Warning: This post may venture into the tech weeds, but it should bring to light some of the details behind the scenes of online advertising — specifically, what advertisers are looking for when purchasing your inventory, and how publishers benefit from it. What Are Cookies? Everyone has heard of cookies, especially in recent years as Internet data collection has become something of a controversial topic. But while “cookie” is a universally recognized term, cookies are often misunderstood or not understood at all. Cookies are essentially small text files stored on a user’s computer, designed to collect and retain a modest amount of data specific to a particular advertiser and/or website. Still with us so far? In practical terms, cookies are the reason you continue to get ads for the pair of shoes you browsed for online, or that nice new toilet seat you just purchased.  […]

If you’ve ever been in contact with Mediavine via our amazing support channels, conference events, or elsewhere, you’ve likely heard us reference ad exchanges. Ad exchanges are the driving force behind programmatic advertising, the engine through which inventory is bought and sold. Whether you’re using Google AdSense or Mediavine, or other ad management solutions, your inventory is bought and sold via an ad exchange. What is an ad exchange? The short version: An ad exchange is a digital marketplace in which publishers connect with buyers looking for a specific audience. Put another way, through an ad exchange, publishers can market their available mobile, desktop, and/or video inventory to the ideal buyers. In today’s marketplace, these transactions are made almost exclusively through real time auctions. Major players in the ad exchange space include Google AdExchange, Index Exchange, Rubicon, Triplelift, OpenX, and Oath (formerly known as AOL). […]

What is Mediavine? Let’s start with what we’re not: An ad network.  Ad networks are what we think of as faceless organizations that place ads on your site, pay you and that’s it. You don’t know what they’re doing – or, more accurately, what they’re not doing. Mediavine’s goal is building sustainable businesses for content creators. That means full service ad representation to help maximize the value of your site as long as you work with us. What does that mean? Representing your ad inventory to make the most money, while offering you the support, technology and resources to optimize your content (and with it, your ad inventory). Strictly from an ad management standpoint, we manage your ad server, optimize ad placements, use header bidding and work directly with advertisers on your behalf. Using technology developed and tested on our own properties, Mediavine helps its […]