For reasons of timing and the fact that we had only just launched our own RTB platform for publishers, Casale Media does not feature in the recent Forrester Wave report about Sell-Side Platforms (see a good summary of the report here). So, what would they have said about Casale, or what do we hope they would have said, or what do we think they will say the next time round?

Well, the report praises “leaders” for the robustness and flexibility of their platform, the granularity of controls for publishers, the reporting levels for buyers and the ability to facilitate offline deals. We are confident that Forrester would score us strongly on all accounts, as it is tenets like “control” and “flexibility” that underpin our approach to building technology.

The report also insists that publishers shoud carefully weigh each of Forrester’s evaluation criteria  in light of their own needs. We would agree: see our own RTB screening guide on the subject. We’ll be glad to feature in the next report, and can’t wait to share with Forrester some of the insights we’ve gained over the years in our unique position as a media technology company that serves both the advertiser and publisher communities.

How Publishers Can Maximize Value In An RTB World

In this article, our own Andrew Casale (VP, Strategy), examines key topics for publishers to consider when exploring the avenues offered to them to benefit from  programmatic media buying via Real Time Bidding (RTB). View article >

Tags: online publishers, RTB

The 3 RTB auction types

As soon as an impression is offered for purchase through Real Time Bidding (RTB), hundreds of bids are submitted in a matter of milliseconds, in a process where the highest eligible bid wins the auction and is awarded the impression.

While each exchange platform may standardize on a different auction type, platforms designed to operate a private marketplace may offer the option to select an auction format depending on the type of deal negotiated with each buyer.

Let’s take a look at the most common auction types (note: all fall into the “sealed-bid” category, meaning bidders enter the auction without knowing how many bids they compete with or their level):

First price auction … whereby the highest bidder wins and pays the amount it bid (similar to a blind-silent auction).

Second price auction (Vickrey auction) …whereby the highest bidder wins, but pays the second-highest bid + the minimum bid value, e.g. $0.01 (similar to eBay).

Fixed CPM/guaranteed auction … whereby the bidder agrees to pay a pre-determined price or guaranteed budget for 100% of a specific type of impression, trumping all other bids (comparable to eBay’s “Buy It Now” option).

For publishers, understanding which format is best suited to their property or a specific deal is an important consideration, as each one will have a different impact on the final price paid for their impressions.

RTB Should Be Known For Quality, Not Just Quantity

In this article, Andrew Casale, the company’s VP, Strategy, discusses how RTB can help advertisers improve the value they get from online media amid the current oversupply of cheap -because ineffective- inventory.  View article >

3 ways to better measure digital video ROI

Better ROI measurement starts with defining what user engagements are important to your brand, projecting what those engagements are worth, understanding what options for measuring those engagements are available, and selecting partners/platforms that can accommodate your needs.

1.    Define up front what action you want users exposed to your ad to take and weight their relative importance. Is the goal to get them to consume the entire spot? To share your video through their social channels? To register for a promotion? To make a purchase online?

2.    Develop a model to calculate what those engagements are worth to you and assign values. For example, if you know that for every 100 users to view your entire spot, your brand generates roughly 10 ticket sales, and every new ticket sale is worth $1 to you, then you might create a model that measures ROI against a cost per view (CPV) goal of $1.

3.    Once you know what you want to measure and how much it’s worth to your brand, look for partners/platforms that can track those engagements on your digital video buys. Because platforms are all different and not all technology works the same way, be sure to conduct extensive testing upfront to iron out any discrepancy issue and also monitor post-launch to ensure metrics remain on track. If you have a preferred platform, look for media vendors that can support third-party tracking to ensure apples-to-apples comparisons of ROI across your entire video buy.

GateHouse Media Launches Private Exchange

Today we announced that GateHouse Media, a publisher focused on local news and events, launched their own advertising exchange using our Real Time Bidding (RTB) technology.

This will give the property’s 400+ web sites access to the increasing number of advertisers determined to buy inventory in this automated way.

See the official Press release >

Read the story in MediaPost >

Advertising Quality: Q&A with Julia Casale, CMO

In this interview with Dx3 Digest, Julia Casale, the company’s CMO, talks about brand safety, measuring results, and why it’s crucial not to forget about content. Continue to interview >

Digital Publishers: Apply Pressure To Ad Channel Partners

How can publishers best equip themselves to evaluate potential sales channel partners in the crowded digital media space ? Joe Casale, Casale Media’s founder and CEO, outlines 10 hard-hitting questions to help you steer the conversation prior to making that big investment in trust. Read the whole story >