NEW YORK – ADTECH, AOL Advertising’s global ad serving platform, announced the launch of an expanded online video advertising solution. With research showing that U.S. Internet users viewed more than 30 billion videos online this past April alone1, ADTECH’s online video product has been enhanced to meet the growing customer demand to manage, traffic and report on online video advertising campaigns.

“Our expanded video solution is a powerful tool for marketers. Its streamlined workflow monetizes video advertising to determine the right combination for video and display placements and, ultimately, bolster revenue,” said Dirk Freytag, president of ADTECH and head of AOL Advertising Technologies. “With seamless integration, advanced targeting and real-time measurement capabilities, this product provides consolidated reporting, empowering advertisers to gain critical insight into their video campaign’s impact.”

Freytag adds, “Video has become a mass market, which needs professional ad serving solutions such as our ADTECH Video technology. Rising campaign figures mean efficiency is crucial. We define efficiency as ease of use, open interfaces and the integration of display and video campaigns.”

A granular reporting view makes it easier to identify the right combination of campaign placement for video and display, and measure each component to see what‘s really driving results. Each month, ADTECH serves more than two billion video ads and current customer Tremor Media was cited by ComScore as the top video ad network with a potential reach of 102.8 million viewers.

As with all ADTECH products, customers can expect reliable service and in-depth expert consultation, which are designed to ensure that each customer gains optimum benefit of their online video advertising projects. In addition, ADTECH ‘s video solution is VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) compliant and has been designed to easily adapt to changes in market standards and guidelines. VAST is a standardized template for the online digital video advertising business.

About ADTECH

ADTECH is an international supplier of digital marketing solutions and is AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad server solution that enables web publishers, ad networks, agencies and advertisers to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s solution differentiates itself from the competition through its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like BSkyB, Hi-media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL Inc.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

1 comScore Video Metrix data, June 2010

“This seal confirms ADTECH’s quality performance in the delivery and reporting of digital advertising,” says CEO Dirk Freytag. “Only those systems that deliver banners in compliance with MRC and IAB standards receive accreditation. This is an important building block that will strengthen the credibility of online advertising. It will reassure our clients and it guarantees professionalism and trustworthiness in a very technical trade.”

MRC Executive Director and CEO George Ivie stated, “ADTECH’s commitment to the MRC accreditation process is a sign of its commitment to quality measurement, and we’re very pleased that ADTECH is now among the industry leaders who have the distinction of achieving MRC accreditation.”

About ADTECH

ADTECH is a leading international supplier of digital marketing solutions and is AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad serving platform. It enables networks, web publishers, advertisers and agencies to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s ad serving solution differentiates itself via its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like Sky, Hi-Media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is an ultimate wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL Inc.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE:AOL) is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings.

“ADTECH’s modern and flexible platform brings increased efficiency and scalability to our business,” said Phil Connell, Director of Operations and Corporate Strategy for Olive Media. “Offered in combination with a knowledgeable Canadian-based support group, ADTECH demonstrated a genuine desire to partner with Olive in our continued effort to provide best-in-class service to advertisers and publishers in the Canadian market.”

ADTECH is committed to providing ad serving technology to the Canadian market with dedicated staff headquartered in Toronto and partnerships with leading online properties including The Weather Network, MétéoMédia and now Olive Media.

About ADTECH

ADTECH is a leading international supplier of digital marketing solutions and AOL Advertising’s ad serving platform. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad serving platform. It enables networks, web publishers, advertisers and agencies to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s ad serving solution differentiates itself via its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH customers include major players like Sky, Hi-Media, Gannett and Fox Networks. ADTECH AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL LLC.

About AOL

AOL is a leading global Web services company with an extensive suite of brands and offerings and a substantial worldwide audience. AOL’s business spans online content, products and services that the company offers to consumers, publishers and advertisers. AOL is focused on attracting and engaging consumers and providing valuable online advertising services on both AOL’s owned and operated properties and third-party websites. In addition, AOL operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services in the United States, which serves as a valuable distribution channel for AOL’s consumer offerings. AOL LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. with employees in 18 countries across the globe.

About Olive Media: www.olivemedia.ca

Olive Media is a leader in the online advertising market in Canada and has the ability to reach over 14 million unique Canadian visitors monthly* on a variety of top-tier sites. Olive Media offers Canadian media buyers a one-stop shop for highly-engaged online Canadian audiences across premium Canadian and U.S. content channels, including NYTimes.com, People.com, readersdigest.ca, CNET.com, ArtistDirect.com, thestar.com, toronto.com, cyberpresse.ca and tetesaclaques.tv.

Olive Brand Response, an Olive Media product, offers advertisers the opportunity to run performance-related campaigns on over 2000 Canadian and U.S. websites. Olive Media is a partnership between Torstar Digital, a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. and a company owned by the same group as Gesca Ltd, a newspaper and websites publishing subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada.

*Custom Olive Media report, based on comScore Media Metrix Audience Duplication report (July 2009)

Jesse Poppick, President of AOI, is looking forward to bringing Ad-Juster to the market place: “AOI is in a unique position to provide digital publishers with access to Ad-Juster.  We see Ad-Juster as a step towards an ad operations holy grail”.

Ad-Juster is not just a tool for ad operations, however.  “Ad Sales, Operations and Finance and Billing groups will all benefit from access to 3rd party data”, says Mike Lewis, President of Ad-Juster.  “We have designed Ad-Juster to be flexible and easy to use, while keeping the price point low.  We know this is a solution to a universal problem and we want Ad-Juster to be accessible to everyone”, Mr. Lewis continued.

Ad-Juster automatically pulls ad delivery data from all 3rd party systems (DFA, Atlas, Ad Networks, and Rich Media Vendors) into one, easy to read report.  Delivery Reports can be customized with over a dozen different data columns and can be set up to be delivered directly into an email in-box every day.

Ad-Juster also identifies ad delivery discrepancies between 3rd parties and a local ad serving system.  The Discrepancy Report can also be set up to be delivered directly into an email in-box every day, providing ad traffickers with the actionable data they need to aggressively manage digital ad campaigns.

http://www.ad-juster.com

Ad Operations Interactive is the exclusive global reseller of Ad-Juster.  For sales information contact: sales@adopsinc.com or call 646-784-4650

Tremor Media’s Acudeo technology is a patent-pending video solution that provides publishers and advertisers with a platform to monetize streaming video and maximize ROI. Rather than build an ad server in-house, Tremor has elected to leverage ADTECH’s best of breed solution for campaign scheduling and delivery, and has integrated ADTECH with Acudeo. ADTECH’s ad serving solution will facilitate the delivery of Tremor’s proprietary video formats across the Tremor network which reaches more than 135 million unique visitors – more than 70% of the U.S. Internet audience – across 1,400 publisher sites each month. This vast audience can also be segmented through Tremor Media’s behavioral, contextual, geographical and bandwidth targeting.

“By selecting ADTECH, Tremor Media will leverage an integrated solution that simplifies the management and control of video advertising in a variety of formats,” said Dirk Freytag, CEO of ADTECH. “Tremor Media has a history of working with advertisers across multiple advertising categories, and ADTECH’s technology will increase Tremor Media’s ability to achieve higher click-through rates, more efficient delivery, and increase overall ROI for video advertising as it becomes a more dominant, effective form of reaching consumers.”

“ADTECH’s ad serving capabilities provide us with a reliable back-end solution for delivering the wide array of ad formats offered by Tremor Media,” said Andrew Reis, Chief Operating Officer, Tremor Media. “We are pleased to take advantage of ADTECH’s scalable solutions and advanced feature set.”

Since January 2008, 170 new ad networks, publishers and agencies worldwide have opted to use Platform-A’s ADTECH for digital ad serving, including major companies such as U.S. media giants Gannett and .Fox Networks, German Interactive Media, as well as Aftonbladet and Nettavisen. In late 2007, Platform-A was established by combining AOL’s advertising business, Advertising.com, TACODA, and Quigo to provide marketers with an efficient, effective means to leverage display, video, mobile, contextual, affiliate and search marketing solutions. The mission of Platform-A is to make it easier for marketers to build their audiences, drive scale and achieve growth in a fragmented market.

To date, Platform-A has fully integrated its sales forces, and developed one insertion order and other processes to streamline ad buying. In addition, Platform-A has accelerated its product development efforts with recent launches that include Spot Marketplace, which enables advertisers to bid on nonreserved inventory across AOL’s Web sites; PubAccess, a self-service interface enabling Web sites to place their inventory for sale in Platform-A’s third party display network; audience targeting across Platform-A; and the creation of a 300 x 600 ad unit across AOL’s homepages and co-branded sites.

About ADTECH

ADTECH is a leading international supplier of digital marketing solutions. The company’s flagship product is an integrated ad serving platform. It enables networks, web publishers and agencies to manage serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. ADTECH’s ad serving solution differentiates itself via its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and user-friendly tools, providing users with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. ADTECH handles more than 100 billion ad impressions monthly and its customers include major players like BSKY, Hi-Media, Gannett and .Fox Networks. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Platform-A and is Platform-A’s ad serving platform for reserved ad placements. Visit www.adtech.com for more information.

About Tremor Media

Tremor Media is the leading online video advertising network providing advertisers with both in-banner and in-stream video advertising opportunities on over 1,400 top-tier publisher sites with more than 135 million unique visitors per month.

Tremor also offers the Acudeo Video Monetization Platform for publishers, a full suite of products and services to monetize streaming video and maximize ROI. Tremor’s full service solutions offer the necessary tools for advertisers and publishers to utilize online video advertising as a powerful interactive medium. For more information visit: http://www.tremormedia.com

IAB Leadership Forum

LOS ANGELES – Sometrics (http://www.sometrics.com) launched its Virtual Currency Platform – the industry’s first ad server to manage all virtual currency monetization from multiple offer providers.

As the benefits of the incentivized virtual currency revenue model are becoming more apparent, the industry is seeing an influx of providers in the space. Sometrics’ new platform will manage offers from any ad network, including Super Rewards, Offerpal and SocialMedia Networks. Sometrics will measure and report revenue, completion rates and demographic details, to help application developers analyze the effectiveness of each offer network.

Developers are then able to optimize and create new unique offers for all of these networks directly from the Sometrics Virtual Currency Platform.

“Sometrics will optimize existing virtual currency revenue, providing lift with current offer vendors,” said Ian Swanson, Sometrics co-founder and CEO. “Our platform also provides a more transparent and updated dashboard – one place to see all virtual currency revenue, across all apps and offer providers. There’s a host of offer networks available to developers, but most don’t provide much in the way of detailed reporting or transparency of results. Our platform is game-changing as the first solution designed to tackle this problem and give developers a way to optimize revenue streams across the board.”

Developers and publishers of social applications increasingly rely on incentive-based offers to encourage their users to take a particular action – view an ad, for example – ultimately increasing advertising revenue.

More than 1,800 publishers of social applications and communities are now using Sometrics’ social advertising and measurement solutions to increase traffic and boost revenue. Sometrics is the first to tailor its analytics and ad managing solutions to focus on social networking platforms and applications, providing the most relevant and effective audience analysis and social ad targeting available.

For product demos, contact Jennifer or Mickey at demo@sometrics.com.

About Sometrics

Sometrics is pioneering social intelligence – combining deep, relevant social analytics with precision-targeted ad managing/social branding capabilities to help developers and brands monetize the social web. Founded by developers, Sometrics is the first to tailor its analytics and ad managing solutions to focus on social networking platforms and applications. It provides the most relevant and effective audience analysis available, helping developers and brands better understand who’s doing what within the major social networking communities and ultra-targeted niche sites. Sometrics has more than 1,800 developers using its analytics tools across multiple social networks; some have reported 200 percent growth in traffic. Sometrics is the first recipient of capital from The Mail Room Fund, an investment consortium that combines big Hollywood (the William Morris Talent Agency) with Silicon Valley (Accel and Venrock). Its first funding round also included AT&T and Greycroft Partners. Sometrics is based in Los Angeles.

SAN FRANCISCO – Proving that green business is good business, SustainLane Media (SLM) more than doubled its audience reach in 2008. SLM’s Green Ad Network (www.sustainlanegreenadnetwork.com) now encompasses 21 million users, up from 10 million in January, as measured by IAB ad server Adify. This parallels a rapid expansion of content and increased demand from advertisers targeting the growing mainstream, green-minded demographic.

The list of Green Ad Network partners comprises well-known blue chip corporations and progressive, forward-thinking companies across all sectors. Volkswagen, National Grid, Tom’s of Maine (Colgate-Palmolive), FIJI Water, Procter and Gamble, Toyota, Esurance and Visa, are among those who chose SLM’s Green Ad Network in 2008. All ad campaigns are now carbon neutral, as the Green Ad Network began offsetting carbon produced by campaigns this year—the only ad network in the industry to do so.

“SustainLane Media’s Green Ad Network has been an excellent media partner for DMNA and our newest client, Save the Planet and Win,” said Darin Albers, Partner/Media Director, DMNA. “We need to penetrate the green community, and the Green Ad Network enables reach into many, smaller, niche, content-appropriate Web sites—and all with one point of contact, one buy. Once up and running, SLM’s Green Ad Network also gave us the flexibility needed to optimize the campaign.”

Home to the greatest number of green Web sites, the Green Ad Network has increased to 125 premium content properties across 10 channels: Green Autos, Green Portals, Outdoor and Environment, Socially Responsible Investing, Green Business to Business, Home and Garden, Cause and Awareness, Organic Food and Beverage, Natural Health and Beauty and Green Hollywood. Member sites include Ecostocks.com, ScientificAmerican.com, Wisebread.com, Edible Communities Publications (EdibleManhattan, EdibleBoston, etc.), PlanetPals.com, EatDrinkBetter.com and Ecopreneurist.com.

“As SustainLane Media moves into its fifth year, our green brand is rapidly attracting the leading advertisers and publishers in the industry,” said James Elsen, President and CEO of SLM. “It’s our goal to bring together the best green content on the Web with top-tier advertisers interested in reaching the socially-conscious consumer.”

Based on current growth trends, the Green Ad Network is expected to reach 50 to 60 million unique monthly users across 500 publishers by the end of 2009.

About SustainLane Media

The Web’s largest green media company, SustainLane Media (www.sustainlane.com) delivers a mix of compelling consumer, business and government properties promoting green living. SLM has a reach of over 21 million unique monthly users, covering 300 million+ monthly pageviews. Company entities include the nation’s largest premium green ad network; sustainlane.com, a leading consumer portal featuring tips, news and how-tos; a local green business directory with over 20k small business listings; the highly acclaimed and widely referenced SustainLane U.S. City Rankings; an award-winning government best practices knowledge management system; the GreenSaver e-circular coupon service; and hit children’s animated show Gorilla in the Greenhouse.

The Tristitial is inspired by the classic rotating billboards of outdoor advertising that enable the same ad space to be shared by three different online campaigns.

The Tristitial is comprised of 3 static GIFs and/or JPEGs (one static GIF or JPEG for each advertiser) and can optionally integrate up to 3 Flash-based creatives that are downloaded and displayed at run-time.

The Tristitial utilizes advanced tracking techniques that allow the separate impression counting and click tracking for each displayed banner. Tristitials come in a basic and in a Flash-enhanced form:

- Basic Tristitials embed only static GIFs and JPEGs;
- Enhanced Tristitials can also download at run-time Flash creatives to be animated during the transition between campaigns.

Benefits of using Tristitials:

- provides publishers with a solution to any ad inventory shortage, whether seasonal or year-round;

- can be used as a solution to reduce ad clutter, such as home pages with heavy traffic;

- can statistically ensure an equal exposure to all 3 creatives within the Tristitial.

The Tristitial is not designed as a tool to triple the impression count of a publisher’s ad inventory or as a way to deceive advertisers with false reporting. The snap2eyes agreement governing the Tristitial prohibits the publisher from using such Tristitial to share an ad space among multiple advertisers without their prior consent.

Browser & OS Compatibility: Macromedia Flash Player version 7 or higher is required

Typical Ad Call to Display Ratio: 1:1. As with any rich media ad that is served correctly, if the Tristitial cannot be served for lack of a sufficiently current Flash Player, then an alternate image is served. This is possible as a result of the JavaScript being disabled, which is required for the “sniffer” code to execute, in the event that the required plug-in is missing or the plug-in version is incompatible with the ad (source: DoubleClick Help Center).

Ad Serving Recommendations: Macromedia Flash Player plug-in “sniffer” code is recommended to allow serving an alternate image when the “sniffer” fails to execute (JavaScript disabled), or fails to detect presence of the correct version of Macromedia Flash Player plug-in, if any.

As with any other rich media ad, the Tristitial can be served while writing the required tags dynamically into a webpage or a layer, or by populating inline frames. Regardless of the method used, JavaScript should always be used to detect the presence of a compatible Macromedia Flash Player plug-in.)

Due to security restrictions of Macromedia Flash Player, and because an Enhanced Tristitial utilizes cross-movie scripting, all 3 Flash creatives as well as the Tristitial itself should be uploaded and served from the same fully qualified domain name (FQDN) (and in the case of the Tristitial, from the same ad server).

Details: http://www.tristitial.com and http://www.snap2eyes.com.

Additional source: help.doubleclick.com

NEW YORK – Ringleader Digital, a leading mobile third-party ad serving platform technology provider, today announced that go2 Media has selected Ringleader Digital as a mobile ad server for its Mobile Content Network™. go2 Media’s selection of Ringleader Digital illustrates that leading mobile sites understand that the deployment of an open third-party ad serving model is pivotal to a company’s mobile advertising success. Ringleader Digital’s mobile campaign management platform simplifies mobile advertising by automating and accelerating advertising campaign distribution to virtually any mobile publisher, and offering real-time campaign management visibility, and centralized reporting across sites, networks, and new media.

go2 Media is one of the largest mobile local search and content information publisher networks in the United States, providing brands and advertisers with a large content portfolio through which they can target and reach the mobile consumer. Ringleader Digital’s ad serving platform provides the technical features and functionality that will allow go2 Media to effectively manage and monetize all the mobile web sites in the go2 Media content network, including go2 Movies®, go2 Dining, go2 Sporting News, and go2 Travel.

“Ringleader Digital offers us more advertising and business collaboration flexibility with technology features such as enhanced targeting abilities and centralized reporting,” said Tim Solt, SVP of Sales and Business Development of go2 Media. “Ringleader Digital makes it possible for us to easily expand the go2 mobile content network by integrating with multiple mobile advertising networks.”

Drawing from the successful online advertising model of open standards, Ringleader Digital delivers advertising to nearly all mobile sites and networks. Ringleader Digital’s third-party advertising model continues to gain attention from major industry players including advertisers, agencies, and publishers. The company’s unique ability to integrate advanced campaign features including sequential creatives and animated GIF support, as well as the ability to provide common reporting that integrates with DoubleClick and Atlas ad management systems are only a few of the reasons why companies have integrated with Ringleader Digital’s ad server.

“We are very excited to work with such a well known and leading company in the mobile content arena,” said Bob Walczak, CEO of Ringleader Digital. “As a company that has been a major player in mobile for the past decade, go2 Media’s selection of Ringleader Digital’s ad and mobile campaign management platforms demonstrate the value of an open third-party ad network and the need for the mobile advertising industry to adopt a model that differentiates itself from the closed loop model.”

About Ringleader Digital

As the next-generation mobile advertising network, Ringleader Digital brings the online advertising experience to mobile—fulfilling the potential and promise of the mobile Web. Ringleader’s device-agnostic network is the only third-party mobile ad service, and is the first to specifically target ads by device functionality. Ringleader simplifies advertising transactions and delivery by providing brands and publishers the ability to seamlessly and simultaneously distribute ad campaigns across any mobile digital platform. With this unprecedented control, publishers maximize the revenue potential for ad campaigns while brands and advertisers can finally track and audit every element of a campaign’s effectiveness. Ringleader is based in New York City. For more information please visit www.ringleaderdigital.com.

NEW YORK, NY (September 22, 2008)—The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release of “Ad Campaign Measurement Process Guidelines,” at its annual MIXX Conference & Expo in New York. The guidelines address the process of a publisher’s or advertising agency’s use of a third-party ad server and its application service provider. The result of a consensus of participating auditing organizations and the IAB, it provides definitions and guidance on how to audit the processes used in the placement, trafficking and reporting of interactive advertising.

This document will:

* Help the IAB, publishers and ad agencies drive greater transparency and consistency in ad measurement through certification achieved by an audit of technology, process and data.
* Provide a Self-Assessment Questionnaire that allows publishers, third-party ad servers and agencies to perform a self-assessment of their compliance using methods outlined in the document and meant to help the industry reduce discrepancies.

“These guidelines establish methods that, when followed, reduce discrepancies and errors in the process of buying, selling, and delivering interactive advertising—this is a top priority for the IAB,” said Jeremy Fain, Vice President of Industry Services for the IAB.

“The completion of this document is a milestone for the industry as interactive advertising continues to deliver on the promise of accountability and cost effectiveness, and I encourage all stakeholders to quickly adopt these guidelines into their business practices,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President of Industry Services of the IAB.

“These guidelines help all parties in the ad serving process reduce human errors which are one of the leading causes of large impression discrepancies,” said George Ivie, President of the Media Rating Council. “Solving the discrepancies of media measurement is critical and the IAB’s guidelines make real inroads in improving our ability to accurately measure and report ad campaigns.”

To review the complete document, please go to, www.iab.net/campaign_measurement_process

About the IAB:
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Break Media, the Internet’s premier entertainment community for men, and Panache, the video advertising delivery-platform leader, today announced key findings from joint research which tested the effectiveness of four popular in-stream video advertising standard formats established by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in May, 2008.

Leading brands, including Honda and T-Mobile, participated in the study by running campaigns run-of-site on Break.com over an 11 week period, which concluded on August 2, 2008. Each campaign used the four IAB standardized ad units: linear non-interactive (pre-roll), linear interactive (interactive pre-roll), non-linear non-overlay invitation ad (non-overlay ad) and non-linear overlay (overlay ad). The ads ran against short-form professional, semi-professional and user-generated content on Break.com with Panache providing the ad delivery and back-end reporting technology to test user interaction and engagement levels with each ad format.

“The standardization of video ad formats by the IAB was a critical first step in streamlining media buying, planning and creative processes across the digital video medium,” said Keith Richman, CEO of Break Media. “Our research was a result of our desire to provide data about the effectiveness of those new standards to our clients and partners, and to lay a foundation for future research initiatives to build and expand upon.”

Key Findings

Break Media and Panache were able to mine the data for trends and insights into consumer behavior and online engagement using the various ad formats.

Findings showed:
– Overall results demonstrate the high engagement levels of tested ad units and that marketing objectives should drive creative development
– Pre-roll offers a strong call to action (click-thru rates averaged 10%); Non-Overlays’ strength appears to be in building brand awareness (78% viewed the ad for more than 15 seconds, a majority of the time)
– Pre-roll showed surprisingly high engagement with incredibly high click-thru rates when interacting with a targeted audience
– Completion rates for both 15 second pre-roll and interactive pre-roll averaged 87%
– Pre-roll click-thru rate for the 15 second spot was close to 10%
– Interactive pre-roll click-thru rate for the 15 second spot ranged between 11% higher and 35% higher than non interactive pre-roll depending on the nature of the call to action
– The overlay ad yielded high exposure and overall engagement
– 77% viewed campaigns with the overlay ad for at least 15 seconds and click-thru rates were five times industry averages for standard in-page media
– Media-rich creative with bold colors and animation resulted in increased click-thru rates
– Click-thru rates almost tripled for the non-overlay ads when using brighter, vibrant colors (.045 vs. 0.13%)
– When using interactive pre-roll ads, having the entire ad clickable appeared to impact call to action
– Click-thru rates were four times as high when the entire ad was clickable vs. just the call to action.

“For the in-stream advertising market to evolve, the efficacy of ad formats—whether IAB-standard or new emerging formats—needs to be understood in order for our industry to scale,” said Steve Robinson, CEO of Panache. “This research begins to fill the knowledge gap between the formation of standards and the prophetic future of an efficient and scalable online advertising industry.”

“This study offers a window into the measurable effectiveness of new video ad formats, and it moves forward the broader discussion of online brand-building and advertising,” said Daniel Taylor, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “As the industry develops new ways to engage online audiences, it’s important to benchmark the progress we make. By making this study public, Break and Panache have advanced the entire industry.”

The study conducted by Break and Panache provides a guide for advertisers looking to validate online ad spend and determine the best format and creative to lift key engagement metrics and build brands. It is also intended to spur additional insight on best practices for brands advertising online.

About Break Media

Break Media is the Internet’s premier entertainment community for men. Its wholly owned branded properties (Break.com, Cage Potato, Chickipedia, Holy Taco, Wall Street Fighter and Screen Junkies) and the over 70 site Break Media Network reach 50 million men worldwide each month. Founded in 1998, Break Media offers advertisers unrivaled opportunities to market directly to a young, male demographic using innovative ad formats that introduce relevant brands to the audience either broadly or on a targeted, integrated basis. For more information, please visit http://breakmedia.break.com/.

About Panache

Founded in 2006, Panache is a privately held company headquartered in Los Angeles. The Panache technology enables Internet video sites and networks to dynamically deliver any ad format directly into video content from a third-party ad server or ad network. Ad formats can be generated and delivered to viewers based on profiling and behavioral targeting, resulting in a highly customized experience for the user and a highly scalable model for the video publisher. With Panache, ad formats are completely detached from the video player, allowing publishers to create and deploy new advertising formats in minutes without engineering resources. Panache’s patent-pending solution makes it easy to deliver advanced interactive advertising to all video-distribution channels, including broadband, television, IPTV and other emerging technologies. For more information, visit http://www.panachetech.com.

Therefore, whenever you visit a site carrying AdSense ad slots, your browser will likely be served yet one more cookie, taking it to new heights of glycaemia. This is, of course, for your own benefit {insert irony here}… to see more relevant, more targeted ads.

In Google’s own words:

“How does Google use DoubleClick cookies to serve ads?

Google uses the DoubleClick DART cookie on our Google content network to serve more relevant ads across the web and limit the number of times you view an ad. When you visit a website and view an ad or click on an ad supported by Google’s advertising services, we may set a cookie on your browser. This advertising cookie will appear in your browser as .doubleclick.net.

When the cookie is set on your browser, it allows Google to gather information about your browser’s interaction with a given ad. This information gets recorded in a log that looks something like this:

time: 06/Aug/2008 12:01:32
ad_placement_id: 105
ad_id: 1003
userid: 0000000000000001
client_ip: 123.45.67.89
referral_url: “http://youtube.com/categories”

The “time” field reflects the time the ad was displayed. The “ad placement id” and “ad id” identify the advertising campaign and the specific ad served. The “userid” is the display ad cookie that identifies the browser. The “client IP” reflects the user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. A “referral URL” indicates the URL of the page where the ad was served. Our logs also record whether a user’s browser clicks on or interacts with an ad.”

What is unclear yet, and I’m going to test it soon, is what happens when the AdSense JavaScript code is not directly displayed in one’s browser and is executed through an ad server instead. Will be back with the test results soon!

P.S. Haven’t I told you that the AdSense – DoubleClick integration is about to happen any minute?

NEW YORK, NY (July 24, 2008)—The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB ) today announced the public comment release of “Ad Campaign Measurement Process Guidelines,” a document that addresses the process of a publisher’s or advertising agency’s use of a third-party ad server and its application service provider. The guidelines supplement current measurement guidelines and provide definitions and guidance on the auditing of processes used in the placement, trafficking and reporting of interactive advertising. The document is the result of a consensus of participating auditing organizations and the IAB.

This document will:

• Help the IAB, publishers and ad agencies further establish transparency and consistency in the area of ad measurement through certification by having all phases of ad serving put through a technology, process and data audit

• Provide a Self-Assessment Questionnaire that allows publishers, third-party ad servers and agencies to perform a self-assessment of their compliance using controls outlined in the document and meant to help the industry reduce discrepancies.

“As an industry, we are providing marketers with the most powerful, accountable and cost effective way to reach consumers,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. “To continue to deliver on this promise, we must establish methods that reduce discrepancies in the buying process of interactive advertising—we’ve made great strides by bringing these guidelines to fruition.”

“The IAB’s work both with its members and the auditing organizations in completing this document is a critical step in solving the ongoing challenges of media measurement discrepancies,” said George Ivie, President of the Media Rating Council. “Our research has found that human error plays a material role in large impression discrepancies and these guidelines, when followed, will assist in reducing those errors and improve overall efficiencies in the measurement process.”

After the 30-day comment period, ending on September 10, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and publicly released.

To review the complete document, please go to, www.iab.net/campaign_measurement_process

About the IAB:
Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) represents over 375 leading interactive companies that actively engage in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research, and educates marketers, agencies, and media companies, as well as the wider business community, about the value of interactive advertising.

WidgetWebExpo 2008 will start in less than two weeks and, though I won’t be there, I am really looking forward for it.

Checking out the list of speakers, I noticed a few of interest for how online advertising and content monetization can benefit from ‘widgetization’.

- Jonathan Mendez (RAMP Digital) will speak on how widgets can save display advertising: through the use of APIs widgets have the ability to deliver highly relevant and dynamic advertising and marketing solutions in a 300×250 creative unit that can be distributed through an ad server and network. These ‘Adplications’, as Jonathan calls them, have the power to redefine and widgetize display advertising and dramatically improve performance results for advertisers and publishers by delivering higher ad relevance, tools for people to search and interact with content and powerful analytic data.

- Scott Rafer (Lookery) will host a session on ‘Widgets as Adverts: how do we go from here to there?‘
The intense popularity of widgets, gadgets, Facebook applications and their kin has advertisers and publishers eager to get on board. But before you invest in a widgetized advertising campaign, there are a number of strategic and technical factors to consider. There are also important guidelines to follow to ensure you get the most from your investment.

- Jason Weaver (Sway, Inc) will speak of ‘Integrating Widgets into the Marketing Mix‘. Marketing tools now allow users to create, distribute, and track RSS, email, video, SMS, and podcasting campaigns from web-based interfaces. They can also give the ability to create, customize, and distribute video widgets, RSS widgets, and audio/video podcasting widgets. Who is using these tools? How are companies leveraging widgets into integrating them into their marketing mix?

These are but a few examples of widgets intersecting advertising and marketing topics at WidgetWebExpo 2008. There are many pro’s and con’s to large-scale employment of widgets in online advertising and the battle among experts is far from finished. If anything, it has just started. I will keep an eye on the WidgetWebExpo 2008 releases and hope to be able to get back here with some session podcasts or transcripts, or even interviews.

Until then… have you fed your widget today?

Not to badmouth the very industry I’m in, but online media is known to be the black sheep when it comes to buying discrepancies. This whitepaper, developed by an authority, comes as a very welcome first step towards setting regulations and guidelines to limit processing errors.

Online Media Buying Facts: the vast majority of operations in regard to online media buys are still manual, in spite of the existance of several 3rd party data processing systems that can be used to manage these buys electronically (Mediaplex, for example). This is causing endless issues, the high discrepancy rate for agencies and advertisers being the most disturbing one.

I’m glad to see that IAB’s new whitepaper was created following input from several major ad agencies (Avenue A/Razorfish, Digitas, MediaVest, and Horizon Interactive) and is structured quite well:
- steps to creating and scheduling an online advertising campaign, broken down to advertiser and publisher level;
- workflow recommendations;
- managing data for insertion orders (IO’s) and invoicing.

Highlights of recommendations:

- using a clear, simple language that both agency and publishers understand and can input into an ad server;
- establish clear billing methods between the agencies and publishers;
- raise awareness of the rich media fees among media buyers.

You can download the full whitepaper here.

New York, NY – May 8, 2008. ADTECH, a leading provider of ad server technology, has today announced a significant and global deal with .Fox Networks, one of the largest international ad networks and the online division of Fox International Channels (FIC), a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation. ADTECH is part of AOL’s Platform-A advertising business.

ADTECH will replace the incumbent online advertising platform with Helios IQ for delivery of all premium inventory across multiple platforms. Set up will take place across 20 countries over the next six weeks, migrating more than 100 sites onto ADTECH.

“With ADTECH’s growing presence worldwide, we can now leverage their expertise to support .Fox Networks in Latin America – something we were unable to do previously,” said Phil Nott, Director of Operations, .Fox Networks. “Delivering advertising campaigns through multiple channels is key to our growth, and ADTECH is providing us with the reach, flexibility and security that will enable us to continue our market leadership.”

The .Fox Network currently delivers in excess of 10 billion page impressions to over 50 million unique users each month.

“The Helios ‘Dashboard’ facility not only ensures the highest levels of security to protect our data privacy and integrity, but it also delivers advertisers with clear reports on campaign success,” added Nott.

“This is an extremely important global win for ADTECH,” said Dirk Freytag, CEO of ADTECH. “.Fox Networks is world renowned for its success and popularity, and the delivery of its ads through multiple channels and platforms will take its growth to the next level. We have a big migration and roll out task ahead and we’re very excited to be involved.”

Helios IQ is a highly advanced, customizable ad-server solution which allows easy handling of even the most complex rich media ads with few clicks. The modular, state-of-the-art backend architecture of the solution allows quick and flexible adaptations of customer requirements. The system provides unique flexibility and security for better campaign management with an impressive real time push. In addition, the success of each campaign can be monitored in real-time. This saves traffic managers’ significant reporting time and provides full control over every campaign.

• Ad Campaign Measurement and Audit Guidelines

• Broadband Video Commercial Measurement Guidelines

• Rich Media Measurement Guidelines

Eyeblaster is also the first partner to demonstrate compliance for rich media ad serving, further cementing Eyeblaster’s leadership role in the digital marketing industry and commitment to bringing a new level of accountability and transparency to digital advertising metrics. Ad Campaign Manager (ACM), Eyeblaster’s collection of tools for end-to-end campaign management, integrates metrics for display, rich media and digital video commercials under industry standards for these types of impressions.

“As digital mediums start to mature, it is imperative that we have standardization of specs and metrics across an aggregate of delivery platforms in order to show clients the true value of digital mediums,” said Mike Racic, senior vice president and director of digital media for Universal McCann in New York. “Eyeblaster’s platform enables us to show the value of digital experiences as a whole – incorporating results for display, video and rich media as part of an integrated campaign.”

“Reliable metrics is an ongoing concern as the online advertising industry grows,” said Gal Trifon, co-founder and chief executive officer at Eyeblaster. “To provide the most powerful consumer experience, our clients must fully engage all the tools available. This broad IAB guideline compliance ensures client confidence in the accuracy and reliability of the data, encouraging an integrated approach to their whole campaign.”

“As a partner of Eyeblaster, we are pleased that they have taken this step so that we as an agency can increase our accountability to our clients,” said Amy Auerbach, vice president, director of phdiq east. “In this new age of ad server mergers and acquisitions, it is extremely important for us to have a reliable, independent third party ad server to ensure the integrity of our clients’ data and execute their campaigns flawlessly. Having a single serving and reporting source for all types of digital creative that is fully compliant reduces friction in an already labor intensive process.”

According to Randall Rothenberg, president and chief executive officer of the IAB, “We applaud Eyeblaster on its recent achievement, and we encourage any organization to follow its lead. This effort by Eyeblaster is a welcome step in advancing the state of the industry as we strive for the highest levels of transparency and validity.”

The IAB Rich Media Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines establish the minimum acceptable counting procedures for these types of advertising impressions and are focused specifically on the actual revenue event. Using a certified vendor helps to align the advertiser, agency, publisher and provider, maximizing budget efficiency and ensuring consistent and reliable data.

“Websites told us that ad network management was their #1 pain point. So we created and defined the Ad Network Optimization category,” says Frank Addante, CEO and Founder of the Rubicon Project. “Since our launch, websites have told us existing ad servers aren’t built to effectively manage ad networks. So today we deliver our new, free, Ad Network Ad Server. These advancements underscore our commitment to optimizing the relationship and revenue between websites and ad networks.”

The original concept of the ad server was designed ten years ago when all ad sales were handled by websites directly, but the marketplace has changed. Research has revealed that as little as 20% of inventory is sold directly by websites, while up to 80% remains unsold. That unsold ad space is typically sent to ad networks to monetize. Some websites rely entirely on ad networks for their advertising revenue. Existing ad servers, whether free or fee-based, still only answer direct sales needs. They are not designed to manage multiple ad networks and exchanges, which is now a primary requirement for most website publishers. the Rubicon Project is committed to solving this problem.

Free Ad Network Ad Server: Ad servers should be free. The Rubicon Project’s hosted, self-service Ad Network Ad Server helps publishers easily manage multiple ad networks and provides consolidated, insightful reports in one place. No more shuffling multiple browser windows and spreadsheets while logging into five, ten or twenty different ad networks’ reporting systems. Benefits of the free Ad Network Ad Server include:

* Freedom: Only using one ad network today? Don’t have an ad server? Now you have one. Using multiple ad networks makes you more money.
* Free! Save Money: Save on expensive ad serving costs.
* No More Excel: Single ad network management and reporting dashboard.

Ad Network Optimizer: For websites seeking an “automatic” product that lets them make more money while doing less work, the Rubicon Project’s new Ad Network Optimizer is the answer. The Ad Network Optimizer leverages the strengths of all the world’s most popular ad networks. Utilizing a combination of algorithm-driven technology, 11+ billion pieces of market data from previously optimized ads, and a robust supply of more than 60 ad networks, it automatically matches each impression to the best ad network and optimal money-making opportunities. That means the Rubicon Project does the work so websites don’t have to! Additional features include:

* Smarter Optimization Algorithms: Maximize fill rate, kill defaults, target more precisely
* CPM Boosting: Optimize CPM’s and fill rates by geography, audience and content
* Ad Quality Screening: Filter out unwanted ads
* Meet New Ad Networks: expose your inventory to a wider audience of ad networks
* Certified Ad Space: automatic review for the Rubicon Certified Ad Space program
* Guaranteed On-time Payments: One simple check every month – get paid on time, even if networks pay late

Want to Make Mad Cash, better manage ad networks or check out our Certified Ad Space program? Visit: www.rubiconproject.com

Want to learn more about ad network optimization? Check out our Golden Eggs video: http://www.rubiconproject.com/goldeneggs

About the Rubicon Project
the Rubicon Project is an advertising technology company run by a group of industry-experienced, aggressive and passionate renegades on a mission to automate the large, yet highly inefficient Internet advertising industry. While online advertising is expected to reach $27 billion in 2008, up to 80% of a websites’ ad space goes unsold (directly). Unsold ad space is sent to ad networks. Today, advertisers spread money across 300+ ad networks. In 2007, the Rubicon Project pioneered the Ad Network Optimization category with the launch of its first product. the Rubicon Project’s Ad Network Optimizer, a self-serve solution for any size website, uses smart matching technology to match each ad impression to the optimal money-making opportunities. Within the first 6 months of launch, the company optimized more than 11 billion ads and 5000 websites signed up for the service. Other innovations include a free-hosted Ad Network Ad Server for websites and a Certified Ad Space program to ensure safety, accuracy and trust for ad networks (and their advertisers) when placing ads on websites. The founders of the Rubicon Project created one of the first, and most successful, ad servers in 1998 (L90/adMonitor) that was later acquired by DoubleClick. Websites looking to make more money while doing less work should visit: www.rubiconproject.com

New York, NY – March 3, 2008. Operative, a global technology and ad operations services provider, today announced a reseller partnership with ADTECH, provider of integrated ad management.  This alliance will enable digital publishers to leverage best of breed integrated ad management technologies and operational support services through one touch point.

Through the partnership, customers of ADTECH and Operative can tap into Operative’s ad trafficking and campaign management expertise, as well as competitive ad serving rates utilizing ADTECH.   Publishers will benefit from Operative’s robust Managed Services team to help users better understand and maximise the full functionality of the ad server, as well as drive optimal campaign performance from the onset.
“By partnering with Operative we can offer customers additional and optional value added services such as outsourced operations (trafficking) and a sales order processing solution,” said Dirk Freytag, CEO, ADTECH.  “They have a great track record for advising and simplifying ad operations for its customers. This partnership is another step toward advancing widespread adoption of our digital marketing solutions.”

“Operative is excited about working with ADTECH – a company that is adapting and growing in line and ahead of market requirements,” said Mike Leo, CEO and President, Operative.  “We believe partnerships that bring together complementary solutions will enable our customers to scale their business while providing deep advertiser value.”

To learn more about ADTECH’s ad serving technology, please visit www.operative.com or www.adtechus.com.

About ADTECH
ADTECH is an international leader of digital marketing solutions. The company’s flagship product is the Helios IQ ad serving platform. It enables web publishers to manage, serve and evaluate virtually any kind of online advertising campaign including display, video and mobile formats. The Helios IQ ad serving platform differentiates itself via its scalable, enterprise-class infrastructure and publisher-friendly tools, providing publishers with increased efficiency, reliability and ROI for their online advertising business. Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, ADTECH is an independent and wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL’s Advertising.com division. Globally, ADTECH AG works with customers in more than 25 countries.

About Operative
Established in 2000, Operative is a global organisation that provides its clients with technology and services to improve all aspects of their advertising operations lifecycle, from pre-sale to collections, trafficking to reconciliation. OperativeDashboard™, an ASP software solution, is an end-to-end workflow management platform that enables media publishers to automate contract management, product packaging and pricing, inventory management, campaign reporting and revenue recognition. Operative’s client base includes The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, MSN, Smart Money, iVillage, NBC Universal, and National Public Broadcasting. More information about Operative can be found at: operative.com.