— Solutions are built to support prebid.js, the industry’s most widely-adopted, open source header bidding wrapper —
New York – Video ad tech company Unruly and AppNexus, the world’s leading independent advertising technology company, announced mutual support of the industry’s first open-source header bidding solution for outstream video, through the open-source library and community, prebid.js. This enables all publishers to auction outstream video inventory with customization and control across desktop and mobile and optimize revenue through direct transactions with premium demand partners in a fair and transparent auction.
As digital video advertising becomes more popular with advertisers, the supply of quality programmatic instream inventory has become constrained. As a result, publishers are increasingly turning to outstream video as a high impact monetization alternative, providing a new and abundant supply of video inventory to advertisers. This enables all types of publishers, including those that do not produce their own video content, to command higher CPMs while giving marketers more opportunities to reach their audiences through engaging video creatives.
“By combining the transparency of header bidding with user-friendly formats like outstream, publishers are able to tackle some of their biggest challenges head on. With the launch of the first open-source header bidding solution for outstream, publishers should feel confident that they’re providing the best user experience while maximizing their revenue potential,” said Unruly’s EVP, Global Business Development, Kenneth Suh.
“Header bidding for outstream inventory is good for the video ecosystem,” said Eric Hoffert, SVP Video Technology, AppNexus. “It drives the video liquidity marketers need, empowers publishers of all kinds with full visibility and control over the video monetization of their inventory, and offers an engaging, user friendly experience. This results in a virtuous cycle that powers a vibrant open video internet.”
Unruly’s user-friendly outstream formats can be run on any publishing platform, including those that do not produce their own video content. Its viewability-initiated players can run on desktop, mobile vertical video and in 360 and puts the user in control for an overall better viewing experience. AppNexus outstream formats, designed for low latency, high impact desktop and mobile delivery, support HTML5 and VPAID 2.0, with more than 30 publisher attributes to allow optimal customization for every client. Unruly and AppNexus units can be used together in real time auctions to maximize revenue and opportunity for publishers.
Prebid.js now makes it possible to traffic outstream video using “renderers.” A renderer is client-side code (a combination of JavaScript, HTML and CSS) responsible for displaying a creative on a page. A renderer for outstream ads provides a player environment capable of playing a video creative (most commonly, a VAST XML document) with ability to support volume, pause, and play controls for the user, fullscreen, skippability controls, vendor-specific text, color schemes or logos, expansion/collapse player actions, and more. Demand partners develop their own renderers with the prebid framework, allowing video to be delivered to display slots.
Prebid.js provides the industry’s most widely adopted open source prebid solution for display and video formats. Unlike other video header bidding solutions in the market, Prebid Video is open source and designed to support multiple video players, multiple video ad servers, and multiple demand sources. The technology is specifically designed to fight latency and enhance the user experience, by running transparent auctions asynchronously on page load, so that video demand can be ready by the time an outstream video player comes into view. Prebid.js is compatible with both instream and outstream video formats for a holistic video header bidding solution.
Both Unruly and AppNexus’ adapters are now available in beta on prebid.org. Additional video demand adapters are expected to become available in the second half of the year.
About AppNexus
AppNexus is an internet technology company that enables and optimizes the real-time sale and purchase of digital advertising. Our powerful, real-time decisioning platform supports core products that enable publishers to maximize yield; and marketers and agencies to harness data and machine learning to deliver intelligent and customized campaigns. For more information, follow us at @AppNexus or visit us at appnexus.com.
About Unruly
Unruly gets videos seen, shared and loved across the open web for brands that want to move people, not just reach people.
By bringing emotional intelligence to digital advertising, we help 91% of Ad Age 100 brands inform and inspire 1.44bn people around the world, using polite outstream formats on sites that people love. UnrulyX, the viewable video SSP, creates better ad experiences for consumers, improved brand outcomes for advertisers and increased revenues for top-flight publishers.
Emotion matters in marketing. Emotion creates values and sets preferences. Inspires action. Drives sales. Unruly has a decade’s data of consumer responses to video and uses that to hone content, model audiences and deploy ad dollars in ways that heighten emotional response and maximise brand impact.
Unruly was founded in 2006 and acquired by News Corp in 2015. With 300 Unrulies across 20 locations worldwide, our super power is emotional intelligence and our secret weapon is passionate people on a mission to #DeliverWow.
