Establish The Value Of Your Ad Inventory With These Tips

Establish The Value Of Your Ad Inventory With These Tips

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The utmost important thing that advertisers are on the lookout for is to find the best space to display their ads. That is where the role of the publishers comes into action. The publishers sell their ad inventory via different channels including the private marketplaces, header bidding, programmatic guaranteed and direct sales. Advertisers are well aware of the fact that higher CPMs and CTRs can be attained through high-value inventory. And no advertiser will settle for anything else but the finest in the market.

Ad inventory therefore plays an important role. These advertisers evaluate the value of an ad inventory on the basis of the probability of getting sales and conversion. But for the publisher, the value of an ad inventory is determined on the basis of the revenue they can generate. 

Determining The Value Of An Ad Inventory

It is important that the publishers should know what the right value of their ad inventory is. Only when the publishers know the actual value of their ad inventory will they be able to evaluate whether they have been selling the ad inventory at the right price. If publishers are unaware of the right value, they could be selling the ad inventory at an undervalued price.

So, accumulate the answers to the following questions before you fix the price.

Where will the ads be placed?

The placing of ads is divided into ways, Above the Fold and Below the Fold. The results achieved from both the ways are different. In case of Above the Fold (ATF) ads, the view rate is higher because these ads are placed very prominently. Therefore, the chances of user interaction are also higher. Due to this characteristic of ATF, the buyers are more inclined towards ATF inventory and pay more in order to yield better results.

Below the Fold ads are in most cases only taken into consideration by buyers when ATF inventory is not available. BTFs are capable of bringing in decently good revenue on sites that have a good scroll depth.

What ad types and ad sizes are being used?

After certain evaluation, results have shown that a few particular ad sizes like 300×600, 300×250 and 728×90 perform better when compared to other sizes. The ads in these sizes get a great number of clicks when accompanied by the right placements. As a result, the CTR, CPM as well as viewability improves. That is why buyers prefer these placements over others. It is not just the static display ads that are preferred. Even dynamic ad types like rich media ads also gain more user attention due to their interactivity.

What is the location of the users?

Both publishers as well as advertisers regard the traffic of the US as most valuable. It is only after the US that the other English speaking countries are taken into consideration. But with time, local advertisers are also exploring other geographies for ad inventories. Programmatic advertising has also provided publishers an access to an increased global demand.

What is the division of the total traffic source?

Having a detailed structure of the traffic sources is of vital importance in order to analyze the actual value of the ad inventory. For instance, a website can conclude that it has a high value inventory if it has 80% or more organic, direct or search traffic share. Users of such websites are high intent and are likely to have a better time on site. A website that has traffic from social media or paid channels, on the other hand, will not be valued as high as other websites. The reason is that the users of these websites come in through external triggers, so they bounce off sooner.

What is the evaluated average fill rate?

Advertisers are interested in a website wherein ad requests prosperously convert to impressions. The competition amongst buyers increases due to various factors. One of these factors is the high fill rate. With an increase in competition, there are comparatively higher bids for the publisher’s inventory.

What is the viewability rate on an average?

Publishers that have a high viewability score for the ads, have a high value inventory as well. Buyers have information about this evaluation and are therefore willing to pay more. Because then they will have access to the ad placements where the ads that they will post will actually be seen.

Ways To Improve The Value of Ad Inventory

• Evaluate the performances of different ad sizes. It is seen that in most of the cases, the wider and larger ad sizes perform better and yield higher CTRs in comparison to the smaller ones.  
• Keep a check on your floor prices. If they are too high, they may be stopping the buyers from bidding on the ad inventories that you present. You need to keep a check on the floor prices for not being too low either, or else you would incur losses.
• Thoroughly analyze all the important website metrics like the bounce rate, time-on-site, pageview or session, etc. A healthy metric signifies that your inventory is of high value.
• Have a record of your goodwill in the market amongst your media buyers, advertisers and others. Evaluate if your user experience is up to the mark and do the users even find the content useful or not. Also analyze if your SEO game is strong enough or not. 

Concluding Words

The question of which ad inventory is premium has been doing the rounds since a very long time. The question however, has no certain answer till date. The issue remains subjective because of the unavailability of a qualification metric. 

So the publishers should indefinitely work towards improving the quality of the ad inventories. They should make changes to be able to provide more value to buyers. The revenue cycle needs to have a determined value of the ad inventory on a granular level. Only then can they maximize the results. 

FAQs:

1. How can publishers maximize their results?

The question of which ad inventory is premium has been doing the rounds for a very long time. So the publishers should indefinitely work towards improving the quality of the ad inventories. They should make changes to be able to provide more value to buyers. The revenue cycle needs to have a determined value of the ad inventory on a granular level. Only then can they maximize the results.

2. How can publishers determine the value of their ad inventory?

For publishers, the value of an ad inventory is determined on the basis of the revenue they can generate. Only when the publishers know the actual value of their ad inventory will they be able to evaluate whether they have been selling the ad inventory at the right price. 

3. How can the value of ad inventory be improved?

• Evaluate the performances of different ad sizes. 
• Keep a check on your floor prices. If they are too high, they may be stopping the buyers from bidding on the ad inventories that you present. 
• Thoroughly analyze all the important website metrics like the bounce rate, time-on-site, pageview or session, etc.
• Have a record of your goodwill in the market amongst your media buyers, advertisers, and others.