Ad tech fees are too high. And the idea of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for SSPs and publisher tech is gaining momentum.
Publisher monetization platform Sovrn is expanding availability of its SSP’s flat CPM pricing model in a bid to scoop up smaller pubs who are sick of sharing a percent of every CPM with their tech partners.
Sovrn is now offering its header bidding managed service, dubbed Ad Management, as self-serve software. Publishers can use Ad Management’s header bidding optimization tools for a flat monthly software charge based on the number of impressions they auction programmatically, and pay no additional revenue share for using Sovrn’s SSP.
While competitors, including ad networks like Raptive and Mediavine or pub tech vendors like Assertive Yield, charge a percent of media for similar tech, Sovrn is hoping to woo publishers with its different fee structure.
The solution intends to change the reality currently facing publishers, in which they collect only 36 cents on average for every dollar spent through DSPs, said Peter Cunha, managing director at Sovrn, citing ANA research.
Under the SaaS pricing model, “we’re not handing over 10% to 30% of our revenue to some intermediary,” said Dan Kort, senior product manager at IXL Learning, which owns and operates several educational apps and sites, including Rosetta Stone and Dictonary.com. “It’s very clear cut: If the impression is part of the Sovrn Prebid wrapper, then we pay a small CPM fee.”
That said, the lack of SSP fees only applies to campaigns conducted through Sovrn’s header bidding wrapper, and not impressions won via Google Ad Manager, which is the default ad server for most publishers.
No sharing
For example, an average publisher could expect to pay about seven cents per impression auctioned via Sovrn’s SSP, Cunha said. Publishers that send a high volume of bid requests pay even less.
Publishers also get a suite of header bidding optimization tools that they can use on a self-serve basis. These tools include wrapper adjustments, as well as A/B testing of different wrapper setups. They allow publishers to experiment with header bidding parameters like auction timeout settings, lazy loading of non-viewable inventory and dynamic pricing floors.
Publishers can also choose to consolidate their auctions into a single, page-level auction. This feature allows them to change the wrapper settings for all the ad inventory present on a page and package it all within a single bid request, rather than multiple bid requests. These changes can reduce latency from running programmatic auctions. Faster loading speeds in turn boost publisher revenue, Cunha said.
These optimization tools are built on technology Sovrn added through its acquisition of publisher tech managed service Proper Media back in 2021.
“This is the first time we’ve made those controls – the wrapper config components, wrapper versioning, and all of the capabilities inherent within that tool set – available in a self-serve software capacity,” rather than as a managed service, Cunha said.
Ad Management also gives publishers dynamic pricing controls based on the Sovrn SSP’s insights into bidding behaviors. These bidding signals are derived from Sovrn’s own seats within Prebid, Amazon TAM and Google Open Bidding, as well as more than 120 seats across other demand partners.
More revenue, better SSP onboarding
Over a year-plus of testing, publishers that used Ad Management’s page-level auction and dynamic pricing floor features have seen at least 10% higher yield from programmatic auctions, according to Sovrn.
Publishers that used ad networks saved 49% in ad tech fees when moving to the SaaS pricing model, according to Sovrn.
Dictionary.com and its companion site Thesaurus.com have been using Ad Management since January on a significant portion of their inventory, IXL’s Kort said. These tests have particularly focused on experimenting with different wrapper and lazy loading setups using the self-serve software.
The experiments have yielded increased ad revenue, Kort said. And IXL can add new SSPs more efficiently by A/B testing how changes affect SSP win rates and performance, without placing too much burden on its ad ops and engineering teams to run these tests.
“You hear the adage that flat is the new up,” he said, regarding the difficulty publishers currently face monetizing with programmatic ads. “We’ve been exceeding flat. So, bottom line, it’s been a very positive year.”
Update 10/18/24: This article originally mentioned Hashtag Labs as an example of a publisher tech platform that operates on a revenue share model. A representative from Hashtag Labs clarified that it does not collect a revenue share, and that it has been operating on a SaaS model since 2018.
