Comments on: Does Rubicon Project Help Generate More Revenue? One Publisher Says That’s a Fairy Tale

By: Rajeev Goel

Rajeev Goel — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi,
My name is Rajeev Goel, I’m co-founder and general manager of PubMatic. I wanted to encourage any publishers who are looking for assistance with maximizing their revenue from ad networks to try out PubMatic (www.pubmatic.com).

PubMatic is the world’s first service that increases Web publishers’ revenue by automating and optimizing ad serving decisions. We are in an open beta since September 2007 (that means no waiting to get started with us), we actively serve over 2000 publishers, and we have multiple success stories you can read on our Web site. We provide automated optimization across every ad network available on the Web today. In addition, for your text ads, we optimize the color scheme of these ads in real time to drive a higher click-through rate and more revenue for publishers.

Since our launch, we have been picked by TechCrunch as a top 40 startup (in fact we launched at the TechCrunch40 conference) and by AlwaysOn as an OnMedia 100 winner.

I don’t claim that we’re 100% perfect, but most of the publishers we work with see anywhere from 30% to 150% increases in revenue. I’d be happy to work with you to see how we can help you. Please contact us online or email me directly at rajeev . goel (at) pubmatic.com.

- Rajeev

By: JT-- the Rubicon Project

JT-- the Rubicon Project — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for all your prior coverage of the Rubicon Project. We appreciate it. I am responsible for our publisher BETA program at the Rubicon Project.

Below is my rely to Sean’s post… I thought it would be helpful here… if you have any questions/comments, please feel free to contact me directly at the email below.

Sean– thanks for your participating in our private beta program. I am responsible for publisher program at the Rubicon Project. I am sorry your experience during our private beta did not meet your expectations. In particular, I am disappointed that your experience with our publisher care team was not positive (we take great effort to ensure that we deliver excellent care to our publishers– sorry that wasn’t the case this time).

1. You of course will be paid for all advertising revenue your site earned. All publishers are paid within 15 days of the ad networks paying the Rubicon Project (usually on a NET 30 basis). If you have any questions about that, please contact me directly at jt at rubicon project dot com.

2. As we are still in private beta and are still investing heavily in r&d, we know we currently aren’t the perfect solution for every publisher (which is also part of the reason we are currently a free service). We have been incredibly successful for large publishers and are looking to replicate this for all publishers.

3. Why do we require funding? The short answer is that is very expensive to do what we are attempting to do. We have served billions of ads and have built up our team to support the demands of the 3000+ publishers who have signed up for our beta. Also, we are investing millions in R&D.

Again, please feel free to contact me directly at jt at rubicon project dot com.

Best,

By: CG

CG — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

JT’s points about being in beta are really important to keep in mind. Everyone seems to forget this factoid in the rush toward the promise of higher CPMs.

As for performance, it turns out that the size of the publisher (impressions per day) matters. A small publisher will have a limited of choices for ad networks (and even ad types) compared with a large publisher.

One benefit that rubicon brings to the large publisher is the consolidation of control of ad networks. The workflow for managing these networks is a lot easier through rubicon. For handling & boosting eCPM for remnant inventory, the jury is still out.

By: Jason Menayan

Jason Menayan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Please allow me the opportunity to tell your readers, Allen, about our service (You might remember that you and I chatted about YieldBuild when you visited our booth at BlogWorld this past November).

YieldBuild is a service that performs a similar function to what Rubicon Project and Pubmatic do – optimization of contextual ads across networks to maximize publishers’ revenue. Like PubMatic, we also optimize ad color schemes. We go a step further, and allow optimization of precise position of ad units within publisher-specified zones on a page, all with the goal of increasing click-through. All of this is done automatically without any need for guesswork.

A key difference with our service is that YieldBuild sits between your site and the contextual ad networks you already use. You will continue to get paid by Google AdSense, Yahoo Publisher Network, etc, and you will continue to be able to monitor your impressions and clicks via their consoles if you are used to doing that (We do provide a consolidated reporting interface as well).

We are still in private beta but are accepting new publishers, and should open to a full public beta very shortly. We’re proud to say we’ve been able to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, both in publishers’ ad revenue lift and in our team responsiveness.

We invite your readers to check us out at http://yieldbuild.com.

Many thanks,
Jason Menayan
YieldBuild