High Performance Ads Is it Possible? Panel Discussion

Panel Discussion

What this is (and isn’t) We’re here to discuss ad performance In our context, performance == load time Web page load time, and the impact of ads Advertisers define performance differently: Click Through Rate (CTR), Return on Investment (ROI), etc.

We’re here to discuss ad performance

In our context, performance == load time

Web page load time, and the impact of ads

Advertisers define performance differently:

Click Through Rate (CTR), Return on Investment (ROI), etc.

Panelists Sameer Ajmani, Google Leading an effort at Google to make the Web faster by making ads load faster. Artur Bergman, Wikia Has been battling poor ad performance for years. Richard Bush, ADTECH (AOL) Leads teams that implement ad servers. Bryant Mason, Microsoft Builds advertising platforms that handle billions of requests each day. Tony Ralph, Yahoo! Performs monitoring and analysis of ad quality and performance. Moderator – Eric Goldsmith, AOL Performance analyst, with proclivity for ad performance.

Sameer Ajmani, Google

Leading an effort at Google to make the Web faster by making ads load faster.

Artur Bergman, Wikia

Has been battling poor ad performance for years.

Richard Bush, ADTECH (AOL)

Leads teams that implement ad servers.

Bryant Mason, Microsoft

Builds advertising platforms that handle billions of requests each day.

Tony Ralph, Yahoo!

Performs monitoring and analysis of ad quality and performance.

Moderator – Eric Goldsmith, AOL

Performance analyst, with proclivity for ad performance.

Format Start with some prepared questions To get us started Provide context and framework and a few illustrative visuals Then we’ll open it up to the audience…

Start with some prepared questions

To get us started

Provide context and framework

and a few illustrative visuals

Then we’ll open it up to the audience…

Advertising Ecosystem There are typically several key parties involved in ad creation and delivery Advertiser – wants to advertise a product Agency – creates the ad components for Advertiser Vendor – hosts and serves ad components for Agency Publisher – provides the pages on which ads appear

There are typically several key parties involved in ad creation and delivery

Advertiser – wants to advertise a product

Agency – creates the ad components for Advertiser

Vendor – hosts and serves ad components for Agency

Publisher – provides the pages on which ads appear

nth-Party Ad Serving Many Publishers maintain a list of approved ad Vendors Sometimes Vendors serve ads via another Vendor Known as a 3 rd -party Ad Server to the Publisher Most Publishers only allow approved 3 rd -parties, in order to control quality Sometimes the 3 rd -party vendors use other vendors… Creating 4 th -party, or even 5 th -party scenarios Many publishers don’t allow 4 th -party Ad Serving

Many Publishers maintain a list of approved ad Vendors

Sometimes Vendors serve ads via another Vendor

Known as a 3 rd -party Ad Server to the Publisher

Most Publishers only allow approved 3 rd -parties, in order to control quality

Sometimes the 3 rd -party vendors use other vendors…

Creating 4 th -party, or even 5 th -party scenarios

Many publishers don’t allow 4 th -party Ad Serving

Questions I hear web developers complain that ads are the main thing slowing down their pages. Is that a valid complaint?

I hear web developers complain that ads are the main thing slowing down their pages. Is that a valid complaint?

Ad Impact Example Ads East Coast West Coast

Questions cont’d What is it about ads that make them slow?

What is it about ads that make them slow?

Selecting and Rendering an Ad

Questions cont’d Do you have any examples of slow ads?

Do you have any examples of slow ads?

Ad vendor (3 rd Party) 1 st host, 1 st conn Ad network setup (4 th Party) 2 nd host, 2 nd conn Ad network tag 2 nd host, 3 rd conn Ad network tracking pixel1 2 nd host, 4 th conn Ad network iframe 2 nd host, 5 th conn Ad network more tracking pixel2 2 nd host, 6 th conn 3 rd Party counting 3 rd host , 7 th conn Ad network targeting 4 th host , 8 th conn Ad vendor (5 th Party) 5 th host, 9 th conn Ad vendor (6 th Party) 6 th host, 10 th conn 5 th Party instrumentation 7 th host, 11 th conn Metrics Co. 1 8 th host, 12 th conn Metrics Co. 2 9 th host, 13 th conn 6 th party ad image 11 th host 15 th conn … more from Metrics Co. 2 10 th host 14 th conn

Questions cont’d Why is it hard to make ads fast?

Why is it hard to make ads fast?

Questions cont’d Why has it gotten to this point?

Why has it gotten to this point?

Questions cont’d What's being done about it?

What's being done about it?

Adhere to Best Practices Ad agencies should produce creatives that Comply with IAB guidelines Are optimized for minimal round-trips Ad vendors should adhere to various best practices, including Enforcing appropriate creative acceptance policies related to ad performance (file size, etc.) Geo-distributing ad selection servers Supporting performance optimizations for ad selection calls, such as keep-alives and compression Using CDNs for static content Publishers should Consider ad integration when optimizing their own site performance Initiate ad calls as early as possible in the page download sequence Make ad calls asynchronously to other page content

Ad agencies should produce creatives that

Comply with IAB guidelines

Are optimized for minimal round-trips

Ad vendors should adhere to various best practices, including

Enforcing appropriate creative acceptance policies related to ad performance (file size, etc.)

Geo-distributing ad selection servers

Supporting performance optimizations for ad selection calls, such as keep-alives and compression

Using CDNs for static content

Publishers should

Consider ad integration when optimizing their own site performance

Initiate ad calls as early as possible in the page download sequence

Make ad calls asynchronously to other page content

Questions cont’d What can individual web sites do to avoid having ads slow down their pages?

What can individual web sites do to avoid having ads slow down their pages?

Questions cont’d Questions from the audience?

Questions from the audience?

Additional Resources IAB Ad Load Performance Best Practices www.iab.net/media/file/IAB_Ad_Load_Perfomance_BP_FINAL.pdf IAB Best Practices for Asynchronous Ads www.iab.net/media/file/rich_media_ajax_best_practices.pdf (includes info on loading ads asynchronously in Ad Friendly IFRAMEs)

IAB Ad Load Performance Best Practices

www.iab.net/media/file/IAB_Ad_Load_Perfomance_BP_FINAL.pdf

IAB Best Practices for Asynchronous Ads

www.iab.net/media/file/rich_media_ajax_best_practices.pdf

(includes info on loading ads asynchronously in Ad Friendly IFRAMEs)

Thank you

Thank you