Google and Adobe have garnered their share of attention as they assemble their end-to-end advertising technology stacks to span the buying and selling of online ad inventory.
But AOL has also, albeit relatively quietly, been lining up its own ad tech stack through AOL Networks (formerly the Advertising.com Group). It's now added a supply-side platform, Marketplace by ADTECH (AOL’s cross-screen ad server and ad management platform), to help publishers sell their inventory in an automated fashion.
AOL Networks CEO Ned Brody first hinted at an AOL-run supply-side platform last spring, when the company unveiled its demand-side platform, the AdLearn Open Platform. AOL Networks svp Dave Jacobs called the 1-year-old media-buying product a “fantastic success” and described Marketplace by ADTECH as a complementary product for media sales. “Now we want to bring as many demand sources to bear for publishers...to drive stronger yield,” he said.
When AOL rebranded the Advertising.com Group as AOL Networks in February, Brody repeatedly underscored the business’s customer base as premium advertisers and premium publishers. That remains the case with Marketplace by ADTECH. Jacobs noted that the SSP—engineered to offload non-reserved inventory while ensuring brand protection and transparency—is intended for the top 10,000 publishers to receive white-glove treatment. “Everybody gets a real account person to talk to,” he said.
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