We got exciting news to share with you today. As you know, we are quick to jump in and take part in initiatives that aim to bring transparency into the ecosystem. We have contributed to Prebid, adopted ads.txt, and supply.json file and we’re always looking forward to seeing what’s next.
We have been working with Google via their Scaled Partner Management (SPM) program for a few years now. As an authorized SPM partner, we were able to help hundreds of independent and growing digital publishers to access Google’s wide pool of advertisers.
Since last year, Google has been working with selected partners to replace SPM with a new program — Multiple Customer Management (MCM). We are one of the partners and as you have guessed by now, Automatad is officially part of Google’s MCM program.
With MCM, Google defines the authorization level of Parent publisher (let’s say, Automatad) and Child publisher (i.e., you) — creating effective and more transparent relationships. So, it’s a win-win!
We will continue to be a gateway for growing publishers across the globe to access Google Ad Exchange (the largest ad exchange in the market). Rather than just announcing it and then wrapping up, let us share a bit more about how Google qualifies a partner. I believe it’ll come in handy when you’re looking for an MCM-approved channel partner.
Sidenote: In case you need to learn more about the MCM program, we have a primer — just for you.
So, How Google Qualifies a Partner?
If you’re wondering, no Google doesn’t approve all the channel partners under the SPM program by default. Every partner has to go through an evaluation process — which in turn helps Google to make the decision. On a higher level, a partner needs to maintain certain standards to get MCM approval. Let’s just look at the three important criteria here.
– Quality:
While it sounds obvious, Google tracks and pays close attention to the partner’s inventory quality. The publisher that the partner brings in matters here. Thanks to our domain quality team, we were able to onboard and work with high-quality publishers with an engaged user base.
So, if your site has a higher % of invalid traffic, then you need to analyze the sources and cut the sources that send you IVT. Having IVT means neither the partner nor the publisher can get AdX demand. We monitor the IVT and suggest multiple ways to tackle the problem for our publishers.
– Viewability:
This helps Google to ensure that the partner is delivering viewable impressions to the users — which in turn benefits the advertisers.
Any publisher who would like to maximize the revenue per session tends to increase the number of ad units per page. While this can deliver more impressions (depending on your lazy loading strategy), it’s not recommended.
Not only your user experience, but domain credibility also drops among the bidders over the period of time. Your bidders’ bid rate and win rate will eventually reduce, so there’s no point in trying to blindly add more units to the page.
At Automatad, we offer Active Exposure Time — an intelligent ad refresh tool that tracks ad viewability (on the placement level) and user engagement to deliver highly viewable impressions. Data from our publishers proves that AXT increased their viewability, eCPM, and most importantly, CTR.
On top of it, our dedicated account managers work with publishers to ensure better user experience and desirable viewability scores.
– Performance:
Google, of course, wants to check how the partner has been growing — in terms of the volume of ad impressions and revenue. A partner should grow sustainably and continue to offer more volume of highly viewable impressions to Google’s exchange.
This can happen only when — we onboard more publishers and the existing publishers grow their traffic and revenue. So, checking the “performance” box requires us to help our publishers win. And, we did and will continue to.
So, What’s Next? We are excited to work with Google and help all our publishers to transition to MCM. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us anytime.
