AppNexus Launches Multimedia "Superauction" Technology, Selected by Microsoft to Improve Monetization and User Experience

NEW YORK, April 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- AppNexus, the world's leading independent advertising technology company, today announced the launch of multimedia "superauctions," technology that enables multiple media types to participate in a single unified auction to drive increased demand for each advertising placement and improve monetization. Microsoft implemented AppNexus' superauctions to enable display and video media types to compete in parallel, resulting in superior performance and faster load times.

"In-banner video has suffered from a negative reputation in the industry for years, and rightly so," said Eric Hoffert, SVP Video Technology, AppNexus. "Intermediaries often arbitraged video content into units meant for banner advertisements, which not only caused latency and ad quality problems, but also left the publisher without the higher CPMs video creatives command. With multimedia superauctions, we created a publisher-friendly, revenue-driving replacement that has a native look and feel, rapid load times, and other user experience controls."

"Since implementing multimedia superauctions on MSN inventory globally, we've seen revenue lift of as much as 60% in select markets," said David Carkeek, Principal Program Manager Lead, Microsoft. "The performance, quality and user experience is better than any unified solution we have tested, and allows us to benefit from combined display and video demand to drive superior monetization."

Superauctions, or multimedia auctions, run one unified auction so that advertiser demand for different media types compete with one another, the advertiser willing to pay the most wins, and the winning creative is served. BannerStream is a new video format developed by AppNexus that works with superauction technology to allow publishers to integrate a seamless video advertising experience within display ad units.

BannerStream is flexible and transparent to benefit everyone—publishers, advertisers, and consumers. It helps publishers by using HTML5 video and VPAID 2.0 rather than Flash, which improves browser stability and reduces latency. It can also run in large, medium, or small player formats across a variety of aspect ratios. For advertisers, the video player only plays content when the unit is in view, resulting in high video viewability rates. AppNexus also signals the video format type—instream, outstream, or BannerStream— in the bid request for full transparency to buyers. BannerStream is fully compatible with VAST, allowing both publishers and advertisers visibility into tracking VAST events, including starts, completes, and skips. Finally, it is user and consumer friendly, as it plays cross platform with autoplay sound off, with an option to view in full screen for a cinematic experience.

Like outstream video, BannerStream does not require the publisher to have existing video content on page, but instead leverages AppNexus' video player technology. BannerStream results in a better user experience versus in-banner video as publishers control how the video ad renders, making it more seamlessly integrated with the overall site design. It can be used on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices; on mobile it is rendered in-line to provide a more native look and feel.

"While multimedia superauctions address many of the challenges associated with in-banner video formats today, the underlying auction technology has far-reaching potential," continued Hoffert. "As the internet becomes more programmable and customizable to the end user, superauctions can encompass other advertising formats and types of content to allow formats such as native, display, and video to compete for the same slot. This will enable publishers and advertisers to experiment with different ways to acquire, engage, and monetize their audiences across the open internet and support more optimal outcomes."

Multimedia superauctions are now available in beta on the AppNexus platform to both buyers and sellers.

ABOUT APPNEXUS

AppNexus is an internet technology company that enables and optimizes the real-time sale and purchase of digital advertising. Our powerful, real-time decisioning platform supports core products that enable publishers to maximize yield; and marketers and agencies to harness data and machine learning to deliver intelligent and customized campaigns. For more information, follow us at @AppNexus or visit us at appnexus.com.

SOURCE AppNexus

Related Links

http://www.appnexus.com