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Established in 1995, Lycos is one of the original and most widely known internet brands in the world, evolving from one of the first search engines on the web into a comprehensive network of social sites, as well as leading provider of web-publishing tools. Two years ago Lycos adopted OpenX Enterprise to serve ads. More recently, Lycos began selling non-guaranteed inventory through OpenX Market. To see how things were going, Paul Martecchini, Head of Marketing for OpenX, spoke with Kristyn Lyons, Ad Operations Manager, and Colleen Stephan, Lycos’ Product Manager for Search.
Kristin Lyons, Ad Operations Manager at Lycos
Paul Martecchini [PM]: Let’s begin with a quick update on Lycos: how has your site evolved?
Colleen Stephan [CS]: We started with search as a flagship product, and it’s still a core function. Through our acquisitions of Tripod and Angelfire, we now offer tools for blogging, web publishing, and hosting. We also offer casual gaming through Gamesville and email with Lycos Mail. Last October, we were acquired by Ybrant Digital, a global ad agency, and Lycos is now their U.S. presence and arm.
PM: How are you using OpenX?
Kristyn Lyons [KL]: We use OpenX Enterprise for ad serving, and we put our non-guaranteed inventory on OpenX Market.
PM: Why did you choose OpenX Enterprise?
KL: It had all of the bells and whistles we needed, such as granular targeting capabilities and great reporting. Also, we really like the customer service; whenever we need a new feature, we just call-up our OpenX team and they implement it right away, and that helps us be strategic partners to important advertisers. For instance, we were working with a partner that had very specific pixel implementation requirements. Our OpenX team responded very quickly, and we were able to hit our advertiser’s I/O goals.
Continue reading to discover Ms. Lyons’s tips to other publishers and how Lycos quadrupled their yields with OpenX Market!
PM: Did you have relationships with many third-party partners before working with OpenX Market?
CS: Yes, but we found it challenging to optimize revenues when shuffling inventory through several auction-based partners. Efficient testing was effective for us when working within a single, big auction. It’s difficult to get a competition going between the players.
PM: So our ad exchange is working for you?
KL: Absolutely! With OpenX Market we can use the minimum floor price feature to propose – and get – higher CPMs. Also, it makes a big difference to have our entire direct and indirect inventory in one spot. Our sales teams see the CPMs our inventory yields in auctions, and use those results to justify higher CPMs with direct advertisers. The competition has been good for us.
PM: What was the impact on your CPM?
KL: Within two months, and with a lot of help from our OpenX team, our CPMs grew from $0.25 to well over a dollar. Some days CPMs are $2.00 and higher, and in select placements, we see $3.75. We’re getting double what we expected to get from OpenX Market, making it a top competitor for our inventory.
PM: How are your fill rates?
KL: Really good! We started out small because we wanted to test how our inventory would do on OpenX Market, and we wanted to compare it with another solution we were using. We quickly realized that both our fill rate and the CPMs were of high value, so we began allocating more impressions to OpenX Market. We expect to send 50% of our non-guaranteed inventory to OpenX Market in the very near future.
PM: In the old days a lot of ad networks would buy non-guaranteed inventory for $0.25 CPM, layer on targeting, and re-sell it for the $4.00 CPM.
CS: Yes, they did. And while I hate to take money from another company’s pockets, we’d like to keep that revenue on our books. It’s our company data. Your new Audience Segmentation feature is one of the reasons we’re so excited about OpenX Enterprise.
PM: How big is your ad ops team?
CS: Kristyn manages and optimizes our entire inventory and manages all of our partners. She oversees every single impression on our site. It’s a one-person show.
PM: Wow, that’s a lot of work – has OpenX Enterprise helped you manage it, Kristyn?
KL: It definitely keeps me busy. But thanks to OpenX, the less time I have, the more positive impact I have. I can set it, forget it, and see the positive reward. Our OpenX team is very responsive, so when I ask for something, I know I’ll get it without worrying about it.
PM: Do you use price floors, and if so, what’s your strategy?
KL: We started with one floor just to get a gauge on things. Now we actively pit our direct advertisers and third-party partners against OpenX Market. So, let’s say I’m getting a current CPM of $0.75 from my partners, I’ll see what OpenX Market will deliver. I might set the floor to $0.85 or even $1.00 and give OpenX Market buyers a chance to outbid them. If OpenX Market can monetize 75% of that traffic at a higher CPM, I’ll let it run all day against non-committed campaigns. I frequently experiment with the floor price as well as the fill rate we’re getting. If it’s a higher fill at a lesser CPM or vice versa, I’ll update on a weekly basis to see what’s going to give us the best results.
PM: Has OpenX changed the relationships you have with other partners?
CS: Absolutely, it gives us the ammunition we need to ask for higher CPMs. And if they’re not stepping up, we move on because we always want to work with the best solution available. This is especially true in the US, the UK, and Australia where both demand and CPMs are rising.
PM: Any tips you’d give to publishers who are dealing with these same issues?
KL: Don’t be nervous to take risks and serve aggressively. Seeing a drop for the first days of activity shouldn’t discourage you, only help you to successfully monetize the following day. For so long we weren’t taking full advantage of OpenX Market, but with the help of our OpenX team we determined the best way to set up our inventory. Instead of the CPMs and floors dropping, which deterred us from opting in sooner and aggressively serving, we saw both metrics rise significantly. And remember, OpenX does a great job in turning things around very quickly and showing you how to succeed.
