How AdPushup Helped ChordU:
Did you know that over four million blog posts are published on the internet every day? Generally speaking, bloggers and publishers create content in order to drive users to their website and earn money by showing them some form of advertising such as display ads, Native ads, Push Notification Ads, Video ads, etc. AdSense is often the first network that publishers use when it comes to monetizing their site.
However, running ads on the website is usually the first step in website monetization. You also have to test, measure, and optimize ad layouts for performance. Some publishers prefer to manage this on their own, but it takes the focus away from the core business of creating content.
AdPushup is a revenue optimization platform focused on increasing revenue for publishers by using a combination of layout and demand optimization.
While looking for an optimization partner for my own site, I came across AdPushup’s website and learned a bit about how revenue optimization works. In this post, I’ll share my learning about the same. To prove the learning, I’ll also highlight an Adpushup publisher case study I found as an example to demonstrate how revenue optimization works.
Understanding Revenue Optimization:
Ad tech is a universe in itself. There is N number of technologies (with their regular industry updates) that allow publishers to run ads and optimize revenue from buying and selling of ad impressions to finally displaying ads on the website. Here are some of the most commonly used technologies that empower publishers:
Header Bidding:
Header bidding lets publishers generate more demand for their ad inventories. Through this technology, they get access to premium demand partners who bid for available impressions in real-time, ultimately increasing the fill rates and bid value for their inventory.
In simple words, header bidding proves to be an effective method for publishers to increase demand and competition for their inventory.
Innovative Ad Formats:
In-display advertising, a phenomenon called banner blindness is known to make users immune to web ads. Given the increasing number of display ads on the web, users consciously or unconsciously ignore any banner-like information, which leads to loss of ad impressions for publishers.
As a countermeasure, innovative ad formats like Sticky ads, In-image ads, Docked ads, and In-view ads help publishers improve their viewability score. An improved viewability score, in turn, helps improve ad revenue. With innovative ads, publishers maintain a balance between ad revenue and user experience thanks to the non-intrusive characteristics of these newer formats.
Layout Optimization and A/B Testing
Automated A/B testing solutions help publishers put their ad-related experiments on auto-pilot. Because these A/B tests are automated, they empower publishers with the ability to create multiple variants at once without the need for constant monitoring and manual updation.
These tests make it possible for publishers to understand which ad layout (ad format, size, placement) is working and which is not, enabling them to make data-backed decisions.
AdBlock Recovery:
As of 2019, nearly 25.8% of internet users use ad blockers. This number already seems significant enough for publishers to adopt Adblock recovery technology. AdBlock Recovery equips publishers to save the ad revenue share they lose to ad blockers.
It first asks users about their ad preferences. Basis the inputs, the technology lets publishers re-insert their ads that are compliant to the Acceptable Ads Standards. In the end, the tech aims to serve ads to users who agree to see them, without harming the user experience.
Ad Refresh:
Ad Refresh allows publishers to show different ad sets to users that refill after predefined time intervals. The purpose of this solution is to increase revenue for publishers by multiplying ad impressions served per user session.
Ad Refresh acts as a revenue-multiplier for publishers who have a high-time-on-site. Apart from that, it also takes into account the engagement signals like page scrolls, clicks, interaction for improved user experience.
AdPushup’s Role in Optimizing Revenue for ChordU:
Apart from these technology features, there’s more to ad optimization like Ad mediation, AdX demand, Google policy compliance, AMP monetization, and other solutions supporting publishers’ ad revenue goals. While studying about AdPushup, I came across one of their case studies stating an 89% uplift in the publisher’s (ChordU) ad CTR.
Going by the case study, Bitan, the founder of ChordU, was looking for a platform that was easy to integrate and offered better control over his ad units, their placements, and the overall layout. Upon finding AdPushup at one of the publisher events in his city, Bitan chose to try AdPushup, making him switch from his former partner, Ezoic.
The goal? Bitan wanted to increase his ad revenue without compromising user experience. Moreover, he wanted the ability to conduct ad experiments and optimizations himself. So here’s what AdPushup did:
- Firstly, the ad ops team at AdPushup created ad layout variations using its Visual Ad Manager. The team studied Bitan’s website and came up with different layout ideas and implemented the setup within hours.
- Next, the team set up Ad Refresh on the website to capitalize on its high-time-on-site. Before setting up refresh, the team took ad viewability and user engagement into account.
- Lastly, the team found that the BTF (below-the-fold) ads on ChordU were adding to ChordU’s page latency. Hence, they configured Lazy Loading to prevent ads from rendering until the user device’s viewport.
Apart from these solutions, the experts at AdPushup also equipped ChordU for a probable event of the January Slump that hits most publishers around the time. As anticipated, ChordU witnessed a temporary fall in its ad revenue owing to the Slump.
Hence, as a remedial solution, AdPushup helped ChordU combat its declining ad revenue by reducing its floor prices. This, as a result, increased competition on its inventory that otherwise, ChordU would have lost to the Slump.
Result? With all the optimizations together, ChordU was able to increase its revenue by 259% in ten months. During this time, the site noted a 166% increase in page views. However, a 33% uplift in the Page CPM led to higher-than-expected revenue growth—even after accounting for the growing traffic. During this period, ChordU also achieved an 89% uplift in the ad clickthrough rate.
Image and Data Source: AdPushup
Here’s what the publisher had to say about this:
“AdPushup took care of all the ad optimization and testing for ChordU. All we had to do was include a single JavaScript code in our website header. What I like most about them is their focus on product R&D and revenue optimization. After using AdPushup, I can say it brought peace of mind for me. It’s where my hunt for a better partnership ended.”
Final Word:
Being a publisher myself, I understand these challenges and their effect on ad revenue. I have seen websites growing their ad revenue by making the right choice of optimization partner.
AdPushup states a 30 to 40% increment in revenue growth. They follow the revenue share model and work with publishers having a monthly ad revenue of above $5000. If you’re looking to try them out, you can schedule a demo here.
In ChordU’s case, the revenue growth is 5X of the percentage that AdPushup states, of course factoring in time. Lastly, I’d just add that all the efforts publishers make from creating a website to producing content to driving traffic can yield the best results only when publishers also keep their ad management and optimization strategies in mind.
Publishers who are already Using AdPushup can share their experiences below.
