1. An ad server works by picking ads to display when a webpage is loaded or refreshed. It helps publishers manage ad space and track campaign performance metrics. 2. Advertising networks emerged as intermediaries between advertisers and publishers to more efficiently place ads, but their proliferation created complexity. 3. Real-time bidding was introduced to automate and simplify online ad purchasing through auctions that occur in milliseconds before webpages load.

1. After refreshing the
page there were
two new ads

2. How did these ads
get placed here ?

3. Q. How do these ads appear?
Q. Who decides to shoot one
particular ad and not some other one?
Q. How the order of these ads are
decided?

4. Ad Server
Initially , there was an ad server in the data center , when the page was loaded by the user the
ad server was called and the ad was picked and showed.

5. How an ad server works?

6. Functions of an ad server
The ad server is web based and constantly updated. This means that the visitor is always
shown new ads – whenever the visitor visits or refreshes a webpage.
•An ad server also helps the publisher monitor and manage the available advertising space on
a website.
•Track the number of impressions and clicks delivered by each campaign
•Target specific segments of visitors through for example geographical or behavioral targeting
•Prevent campaigns from appearing on pages with semantically controversial content
•Create availability forecasts, which can help you determine the future available advertising
space
•Draw reports on advertisers or specific campaigns to see how the individual
customers/campaigns are performing

7. Advertiser
(for example , jabong.com)
Publisher
(the one who has ad inventory available .
Ad inventory can be ad space or email
database . For example ,
www.hindustantimes.com
Is a publisher . )
Initially , an advertiser used to contact the publisher directly and ask the publisher to display his
ad on the website.

8. Advertisers Publisher
As the number of advertisers and publishers increased it became very difficult to place ads.

9. This lead to the creation of ad networks . Ad network became a common platform for
advertisers and publishers. An ad network represented many advertisers , they then went to the
publishers and made a deal with them that whenever they have an ad space available they will
display the ad given by the advertising network.
Advertisers
Advertisers
Advertisers
Advertisers
Advertisers
Advertisers
Advertisers
Advertisers
Ad Network
PublisherPublisherPublisherPublisherPublisherPublisher
The publishers began to work with many ad networks as they wanted to choose the best one .
Therefore , the number of ad network also increased with time , creating lot of mess !

10. How does an advertising network
work?
(CPL/CPA/CPRC/CPS/CPV)
The work of an advertising network starts as
the publisher starts registering with the ad
network .
The media buying team identifies the target audience of
the campaign ,develops campaign objectives and plans
the best route to attain them. It negotiates with the
publishers to start the campaign at a profitable rate
The publisher displays the
given campaign on the
website
The advertising network
sends a tracking code or a
pixel which incorporates
the creative to the
publisher
At the same time the sales
team of the advertising
networks brings in
advertisers to advertise
with the registered
publishers
The advertising network
provides a platform to the
publisher and the
advertiser to analyze the
campaign and determine
its performance .

11. Here is the screenshot of the Ibibo ads manager . It
tracks various campaigns and it’s performance

12. http://tracking.ads.ibibo.com/?a=110&c=1686&s1
A tracking code of a CPL ad campaign looks like this
This code is incorporated within the banner ad to track the number of leads and other
Variables.

13. All these companies ,networks ,service providers came
together to make online advertising faster and efficient at the
same time creating a huge mess .

14. •They added value to online advertising industry.
•They also made online advertising very complicated
•Due to these services there were lot of ads on the web pages
which weren’t properly configured , hence it took a lot of
time for the page to load
• As these services work by putting a java script on the
browser it lead to increase in user-facing latency .
•This was bad for the user and publisher ( as it took a lot of
time for the page to load users got frustrated)

15. To simplify the process of online
advertisement and to make it more
efficient and fast ,
real time bidding was introduced.

16. Three prominent platforms in
RTB Landscape

17. It automates the purchasing of online advertisements
on behalf of the advertisers. It also helps them set
buying the parameters and analyze the performance of
the campaign.
DSP

18. Publisher provide ad inventory many publishers are
increasingly using supply side platforms to make a better
use of their inventory
Publishers

19. It is a software tool that connects advertisers and publishers
facilitating the purchase of display inventory in real time
through auctions in milliseconds before the page loads .
It is through this that publishers get maximum prize
for running the campaign and the advertisers are able to
purchase Individual impressions at prizes that reflect each
impression’s value to the campaign
Ad
exchange

20. Publishers
The publisher provides its
inventory to the ad
exchange Ad
exchange
The ad exchange is responsible for
holding up the auction
DSP
During the same time
the DSP will place a bid
on each Impression on
behalf of the advertiser.
The value of the
bid is based on the
value of that impression
as determined by the
advertisers parameters
with the DSP
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
The Process
The bidding process ensures that
the impression is sold at the maximum price
Once the winner (through second price
auction) is chosen the ad is shown on the
publishers website
This process takes place in 100 milliseconds