How to choose an Ad Network?

Online advertising has grown like anything and so the number of Ad Networks has increased in the market. At times it becomes too difficult for an Advertiser to choose which Ad Network is the right network for their business success. Any wrong decision can directly or indirectly hurt their business so why not to be safe choosing an Ad Network too. Today I will be discussing some points and questions to be prepared from advertiser aspect before choosing an Ad Network. It is always said planning is the most necessary step before starting anything…So Let’s know what is to be planned!!

 

• Target: The first and the foremost thing is where and whom to target, i.e. audience and which country. Almost every Ad Networks supports all the countries but every ad network has better reach and audience at some places. E.g. Madhouse is best when you are planning to target China, JumpTap if USA, etc.
• Ask for Publisher list: Every Ad Network consists of good number of publishers with them, but always remember Quality should be looked and not quantity, Generally Ad Networks mention their long list of inventories or publishers assigned with them, but always look for the publishers as per your business. If the advertisement is related to sports you naturally need to see if the Network has publishers related to sports. Ask for the site list where your ads will be shown!
• Measurement Metric-Model: Decide your goal before reaching any ad network as every ad network is best for its own model. Some networks are good for CPM or some for CPA. Etc.
• Targeting capabilities: Ad networks do provide almost all kind of targeting like Behavioral, contextual, location, but it should always be checked that how exact information they can provide into it, can they really pinpoint the audience as per the requirement.
• Reporting Capabilities: One of the important factors to be looked on is the reporting as this is the data which tells about the success of the campaign, you should always ask for demo of the reports that will be given. What and how are the data being reported? Or will the login be shared to see the campaign status whenever required. The reports provided should be quite granular and easy to understand.
• Data Check: Always ask about the time the data was last updated, the data shouldn’t be much old as old data may lead to wrong targeting thus useless for the business.
• Technology: This factor comes after you have selected the Ad Network as per your requirement, if in case you are confused with some of the ad networks at the end, technology being used in the network can be a decider, e.g. auto optimization feature, frequency capping, insight Re targeting, etc.
• Customer Support or Service: When you reach an ad network you become a customer to them and this is also one of the factors to be checked. Responsiveness and Intelligence  of the sales and account manager team should be checked, if the sales team is not that appropriate and it is being difficult to make them understand your requirement please avoid signing up as running business will be too difficult.
• Test Campaign: This is the best way to check an ad network, not all networks may give you this option but if the budget is high for your campaign they may offer to run a test campaign which will give a better insight, if you find the result worth running business with the ad network just go for it. This is time taking but the most appropriate way to test the ad networks.
• Ask for the recent clients of same category: Knowing the clients can boost your confidence on the network plus the success rate of those campaigns can also give idea about the same category data they have with them.