Ana Kealy
Ad Tech
Feature
Publisher
Update
EXADS’ new Ad Refresh feature will help ad platform owners to attract more publisher and advertiser clients, and increase their revenues. This feature allows publishers to refresh ad content on multiple banner ad zones, including Responsive Display Ads, on their website.
Instead of serving just one ad per user, per session, publishers can now serve several ads, giving end users the chance to view more ads as they spend more time on a page section that has an ad zone. This is beneficial for advertisers as it increases the chances of ads being seen and clicked on while increasing the long-term value of the publishers’ ad zones by generating more viewable impressions.
By using Ad Refresh, ad platform owners will be helping publishers to:
'Ad viewability' is a crucial metric to track for publishers. Advertisers prefer to purchase viewable impressions, which means publishers with highly viewable display inventory have a greater demand for their inventory. With Ad Refresh, we assist you in enhancing your platform’s offer as your publishers can focus on improving their site's ad viewability rates, thereby increasing the number of quality impressions that are more likely to generate clicks. This, in turn, will create more demand for their inventory and result in increased revenues.
Ad Refresh operates on the principle of viewability, which is a best practice recommended by Google. To refresh an ad zone, it must be viewed by an end user in real-time, which promotes high viewability rates. This means that when an end user spends time reading or viewing content on a page, only the ad zone that is visible on their device screen will refresh.
Essentially, Ad Refresh works by refreshing only the ads that are in view, thereby increasing the likelihood of those ads being seen and clicked on by users.
Let's take an example of a webpage that contains both a Sidebar Banner and a Bottom Banner. Suppose an end user is scrolling through the webpage and the Sidebar Banner is in view on their screen. In this case, the Sidebar Banner ad zone will refresh after the ad refresh time setting is passed, displaying various ads to the end user. The Bottom Banner ad zone will not refresh until the user scrolls down to that section of the webpage. As soon as the user reaches the Bottom Banner section, as with the Sidebar Banner, the Bottom Banner ad zone will begin refreshing after the ad refresh time setting is passed displaying new ads to the end user. This way, Ad Refresh ensures that only the ads that are visible on the user's screen will refresh, thereby increasing the chances of the ads being viewed and clicked on.
There are four available time settings for the refresh frequency for ad zones:
Publishers can choose the duration of the refreshing interval, depending on how frequently they want their ads to refresh. Ad Refresh has a limit of 10 rotations per user session, ensuring that eCPMs are not negatively impacted by too frequent ad rotation.
This rotation limit has been set to comply with the IAB industry standards, which recommend that publishers refresh ads at a reasonable rate to avoid serving low-quality impressions. By implementing this limit, we assist publishers in providing a better user experience while complying with industry standards.
Check out the image below to see how banner placement refreshes:
The Ad Refresh feature is available on all applicable ad zone formats (banners and RDAs). To enable Ad Refresh on their websites, publishers can simply access the settings of their desired ad zones and select the ‘Ad Refresh Rate’ menu bar, then choose their preferred time setting:
To start with, the default Ad Refresh Rate is set to ‘No Refresh’, which means that the same ad will be displayed throughout the entire user session without rotation. Once the Ad Refresh Rate is set by the publisher, all ads displayed will be relevant to their audience's interests as they will fall under the category that was picked in the Category setting. The process is simple and can be completed in just a few clicks.
Recommendation: It is recommended to test out a refresh rate of 30 to 60 seconds when setting up ad timings. This will allow for several ads to be displayed and viewed by the end user, maximizing the chance of engagement.
Ad Refresh can be used for Banner zones, including Responsive Display Ads (RDAs). RDAs allow advertisers to effortlessly optimize their ad campaigns by using multiple assets, which display in various sizes and formats across multiple websites. By enabling RDAs on their site, the publisher’s zones become more competitive, generating higher demand and attracting higher bids, which leads to higher CPM.
With Ad Refresh enabled, the RDAs within a zone will refresh and show different ad creative options to the end user at the chosen refresh rate. This can increase the chances of the end user interacting with the ad, as they are presented with multiple creative options.
Ad platform owners can benefit from offering Ad Refresh to their publishers and advertisers in several ways:
Test different Ad Refresh rates: Publishers should be mindful of setting the right ad refresh rate for their site's audience and specific vertical. They can test out different timings but should avoid over-refreshing. The Ad Refresh feature has specific timing limits to comply with industry standards, but it's still important to find the right balance for generating clicks.
Maximize high visibility zones: To make the most of Ad Refresh, publishers should enable it on popular and high-visibility zones of their site. For example, next to engaging content like videos, image galleries, or big news stories, and in areas with high visibility like header ads, display banners, or visible CTAs.
Enable RDAs: This feature should also be enabled on the site, as this allows for both native and banner ads to be served, increasing ad inventory available for advertisers and generating more demand on ad zones.
Identity and test profitable zones: Ad Refresh also helps publishers identify high and low viewability areas on their site, allowing them to experiment with new zones and ad refresh rates to optimize performance. Publishers should also test out Ad Refresh in lower visibility zones across their site, as the ad zone won't refresh unless it's being viewed, meaning it won't damage viewability rates.
EXADS' new Ad Refresh feature is a valuable USP for any ad platform and can have a direct positive impact on its revenues as well as those of its users. It can also improve the user experience and lead to higher engagement rates, which can benefit everyone involved in the advertising ecosystem. Contact us today to find out more about Ad Refresh and all the powerful features that are included with our products!
Ana Kealy
Product Marketing Manager
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