DoubleClick | Ad Exchange
Sporcle optimizes yield and partnerships, boosts revenue 20% with insights from Ad Exchange
About Sporcle
• www.sporcle.com • San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA • Trivia game website and mobile app suite
Goals
• Increase revenue by optimizing yield from indirect channels
Approach
• Began using DoubleClick Ad Exchange for richer data and controls • Used extensive reporting to optimize ad placement, buyer relationships, price floors • Used dynamic allocation to ensure highest yield at any given time
Results
• 20% lift in revenue and overall CPMs from intelligence-driven optimizations • Streamlined and optimized relationships with buyer networks
About DoubleClick Ad Exchange
DoubleClick Ad Exchange enables publishers to make the most of every display impression, across every channel. It’s the only ad exchange that offers real time access to every major demand source, including the Google Display Network. In addition, AdX connects seamlessly with the DFP ad serving platform, making it easy for publishers to get maximum value from every impression. For more information visit: google.com/doubleclick
Created in 2007 by a crossword puzzle enthusiast on a quest for broader knowledge, Sporcle is a website and mobile application suite featuring user-created trivia games and quizzes. Serving 200 million ad impressions to 1.5 million unique visitors monthly, Sporcle generates revenue mainly through advertising. Traditionally an AdSense customer, Sporcle began using the DoubleClick Ad Exchange (AdX), a tool for managing multiple ad networks, in July 2011. “It was a straightforward decision to move to Ad Exchange,” says Ali Aydar, CEO at Sporcle. “I saw AdX as a step up in having more control and augmented data.” Deeper data, smarter decisions For a data-driven business like Sporcle, the extensive reporting functionalities within Ad Exchange offer visibility into optimization opportunities. With new insights from AdX, Ali and his team are better informed to make business decisions, leading to a 20 percent lift in revenue. “Because the reporting is so much deeper, AdX has provided a much more detailed view into what’s happening,” explains Ali. “The available data has helped us make certain decisions about ad placement, dealing with advertisers directly, and how to best work with other partners.” Buyer intelligence optimizes relationships With intelligence from the Buyer Networks report in AdX, Sporcle was able to optimize its relationships with buyers. “Before joining AdX, we couldn’t see specifics of how individual buyer networks were buying. When I saw this report, I found data on who was buying on my site, what their core businesses were, how they were buying ads and where they were buying inventory. Having access to that information allowed me to examine and optimize our relationships with different folks who buy through multiple channels,” he says. “In some cases, we steer them to buy exclusively from AdX. In other cases, we decide to work directly together,” he says. “AdX gives us certain controls, like price floors, to optimize relationships on a buyer-by-buyer basis. The tools it offers completely blow away every other ad exchange that’s out there.” Heavy buyer demand, higher yield For Sporcle, one of the biggest benefits of AdX is access to high buyer demand. “As a publisher, you almost have to be using Ad Exchange, otherwise you’re leaving a huge portion of demand off your site and your price comes down,” observes Ali. He says that another benefit of using AdX is the dynamic allocation feature, which automatically allocates ads to the sales channel that pays the most, generating the highest yield at any given point in time. “Every publisher should be using dynamic allocation because you will make more money with it enabled, in almost all cases.” Sporcle’s experience illustrates the power of combining deep insights from Ad Exchange with continuing optimization efforts. As Ali sums up, “Every little optimization leads to higher CPM, which leads to higher revenue.” © 2012 Google Inc. All rights reserved. Google, DoubleClick, the Google logo, and the DoubleClick logo are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. 120529
