EXADS’ Ad Placement API is a powerful solution that redefines how publishers manage and optimize ad delivery. While the API simplifies ad-serving and unlocks advanced formats like Multi-Format Zones and Responsive Display Ads, it also allows publishers to fetch ads for multiple zones in a single request, enabling them to create custom, revenue-boosting ad experiences.
Read on to learn more about EXADS’ Ad Placement API and why you should choose EXADS as your white-label ad server.
How to Create Custom Ad Formats by Leveraging the Ad Placement API
The standard ad formats available on EXADS, like Banners, Native, Outstream Video, etc. provide excellent monetization, but the Ad Placement API offers the flexibility to integrate ads in ways previously impossible.
By interacting directly with the API, you receive the raw, necessary data (the Ad Response) needed to render an ad. This bypasses the default rendering done by the ad-provider.js snippet, putting you in complete control.
The Custom Ad Process:
Request: Send a single, streamlined request to the Ad Placement API for the desired placement(s).
Receive: Get the Ad Response back, containing data on the winning ad campaign(s).
Render: Use your own code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to process this data and render the ad output exactly as you need it to fit your site’s unique design or function.
This approach allows you to develop new, highly customized ad units and integrate them seamlessly into your site’s user experience.
Use Case: Sponsored Listings
A prime example of custom integration is creating sponsored listing units that blend natively into content streams or search results. Instead of a standard Banner ad, you can use the API to fetch ad data and format it to look identical to organic content listings, such as property rentals or car sales.
This method achieves superior eCPM by offering advertisers highly relevant and contextually integrated placement.
Custom listing examples:
Example of a retail property site: (opens in a new tab) Showcasing how ad data can be formatted as a rental property listing.
Example of a car listing site: (opens in a new tab) Displaying how ad data can be styled as an automobile listing.
The API provides the ad creative assets and destination links; you provide the matching layout.
Use Case: Mobile App integration
An EXADS financial services client wanted to serve ads in mobile banking apps but ran into a roadblock. Both Apple and Google rejected their apps during a review. This may happen because traditional ad tags rely on JavaScript, which can be added into an iframe, which can be automatically flagged and rejected by Google or Apple for security reasons. By switching to our Ad Placement API, these injected scripts can be replaced with simple JSON-based requests that return ad creative data, click URLs, and impression trackers. Ads are then rendered natively using standard UI components; no webviews or iFrames required.\
With the Ad Placement API in place, both app stores subsequently approved our client’s application, and they are now ready to scale.
Use Case: Tailored Native Ads
While standard Native Ads are effective, using the Ad Placement API directly takes native integration to the next level.
The standard EXADS snippet (ad-provider.js) applies default styles and rendering logic. However, when you use the Ad Placement API, you receive the full set of Native Ad data: Title, Description, Brand, Image URL, before any rendering occurs.
This means you can:
Match Design Perfectly: Apply 100% custom CSS and HTML to ensure the Native Ad’s font, spacing, borders, and colors perfectly match your website’s design.
Control Display Logic: Implement custom logic, such as displaying the ad differently based on device type or page section, maximizing ad viewability and user acceptance.
Integrate Deeply: Embed the Native Ad elements directly into a complex content grid or article, making it indistinguishable from editorial content.
By utilizing the API, you shift from simply serving a native ad to building a native experience that drives higher engagement and better monetization results.
Use Case: In-Product Marketing and Feature Discovery
A local search and discovery app wants to promote its new features and seasonal services without hard-coding each banner or relying on engineering for updates.
The Ad Placement API serves as a “smart CMS” for internal marketing, allowing teams to set logic-based triggers like showing “Moving Company” services during relocation season directly in the app.
This separates marketing from engineering, enabling updates that once took weeks to implement to be rolled out in minutes, significantly boosting user engagement with new features.
Use Case: Privacy-First Native Creative for High-Utility Platforms
A utility-based platform, such as a file-sharing or productivity tool, seeks to monetize high-traffic pages with full-screen “wallpaper” ads that do not track users or rely on third-party cookies.
Using a server-side API integration, the platform can deliver rich media and “donated” ads for social causes without JavaScript tags, ensuring privacy and GDPR compliance.
The platform maintains control over the ad aesthetics, and without third-party trackers, ads load in under 50 milliseconds, creating a high-resolution, value-added visual experience.
Ready to Elevate Your Ad Delivery?
The Ad Placement API is more than just a performance upgrade; it is a gateway to creative and deeply integrated ad experiences. So, explore EXADS’ Ad Placement API and book a demo with our team now!
