CPC (Cost per click)
  • CPI (Cost per installation)
  • CPA (Cost per action)
  • CPV (Cost per view)

Remember to take this factor into account when choosing your advertising network.

The variety of content and formats available

At Abyssale, we strive to simplify visual creation every day. We let you multiply the formats of your advertising banners with a single click. We don't want broadcasters to get in the way.

So, before choosing your ad networks, make sure you can deliver all the formats you'll need (Video, GIF, vertical formats, etc).

The type of ads

There are several types of ads on ad networks. From one type of ad to another, rates vary:

  • Text, illustrated and rich media ads. With these ads, you have the choice of displaying text alone or combined with static or animated images.
  • Video ads: often more expensive, this type of ad often has a better click-through rate.
  • Interactive ads: These invite the user to interact, resulting in a higher conversion rate. They often take the form of a game or survey.

The types of ads you choose to display will therefore determine which ad network you turn to.

In the end, there's no such thing as a perfect ad network. There are ad networks perfectly suited to specific situations, needs and objectives. Before choosing your ad network, you need to have already established the strategy you want to adopt.

Determining factors include targeting, pricing and payment options, the variety of content and formats available, and the type of ads possible. By playing on these characteristics and adopting the right strategy, you can considerably increase the ROI of your advertising campaigns.

However, choosing the right ad network won't compensate for a poor initial strategy or unattractive visuals. For the latter, Abyssale is undoubtedly the tool you need. We're talking about a no-code Saas platform for automating visual creation.

The tool leaves visual creation to designers and production to marketing teams. Designers can concentrate on truly creative tasks. Then, using forms, marketing teams can produce relevant visuals without having to touch a single builder. In short, Abyssale makes it possible to fully exploit the talents of each individual contributor.

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