Monetization Services

Sovrn Services Team Applies Ad Operations Expertise to Deliver Impressive Q1 Results

Sovrn Publisher Advocate // April 16, 2018

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Are you overwhelmed by the complexity of programmatic advertising and unsure of where to start to increase your yield and optimize your revenue? The Sovrn Services team is here to help! Below are just some of the results we delivered to our publishers in Q1 as part of managing their ad operations:
 
1. Kalmbach Media: Reaching more than 35 million customers through a diverse portfolio of brands, encompassing magazines, digital content, events, books, games and more, Kalmbach Media connects enthusiasts to their passions. A major goal that the Kalmbach team set for itself in 2018 was to increase advertising revenue across their most highly trafficked sites, including, DiscoverMagazine, Astronomy, Trains, Trains, FineScale, and Trains. These sites provide valuable resources for the model train, science, and astronomy communities.

To achieve Kalmbach Media’s goals, the Sovrn Services team focused on implementing header bidding with Sovrn’s Server to Server Bidding solution; adding new units in DFP to monetize previously unmonetized site sections, and adding new header bidding partners to increase bids, CPMs, and revenue. The team also optimized Kalmbach’s non-header bidding waterfall set-up to ensure better sell-through of non-premium inventory. This comprehensive optimization approach suited Kalmbach well, with the Q1 results speaking for themselves: Kalmbach saw a 27% increase in revenue and a 119% increase in impressions filled.
“Sovrn is helping us improve our game with smarter tools to improve our network advertising practices. We’ve seen some great gains in a short period of time and are optimistic about continued growth in the future. The Services team is quick to respond to our needs,” said Jeanne Sidner, Director of Digital Content at Kalmbach Media.

 
2. ThatGrapeJuice: Launched in 2007, ThatGrapeJuice is a premier urban pop culture website and an internationally established source for urban news, music, entertainment, celebrity interviews, reviews and more. With a strong and unique editorial voice, Sam Ajilore, the site’s founder and owner, was looking for ways to create a sustainable source of advertising revenue while also taking advantage of products and services that deliver results without compromising high-quality user experience.

The Sovrn Services team began by auditing their current ad stack to determine potential areas of optimization. Our recommendations included implementing new display demand sources and Sovrn’s Signal product, a technology that reloads ad positions after 25 seconds if the ad is in-view and actively engaged with. Additionally, floor prices were optimized based on current CPMs and all header bidding partners were reviewed to determine which could create the most competitive bidding environment in the header bidding wrapper. As a result, the site saw a 47% increase in revenue and a 200% increase in CPMs in Q1.

“Working with the Sovrn Services team to manage my ad operations and being able to apply their expertise to optimizing my yield has directly contributed to increasing my ad revenue,” said Sam Ajilore, the site’s owner.

 
3. A2ZWordFinder: Created in their spare time by two senior engineers contracted with NASA, A2ZWordFinder is the go-to resource for word game and puzzle enthusiasts, appealing to a large community of Scrabble, anagram, and crossword aficionados. A long-time publisher in the Sovrn network, the A2ZWordFinder team engaged with Sovrn Services to free-up the time spent on managing ad operations, gain access to our team’s expertise, as well as, find new opportunities to deliver incremental advertising revenue.
To achieve these goals, the Services team focused on adding additional demand to the header bidding set-up, optimizing floor prices and working with demand partners to increase yield. In Q1, A2ZWordFinder saw a 53% increase in revenue and a 24% increase in CPMs. The Services team also implemented Sovrn’s Adblock insight tool, which serves messaging to site visitors asking them to disable their ad blocking software for the site. 67% of users who saw this messaging whitelisted A2ZWordfinder.com, resulting in almost 100,000 page views that otherwise would have been lost.
“We’re very happy to have partnered with Sovrn Services as a publisher in their managed advertising program. We have limited time as a modest-sized publisher to manage ad operations. Sovrn has provided very timely operations improvements with a special focus in the header bidding area, which has significantly boosted income,” said Co-Founder Scott Gilley.

 
Sovrn Services is dedicated to simplifying the complexity of ad operations, saving our publishers valuable time and delivering meaningful results by creating more monetization opportunities. Interested in learning if Sovrn Services is the right fit for your business? Get in touch with a representative to learn more about how Sovrn Services can help you.

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