SmartZones

A SmartZone lets an outside ad network compete for an ad zone’s traffic. You add the network’s ad code, iframe URL or VAST tag to the zone, and GoAdserver decides per request whether that network or your own campaigns serve the ad.

Each SmartZone competes in one of four ways: on a fixed percentage of requests, on live eCPM (the best payer wins), on eCPM with a limit on the share of traffic it may take, or through RTB.

You can limit a SmartZone to certain countries and device types, cap how often one visitor sees it, set a daily cap, skip bot traffic, and include or exclude keywords or words in the referring URL.

When several SmartZones share an ad zone, the one with the best eCPM for the visitor’s country wins. eCPM can also be worked out per country and sub-ID for finer optimisation.

SmartZones in GoAdserver

How SmartZones work

  1. Connect the ad network once: its name and the API key or login it gave you. Switch on Pull Stats via API where the network supports it, so its real earnings feed the eCPM ranking.
  2. Create a SmartZone inside an ad zone, pick the network and the selection type, and paste the network’s URL, HTML code or XML/VAST tag.
  3. Optionally restrict it by country and device, and switch it on.
  4. Import many zones at once from a CSV of the network’s own zone export.

See which network pays best

The Stats tab shows earnings, views, clicks and eCPM per SmartZone per day. The Distribution tab shows each network’s share of the traffic, revenue by network, weighted eCPM and the days on which the best-paying network changed. A health column flags zones that stopped earning, and AdScanner can check what each network actually serves.

Which selection type to pick

  • Percentage when you have agreed a fixed share with a network: it takes roughly that share of requests whatever else is eligible.
  • eCPM when the best payer should win outright. A new zone gets some random exposure until it has its own eCPM.
  • eCPM + Limit % when the best payer should win, but you only want to send part of the placement outside, for example 40%. The rest falls through to the next zone or to your own campaigns.
  • RTB when the network bids per request through an SSP campaign instead of a fixed tag.

Who uses SmartZones

Publishers and ad managers who work with several ad networks and want them to compete for every impression instead of each taking a fixed slot. Read how SmartZones raise publisher earnings, or see how they fit with RTB, website monetisation and the rest of GoAdserver’s ad management.

Documentation

Set it up step by step in the GoAdserver documentation: SmartZones and How to set up a SmartZone.