In this article, we will review some Pros and Cons of the use of 3rd party ad tag ad serving technology for ‎online publishers.

An Ad Tag is based on 3rd party technology. The logic is simply that the ads that are set on a web page are deriving from an external server. Basically, a web page is allowing 3rd party Ad Server ‎data to be set on its web site. With that, he is allowing his traffic to be subjected to this 3rd party’s data. ‎

The ad tag points the browser to the Publisher’s Ad Server, a system designed exclusively for ‎delivering and tracking advertising.  In most cases, the Ad Server is actually a network of cloud servers ‎owned and maintained by a separate company (i.e. 3rd party platform).

In this case, the content ‎server tells the browser to fetch the ad from the Ad Server (i.e. – Google’s Double click, Yahoo’s Right ‎Media, etc.), that then makes the very complex decision on which ad to serve.‎

Pros:

Advertiser’s diversity

Since the ads are deriving from the Ad Exchange (a 3rd party ‎platform that holds many advertisers in its capacity), it allows the presence of many ‎advertisers for a single publisher. This gives that publisher an added advantage, since he ‎can constantly present different ads on the site, and with that ability – to generate more ‎conversion by diversifying the type of ads set on the page.‎

Managing and optimization by a 3rd party

Management of the ad is usually set by an ‎agency or an Ad Network that provides the 3rd party tags to the publisher. These Ad ‎Networks holds account managers that are in charge of managing and controlling the ‎targeting for Ad types. Optimizing the campaigns based on specific sites assures that the ‎correct publisher receive the right Ads to show on its site.‎

Segmentation and retargeting

The 3rd party tag has many capabilities. In part, they can ‎attract and show ads to already segmented users, and to retarget these users. As such, ‎they will most definitely encore a higher conversion rate. Retargeting the same user ‎segments gives the advantage to pin-point specific users that are more likely to convert.‎

Minor technical issues

By using a 3rd Party Ad Tag, there is no need of any technical ‎knowledge. All that the publisher need to do is to set the Ad Tag in the HTML on the page ‎and to assure that an Ad is seen.‎

Cons:‎

No control over 3rd party data

Since all data is set at 3rd party ad exchange, there is no real ‎data transfer, and as such using that tag may apply data fetching/cookie insertion etc. The ‎publisher must constantly assure that he is receiving the correct targeted request for ‎Ad/advertisers.‎

Lack of transparency and knowledge of the advertisers

The list of advertisers in an ‎Ad Exchange is not always visible to the publishers. The use of the 3rd party ad tags can ‎initiate ads by unknown/unwanted advertisers. Usually, publishers try to get most data ‎possible about the supplied advertisers, but in many cases the data is unknown when ‎received from a 3rd party.‎

 Risk of showing unwanted ads to users

Apply to the same issue above, by ‎having the risk of unwanted advertisers; we can most definitely apply for the risk of ‎unwanted ads. The risk of showing porn, violence etc. ads on a premium site is one of the ‎major cons of using the 3rd party ad Tags.

However, using a comprehensive ad verification solution will eliminates the risk of working with 3rd party ad tags, ‎so only the publisher’s pros objectives are met.‎