MediaGamma's DYnamic PRicing & INventory ALlocation (DYPRINAL)
Lead Participant:
MEDIAGAMMA LIMITED
Abstract
MediaGamma is an advertising technology company that operates the world’s first automated
futures ad exchange for online display advertising, guaranteeing future ad placements.
The DYnamic PRicing & INventory ALlocation (DYPRINAL) project will create an
automated online ad inventory pricing and allocation tool, assisting web and mobile
publishers to better monetise their display ad inventories - much like how airline companies
price and sell their tickets as they know how many to sell in advance and how many to reserve
until just before take-off to maximise revenue.
The transition to online has been tough for both traditional print and “native” web-only
publishers: The New York Times Co.’s digital advertising revenues decreased 3% in Q3 2013
whilst its print circulation continues to decline. The latest figures from The Tribune Co. and
Time Inc. tell a similar story. Publishers have unsuccessfully tried to transplant the traditional
print ad sales model into the online space by pre-selling ad space for a fixed price.
In parallel there has been a technology revolution in how online display ads are sold. The
demand for automation and optimisation have been the key drivers in the adoption of real
time bidding (RTB), which mimics stock spot exchanges and uses computer algorithms to
automatically buy ads instantly via an auction mechanism between buyers (advertisers) and
sellers (publishers).
Despite the strong growth of real time display ad spot exchanges, RTB technology is a last
minute (“distressed”) sale and thus only cheap remnant inventory that publishers could not
otherwise sell in advance via phone negotiations is sold. However, within the last year, this
automated technology is starting to be applied to the better quality, pre-sold inventory and is
set to dominate digital ad trading. Publishers are now facing the challenge of knowing how to
allocate and price their ad inventory between the pre-sold and RTB (spot) markets, a problem
DYPRINAL aims to solve.
futures ad exchange for online display advertising, guaranteeing future ad placements.
The DYnamic PRicing & INventory ALlocation (DYPRINAL) project will create an
automated online ad inventory pricing and allocation tool, assisting web and mobile
publishers to better monetise their display ad inventories - much like how airline companies
price and sell their tickets as they know how many to sell in advance and how many to reserve
until just before take-off to maximise revenue.
The transition to online has been tough for both traditional print and “native” web-only
publishers: The New York Times Co.’s digital advertising revenues decreased 3% in Q3 2013
whilst its print circulation continues to decline. The latest figures from The Tribune Co. and
Time Inc. tell a similar story. Publishers have unsuccessfully tried to transplant the traditional
print ad sales model into the online space by pre-selling ad space for a fixed price.
In parallel there has been a technology revolution in how online display ads are sold. The
demand for automation and optimisation have been the key drivers in the adoption of real
time bidding (RTB), which mimics stock spot exchanges and uses computer algorithms to
automatically buy ads instantly via an auction mechanism between buyers (advertisers) and
sellers (publishers).
Despite the strong growth of real time display ad spot exchanges, RTB technology is a last
minute (“distressed”) sale and thus only cheap remnant inventory that publishers could not
otherwise sell in advance via phone negotiations is sold. However, within the last year, this
automated technology is starting to be applied to the better quality, pre-sold inventory and is
set to dominate digital ad trading. Publishers are now facing the challenge of knowing how to
allocate and price their ad inventory between the pre-sold and RTB (spot) markets, a problem
DYPRINAL aims to solve.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| MEDIAGAMMA LIMITED | £166,668 | £ 100,001 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Rael Cline (Project Manager) |