OpenX, a known enterprise in the digital ad space, has made steps to consolidate its ad tech portfolio by acquiring LiftDNA, an innovative supply-side platform (SSP). The idea was to better position publishers to optimize their ad revenue by having LiftDNA’s state-of-the-art yield management technology work on top of and seamlessly integrated with OpenX’s existing ad serving and ad exchange platforms.
LOS ANGELES, February 27, 2012 OpenX Technologies, Inc. (OpenX), a prominent global supplier of digital advertising technology, declared today that Supply-Side Platform (SSP) LiftDNA will formally join OpenX.
Through the acquisition of LiftDNA, OpenX unifies LiftDNA’s next-generation SSP with its premium ad server and ad exchange into a single, seamless platform, giving publishers a better method to maximize their ad revenue.
Since OpenX’s platform is already linked with LiftDNA’s solution, LiftDNA by OpenXTM is available right now. The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Annual Leadership Meeting was the occasion for the announcement.
About OpenX
OpenX is a prominent global supplier of digital advertising technology that helps companies optimize and control their advertising income. A full revenue serving platform is offered by OpenX products, such as OpenX Enterprise, OpenX Market, and LiftDNA by OpenXTM, which combine ad serving, an ad exchange, and a novel yield optimization technique.
Based in Los Angeles, OpenX Technologies, Inc. has the support of top investors such as SAP Ventures, Accel Partners, and Index Ventures. For additional details, please visit www.openx.com
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Could you provide more information about the agreement between LiftDNA and OpenX?
The financial specifics of the transaction are not something we can reveal. Importantly, though, we are already connected and can actually sell the merging product, LiftDNA by OpenXTM, right once, unlike many previous acquisitions. Indeed, since we began collaborating with customers in 2010, publishers have already seen a notable rise in revenue: LiftDNA is currently boosting publisher yield by an average of 50–150 percent.
For those non-US readers, can you give some background on the LiftDNA proposition?
LiftDNA is the first and only SSP solution that operates entirely inside the ad server of a publisher. Through direct management of all non-guaranteed demand channels from within the ad server, including demand-side platforms (DSPs), ad networks, traditional supply-side platforms, and exchanges, LiftDNA is able to process all available pricing information for the publisher, maximizing revenue and competition. LiftDNA also lowers system latency and inconsistencies because it runs inside the ad server, which boosts publisher income even more.
What’s so unique about the LiftDNA product?
To optimize the publishers’ revenue, LiftDNA integrates directly into their ad server. Since every ad transaction starts at the ad server, LiftDNA starts there. It adds value in three ways once it’s in the ad server:
First : Initially, the marketplace is transferred to the publishers’ ad server. Instead of competing sequentially for an impression, the demand channels do so simultaneously whenever one becomes available. After that, LiftDNA’s technology can determine which buyer is best for a certain impression.
Second : LiftDNA sets pricing in real time by utilizing predictive algorithms and the rich data insights that are available within the publishers’ ad server. LiftDNA generates an impression pricing standing book of orders based on user, geo, session depth, and hundreds of other factors, then compares that price to what the market is ready to pay in real time.
This technique allows rules-based bidders and real-time bidders to compete for impressions at the same time. The market is shown the actual value of the publisher’s inventory by LiftDNA, which readily supports higher CPMs.
Third : LiftDNA assists publishers in reducing inventory loss. Ten percent or so of the impressions are lost when product moves across demand channels. Two strategies are used to lessen this loss. Initially, the value is increased and the stages are decreased by directly managing the marketplace for non-guaranteed inventory.
Second, each network’s Intelligent Default ManagementTM closely monitors the kinds of users it retains and the kinds of users it sends back patterns. If a network returns a particular kind of user twice or three times, LiftDNA will no longer route those users to that network. By lowering the number of networks it must ping to fulfill a certain impression, the publisher raises overall revenue and wastes less inventory.
How does this enhance the current OpenX offering?
With this acquisition, OpenX may now become the first fully integrated ad revenue platform globally. LiftDNA by OpenXTM is now offered as a standalone product for publishers who do not currently use OpenX ad technology and wish to turn their current ad servers, like DFP, into profit centers without switching ad servers, or as a full-stack solution built on top of OpenX Enterprise, our SaaS ad server technology. We are certain that we will be able to assist clients in making significantly more money for their goods, and LiftDNA customers often see revenue gains of 50–150 percent on average.
Was there a blind spot in the OpenX product offering in terms of yield optimisation? Does the acquisition of LiftDNA address this?
OpenX is the first ad technology supplier to offer a fully integrated ad revenue platform, including ad serving technology, ad exchange, and yield optimization platform, to the market thanks to the acquisition of LiftDNA. For publishers, this is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to enhance revenue management.
For our sector, the development of a single platform that controls all non-guaranteed demand channels directly from within the ad server—demand-side platforms, ad networks, old supply-side platforms, and a publisher’s exchange partners—marks a major step.
The ideas of OpenX and LiftDNA are similar in that revenue management and yield optimization ought to be housed within the publisher’s ad server, at the point of creation of the inventory. For this reason, we believe the acquisition is very beneficial to the industry as well as to us.
How can publishers benefit from this? Is it better to use a single vendor instead of sticking with their SSP solution?
Because LiftDNA is the only supply-side platform that runs inside an ad server, publishers can now manage their exclusive, guaranteed, and non-guaranteed demand in one location to optimize their profits. LiftDNA by OpenXTM is a revolutionary way to yield optimization that will enable publishers greatly boost their revenue revenues. Giving publishers access to a comprehensive solution for managing all income
One location can significantly impact the reduction of discrepancies and system latency, both of which boost publisher profits. We monitor and optimize all of the demand sources, including traditional SSPs, so we wouldn’t necessarily advise doing away with them.
The demand channel we would utilize is the one where LiftDNA’s pricing forecast indicates the SSP will pay the most for the specified ad impression.
Will there likely be additional sell-side consolidation?
It makes perfect sense to have yield management included into the ad server, so we wouldn’t be shocked if others did the same. This approach is the result of years of collaboratively developing and improving the infrastructure and technology—a process that is neither simple nor quick.
Conclusion
OpenX’s acquisition of LiftDNA is a big step in improving the value proposition for publishers and advertisers while fortifying the buy-side stack. Through the smooth integration of LiftDNA’s yield optimization technology with OpenX’s current platform, the merged company hopes to completely transform the purchasing and selling of digital advertising.
OpenX is now a major force in the ad tech sector thanks to this calculated move, which enables advertisers to more effectively and precisely reach their target audiences and publishers to optimize income.