Boosting Publisher Revenue: The Role of Demand Path Optimisation (DPO) and Split Testing

Last week we discussed the difference between Demand-Path Optimisation (DPO) & Supply-Path Optimisation (SPO) (insert link). Whilst the uplift opportunity is plain to see, we are shining a light on the challenges of DPO & split testing.

Boosting Publisher Revenue: The Role of Demand Path Optimisation (DPO) and Split Testing

The advertising technology landscape is rapidly evolving, and publishers face significant challenges, especially now Google has moved the goalposts on third-party cookies. We still foresee the “death of the third-party cookie,” albeit in a more gradual manner, because third-party cookie traffic in Chrome is expected to diminish significantly as Google adopt an Apple-like model where users decide whether to be tracked by third-party cookies.

As no clear path or definitive solutions have emerged, it is vital that publishers explore new areas, test new partners and experiment with new technologies to maintain their revenue streams. Many of you have been working with ID solutions, and left frustrated by Google's decision, however this work has not been in vain and we encourage all publishers to continue to investigate these options. We believe the way to navigate your business through these turbulent times is having a robust DPO and split testing strategy. As a quick refresher on DPO, here is the overview from last weeks post:

“DPO is focused on optimising the paths through which publishers sell their ad inventory. It involves selecting the most efficient and profitable routes to connect with demand sources (like SSPs and advertisers). The goal is to maximise revenue while ensuring that the inventory is sold through trustworthy and transparent channels.”

Benefits: 

• Revenue Optimisation: Maximise value from each ad impression.
• Control & Transparency: Gain better control over who buys inventory, improving transparency and reducing fraud risk.
• Buyer Evaluation: Identify top buyers through bid analysis, financial reliability, and response time.
• Ad Quality & Risk: Assess ad quality and perform risk assessments to protect user experience.
• Strategic Decisions: Make informed choices about site impact (e.g. latency and UX), and consider the sustainability and ethical impact of buyers

So first, let’s take a look at some of the issues publishers are facing when trying to execute a DPO & split testing strategy: 

1. Challenges in Managing Your Ad Stack and Split Testing New Partners

Publishers have voiced concerns about challenges in managing their ad stacks, testing new partners, and implementing DPO due to:

• Inflexible Wrappers: Current wrappers are rigid and offer little support or revenue gain despite higher fees.
• Legal Delays: Long legal processes slow down the ability to test new partners.
• Scale Limitations: Smaller publishers often struggle to secure contracts with preferred SSPs and ad tech partners.
• Uncertainty in Partner Selection: Publishers frequently face uncertainty in choosing and evaluating new partners.
• Resource Constraints: Limited resources make it difficult to execute and optimise testing strategies.

Do these challenges sound familiar? If so, let’s explore the potential impact of poorly executed DPO and split-testing strategies.

2. Additional considerations and knock on effects for DPO & Split Testing

When executing DPO and split testing new partners, publishers must consider several factors beyond just revenue uplift such as:

• Latency Issues: Assessing potential hidden impacts on site latency and how partners measure and compare these effects.
• Data Privacy and Compliance: Ensure new partners prioritise publisher-focused privacy and compliance, rather than a generic approach.
• Ads.txt Management: Keep ads.txt files accurate and updated.
• Sustainability and ESG: Understand how testing affects sustainability and ESG scores, which could influence buy-side demand.
• Visibility and Reporting: Manage the challenge of limited visibility and manual reporting across platforms.

With these challenges and considerations in mind, it’s crucial to evaluate the resource and skills publishers need to navigate new legislation, and bridge the skills gap:

3. Publisher skill sets required for DPO and split testing:

• First-Party Data & Audience: Leveraging first-party data to build audience segments.
• Data Privacy & Compliance: Ensuring compliance with privacy regulations, including Consent Management Platforms (CMPs).
• Newsletters & Subscriptions: Managing newsletters and subscription models to diversify revenue streams.
• Sustainability and ESG: Maintaining sustainable practices alongside environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores.
• ID Solutions & Contextual Advertising: Implementing identity solutions and contextual advertising strategies.
• Ad Blocking & Ads.txt Management: Mitigating ad blocking and maintaining ads.txt files.
• Yield & Floor Management: Optimising yield and floor prices for ad inventory.
• Ad Fraud & Malvertising: Preventing ad fraud and malvertising.
• SEO & Core Web Vitals: Enhancing SEO and core web vitals to improve site performance and user experience.
• Ad Stacks & Layouts: Managing ad stacks, layouts, and optimisations.
• SSP Knowledge & Relationships: Building knowledge and relationships with supply-side platforms.
• Direct Deals & PMPs: Handling direct deals, private marketplaces (PMPs), and programmatic guaranteed (PG) deals.
• Multi-format Expertise: Expertise in display, native, video, and app advertising.
• Editorial & Design: Balancing editorial content with ad placements.
• Web Development: Proficiency in front-end and back-end web development.
• Finance & Sales: Managing financials and sales operations.

In short, unless you have an infinite budget pot, it’s unrealistic to expect publishers to cover the entire checklist, quite frankly publishers are up against it.

We know DPO and split testing is essential, it provides significant cost savings and revenue uplift, but it has its challenges, so what is the best way to approach this for your business? 

Partner with Experts to Plug Gaps in Your Internal Skill Sets

• Acknowledge Expertise Limits: Publishers don’t need to master every area in the ever-changing ad tech landscape.
• Avoid Impractical Scaling: Expanding or upskilling internal teams to handle all evolving technologies and regulations is often impractical and costly.
• Leverage Third-Party Expertise:
  • Partner with agnostic ad-tech companies.
  • Utilise comprehensive platforms or solutions provided by experts.
  • Benefit from their expertise on critical aspects of ad-tech as an extension of your team.
• Strategic Upskilling:
  • Assess which areas bring the most value to the business.
  • Decide whether to upskill internal teams in these key areas.
  • Alternatively, continue collaboration with third parties as extensions of the team.
• Focus on Core Competencies: Allow internal teams to focus on core competencies while leveraging external expertise for specialised areas.

How Content Ignite Can Help?

We were Publishers once, so we have a unique view on how to fix these issues, it’s why we started the business. We want to help publishers get back to doing what they are great at, making high quality, premium content. Our Fusion platform was built with DPO & split testing at its core, giving publishers all the tools and expertise to implement successful strategies and boost revenue. How do we do this?

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Seamless Integration

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• One simple integration: a small script tag placed in your header to activate all the features & functionality we offer below to run your business more efficiently, and address the challenges and concerns previously detailed in this post.

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Control and Flexibility

• Fusion Wrapper: Gain full control over on-page monetisation, ad technology, and ad management.
• Drag & Drop Technology: Build your own ad stack with ease.
• Easy Split Testing: Simplify the process of testing new partners.
• Flexible Partnerships: Use our monetisation and ad tech partners, your own, or both.

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Selective Contracting

• Test SSPs, IDs, and other technologies using our connections first.
• Take the guesswork out of it. On completion of testing, choose if you want to contract directly streamlining your legal processes as you know it will be worth your time, or simply stay connected with our account. 

Comprehensive Monetisation Platform

• Header Bidding Wrapper: Google Adx, Open Bidding, Prebid, and Amazon TAM.
• GAM ‘2nd Look’: Boost unfilled revenue by passing back to another GAM account of your choice (can be CI’s).
• Healthcheck Reports: Monitor latency, core web vitals, header bidding performance, ESG and sustainability metrics, and risk, all benchmarked against cohort data.
• Ads.txt Management Tool: An often overlooked, but critical area to focus on to improve revenue and decrease latency.  
• Contextual & Audience Management: Build your own audiences so your sales team can sell your inventory for the best price. 
• Smart Refresh: In view smart refresh (closeable and 30 secs)  
• Experiment Technology: Built for split testing. Build your experiment, activate and then optimise all through one reporting suite. 
• Dynamic Floor Optimisation: Yield optimisation made easy, let the algorithms do the heavy lifting to reach your goals. 
• Unified Reporting: All your direct and programmatic reports in one beautiful UI.
• Real-Time Alerts: Notifications when things go down, or fluctuation in revenue so you can stay on top of issues real-time.  
• Incredible payment terms: We pay out on NET 30, we know how important cash flow is for publishers. 

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Flexible Service Models

• SaaS (Software as a Service):
  • Full platform access including all connections.
  • Fixed price or pay-as-you-go model on all ad opportunities.
  • Revenue share on CI demand only.

• Fully Managed Service:
  • Full platform access including all connections and integrations.
  • Consultancy and access to our in-house experts across all aspects of ad-tech, from privacy to monetisation.
  • Monthly retainer.
  • Fixed price or pay-as-you-go model on all ad opportunities.
  • Revenue share on CI demand only.

Experience Unmatched Functionality

• Transform your ad operations with Content Ignite's powerful features, comprehensive tools, and expert support. Take control of your monetisation strategy and stay ahead in the evolving ad-tech landscape.

In summary, mastering split testing and ad tech management presents significant challenges. However, by identifying these obstacles and providing publishers with the essential skills and resources, they can effectively navigate the evolving landscape and achieve sustained success.

To discuss how Content Ignite can help your business, please either reach out directly to me at james@contentignite.com, or our sales team at sales@contentignite.com. 

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If you found this article helpful, join our CEO, James Hanslip, for a webinar titled "The Publisher's Guide to Demand Path Optimisation - Why It Matters," hosted in association with the AOP on September 10th. To sign up, please visit the AOP site here. 

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