The first month of the year has come to an end so it’s time to sum up all the predictions that were made and pick out a path to prosperity. Let’s figure out what ad monetization trends are the most significant this year and how to use them for increasing your yield!

Mobile User Experience at the first place

More than a half of users all around the world is already using mobile devices to surf through the internet and it’s completely changed the way of content consumption.  Needless to say, that modern advertising layout should be in line with these changes. When switched to a mobile version of website, you may find out that the layout is shifted, the amount of available advertising space is reduced and your ad income may reduce too.

How to get away with this?

Arrange your advertising layout in accordance with how mobile users behave themselves on your sites. Consider areas, where they spend the most time and where they leave. For higher efficiency optimise the location of ad units not only by visibility zones, but by pricing models as well. Try setting up CPM/Fixed price for the most viewable advertising zone and CPC/CPA – for the most actionable. Set up rules on the basis of the above, and start reaping the fruits of successful monetization.

Media content consumption is rising fast

The rules are adjusted, and now it’s time to focus on content of your site. Mobile devices changed the type of content people prefer as well. Video, audio, animation, AR/VR are gaining more and more popularity. Plain text isn’t as attractive as media content. Therefore you have to enrich your resources by adding various types of content. Thus you can engage wider audience  and create the most demandable inventory.  

How can you win of this?

Choose an ad server that supports all corresponding ad formats including video, audio, native, rich-media etc. Go further and start selling creative inventory to maximize the revenue. Try Admixer.Creatives with wide range of creative solutions and easy content integration.

Data is a new booster for ad monetization

The content is as rich as possible and you’re doing great, but the sky’s the limit, right? One of the hot issues of 2018 is data, and as far as it’s claimed by industry experts – who owns the data, owns the world. Or at least, lots of money 🙂

By knowing exactly the users behaviour and with additional audience data sources you have a great possibility to create segments, interesting for advertisers, which will definitely rise up your inventory demand and monetization. Combination of 1st, 2nd and 3rd party data will allow you to create and customize new ad products in the most efficient way.  

How to get the biggest profit?

You’ll need a great tool to manage audience data from different sources, connected with your adserver. Try out Admixer.DMP to create custom audiences based on users behaviour on your sites and combine it with  additional data from top providers to maximize your monetization.

The auction mechanism is changing

Now you’re full-packed with wholesome tools and ready to sell. But where?

More and more publishers see advantages in switching from standard auction models to header bidding or a mixed auction, which takes place between the winners of Header bidding and RTB. Thus, the revenue from advertising sales is maximized, and you are able to sell the inventory at the highest possible price. This requires a certain technological expertise, but the tools are seeking excellence from day to day, so better keep an eye on this area.

How to get the highest bids?

We recommend you to use the holistic approach instead of standard monetization scheme. Set up rules to mix up different sources of monetization and increase your yield. Get more information on this type of monetization  and start using hybrid programmatic.

Transparency & Brand Safety

There’s still one important issue need to be checked if you want to survive this year without troubles. Brands are paying more and more attention to the quality of  inventory, purchased via programmatic platforms. Several global initiatives from major platforms and advertisers are aimed at increasing the transparency of the programmatic eco-system. Among them are ads.txt, 3rd party monitoring and brand safety tools, which have been integrated recently.

For publishers, these changes mean that their inventory should look as transparent and safe as possible to be represented in the system. Otherwise, publishers risk falling out of the most profitable auctions.

How to stay in a flow?

Use ads.txt to make your inventory avaliable for all auctions in programmatic eco system. Make sure that your inventory supply chain fits all the transparency requirements and see your CPM rising and bringing you money.

2018 is promised to be another great year for digital advertising, so stay tuned!