Ad Networks

An ad network is a technology enabled interface which connects two parties-

• Publishers who have unsold ad inventory
• Advertisers who would like to reach relevant people using ads.

The digital advertisement network is the aggregator of a large number of publishers so that they have a inventory of ad space to be auctioned. With the increase of digital content by leaps and bounds, the digital ad networks have been growing in a fairly large pace with every passing day.

The inventory provided by publishers come in various form: space in desktop sites as well as mobile sites and apps, blogs, video sites, email etc.

The advertisers who would like to reach their target audience for various purpose like branding, sales etc. generally connect with the ad networks so that they can get a pool of websites as per their needs.

Online advertisement networks provide the advertisers with a tech-enabled interface, where they can see essential data like in which sites or apps their ads appeared and how the target customers have interacted with the same.

Benefits for the Advertisers and Publishers:

The obvious benefit for the publishers come through the sale of their un-utilized ad inventory. So it gives direct monetary benefits to the publishers.

Advertisers get the scale and reach by using the network of ad networks. Otherwise, they had to do the hard work of scanning through millions of sites and find the right fit for them. They also get the interface to serve ads, the details on ad reach and the data on return on investment from ad networks.

Most common example of ad networks include Google Ad sense, InfoLinks, BlogHer, Revenue Hits etc.

The ad networks allow bloggers to earn income by choosing from four distinct pricing models –

• cost per click (CPC)
• cost per mille or cost per thousand (CPM),
• cost per acquisition (CPA)
• fixed rate.

The publishers must choose the right ad network and the right pricing model to earn recurring income by writing content.