AppNexus and News Corp-owned outfit Unruly have today (June 8) launched an open-source header bidding solution that will let publishers better monetize their video advertising inventory on desktop and mobile.
Both parties have announced their mutual support for what they claim is the industry’s first open-source header bidding solution for outstream video, through the open-source library and community, prebid.js.
This enables all publishers to auction outstream video inventory (ie where video ads are served in the middle of an text-based article) on desktop and mobile and optimize revenue in a transparent auction. This enables all types of publishers, including those that do not produce their own video content, to command higher CPMs while giving marketers more opportunities to reach their audiences through video creatives.
Kenneth Suh, Unruly’s executive vice president, global business development, said: “By combining the transparency of header bidding with user-friendly formats like outstream, publishers are able to tackle some of their biggest challenges head on. With the launch of the first open-source header bidding solution for outstream, publishers should feel confident that they’re providing the best user experience while maximizing their revenue potential.”
Eric Hoffert, AppNexus, senior vice president, video technology, said bringing header bidding for outstream inventory will benefit the publisher ecosystem as it results in a “virtuous cycle that powers a vibrant video internet.”
He added: “It drives the video liquidity marketers need, empowers publishers of all kinds with full visibility and control over the video monetization of their inventory, and offers an engaging, user friendly experience.”
Unruly’s outstream formats can be run on any publishing platform, with its viewability-initiated players able to run on desktop plus mobile vertical video, as well providing support for 360 formats.
AppNexus also claims its outstream formats have been designed for low latency, across all devices, with support HTML5 and VPAID 2.0, plus more than 30 publisher attributes to allow customization for every client. Unruly and AppNexus units can also be used together in real time auctions to maximize revenue and opportunity for publishers, according to the pair.
Prebid.js now makes it possible to traffic outstream video using “renderers.” A renderer is client-side code (a combination of JavaScript, HTML and CSS) responsible for displaying a creative on a page.
A renderer for outstream ads provides a player environment capable of playing a video creative (most commonly, a VAST XML document) with ability to support volume, pause, and play controls for the user, fullscreen, skip-ability controls, vendor-specific text, color schemes or logos, expansion/collapse player actions, and more. Demand partners develop their own renderers with the prebid framework, allowing video to be delivered to display slots.
Both Unruly and AppNexus’ adapters are now available in beta on prebid.org. Additional video demand adapters are expected to become available in the second half of the year.
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