What is an Ad Network?
Simply put, an ad network is a company that connects advertisers to web sites that want to host advertisements. A key function of an ad network is to aggregate ad space from publishers and to match it with advertiser demand. In order to determine the most practical network for each publisher, we examined 7 key factors:
Type of Site (of publisher)- For simplicity reasons, we’ve categorized publisher websites into 6 broad categories.
Estimated CPM- The estimated CPM or cost per thousand ads shown is an indication of the potential revenue from an ad network. The value can vary depending on many factors, such as geography and site content. We’ve derived CPMs for each network in order to make them comparable.
Types of Ads- The main types of ads offered by each ad network. Most have additional types not listed.
Minimum Payout Amount- Minimum amount of earned ad revenue required for publishers to receive payment from the ad network.
Payout Method- Methods by which publishers can receive their earned ad revenue.
Geo-coverage- Restrictions or optimal locations for website audiences.
Targeting Type- An overview of how the ad network will target visitors with ads. This has a large effect on how suitable an ad network is for different types of sites.
Website Categories
We developed 5 broad website personas while researching where different types of ad networks were appropriate. They are:
General – Sites such as a personal blog or business.
Specific Focus- Sites that have a specific niche audience or topic, for example a blog dedicated to social media marketing.
High-value product focus- Sites that focus on topics or products of high value, for example professional camera equipment.
User-base in big cities- Sites with visitors from distinguishable geographical clusters, for example a site about Manhattan pizza places.
Product/Service Review sites- Sites where product/service reviews are likely to appear in search results, such as movie review sites.
Long-form Content- Sites that have lengthy articles over 500 words, for example a news or review site.
While your site may not fall directly into one of these categories, you should get a better sense of how different ad networks will cater to your needs.
While documenting the journey of first-time publishers, we uncovered that comparing pricing models can be a bit difficult. This post gives a brief overview of each pricing model and explains how to compare their revenue potential.
CPM – payment when an ad is seen
CPM (cost per mille or thousand impressions) is the granddaddy of them all- a pricing model that existed long before the advent of the internet. Under this pricing model the publisher is paid every time a website visitor sees an ad. It’s commonly used where an advertiser wants a branding campaign; the focus is on raising consumer awareness of a company or product rather than persuading them to buy right now.
A nice easy example to start with: a website that charges a CPM of $5 will earn $5 for every 1,000 ads that its visitors see.
CPC – payment when an ad is clicked
The interactive nature of websites allows advertisers to be more discerning about when they pay. Since the early days of the internet the ‘click’ has been used as a measure of ad effectiveness, as it indicates their interest in a product or service. The percentage of website visitors who see an ad and click it is referred to as the click-through-rate or CTR and the website is paid a cost per click (CPC) for each click on an ad. Given the CPC of an ad and its CTR we can work our way back to a CPM (sometimes referred to as an estimated CPM or eCPM). This is useful if you want to compare the performance of ad networks that use different pricing models.
eCPM = CPC * CTR * 1,000 (because it relates to 1,000 ads)
For example, a website that charges a CPC of $2.50 where 15 in every 10,000 ads are clicked (CTR of 0.0015) will have an eCPM of $3.75
2.50 * 0.0015 * 1,000 = $3.75
CPA – payment when an action is carried out
Pricing models have moved beyond the click, and it is now common for the publisher to pay acost per user action (CPA). Affiliate advertising is a familiar application of this pricing model: the website is only paid when a website visitor clicks through an ad and completes a purchase on the advertiser’s site. Other common CPA actions include signing up to a mailing list, or a trial account with a service.
In comparison to CPC the CPA pricing model is another degree of separation away from CPM. We first estimate a CPC using the CPA and a conversion rate from clicks to actions which we call the Action Rate (AR). The AR is the percentage of visitors to the advertiser’s site who go on to complete the Action.
eCPC = CPA * AR
For example consider an advertiser who pays $10 per action (CPA) and 10% of visitors carry out the action (AR). This equates the an estimated cost per click of $1.
10 * 0.1 = $1
We can take this eCPC and convert it to an eCPM the same way as we did above. Let’s assume the same rate of 15 in every 10,000 visitors clicks on the ad (CTR 0.0015). This yields an eCPM of $1.50
1.00 * 0.0015 * 1,000 = $1.50
CPM V CPC V CPA
Each of these pricing models is appropriate in different circumstances, and one is not necessarily better than the others. The trick is to be able to compare them fairly when you’re choosing an ad network for your site; hopefully this helps!
Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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