DPG Media switches to Monetize Ad Server
DPG Media is the largest media company in the Netherlands, boasting a portfolio of national, regional, and local brands that strive to inform and entertain its readers.
The search for tech stack transparency, quality, and efficiency
After its acquisition of Sanoma Media Netherlands, DPG Media was reevaluating its ad technology stack, embarking on the undertaking of switching its ad server of record. After a company-wide planning and assessment effort, DPG Media chose Microsoft Advertising’s Monetize Ad Server for its transparency, quality controls, supply exposure opportunities, and integration flexibility. Shifting to Microsoft Advertising helped open the door to thoughtful reexamination whilst providing the tools to set itself up for sustained success.
Prioritising future growth and flexibility
DPG Media used Monetize Ad Server’s flexible object hierarchy to enable it to develop a new structure for placement groups and ad unit naming, leaning heavily on the use of key-value pairs. This helped to better future proof DPG Media’s inventory organization, preparing for scale whilst remaining nimble to accommodate changes.
To shape and boost our digital advertising strategy we found a good fit with Microsoft's Monetize Ad Server. The open nature of both the technology and collaboration allowed us to enhance our digital advertising products.
— STEFAN HAVIK, GENERAL MANAGER DPG NETWORK AND CDO, DPG MEDIA
As a part of its reevaluation process, DPG Media took the opportunity to rethink its monetisation strategy, wanting to elevate deals in their monetisation mix. Monetize Ad Server’s expanded deals capabilities allowed DPG Media to expand its deals strategy beyond the limitations of the previous ad server. DPG Media could now execute more deals with greater efficiency and activated around 1,600 private deals. The new strategy saw positive results, enabling a shift towards deals as an important revenue source.
Microsoft helped us diversify our portfolio with three new products that yielded us 14% of total revenue.
— JELLE DOORNBOS, PLATFORM MANAGER, DPG MEDIA
Now that DPG Media had its inventory framework and monetisation strategies in place, it was time to think about optimising revenue. Demand management controls allowed DPG Media to fine tune their yield, setting specific pricing and priority arrangements by demand partner. The accompanying reporting helped with sales scheduling and provided insight into opportunity costs for future adjustments.
Switching to Monetize Ad Server has afforded us a wide variety of ad serving and yield management tools. We now have more control, the flexibility to implement changes, and save time for our team overall.
— ANNIEK SWILLENS, DIRECTOR OF TECHNOLOGY, YIELD, AND SERVICE, DPG MEDIA
Last, but certainly not least, it was critical that daily operations run smoothly. Monetize Ad Server’s line-item configuration tools made it possible for DPG Media to include multiple targeting parameters per campaign, like device allocation and audience. This reduced the line items necessary for each campaign from five to one, freeing up internal resources previously devoted to monitoring pacing and performance for the extra line items.
The results
Since DPG Media’s successful migration to Monetize Ad Server, it has:
- Launched three new ad products accounting for 14% of total revenue.
- Consolidated campaign line items by 5x, improving efficiency and saving time.
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