OpenX Blog

As John mentioned in his post a couple of weeks ago, one of the major changes in v2.8 is the introduction of a new plugin framework. This framework allows developers to customize many aspects of the ad server functionality.

Wherever possible, we’re trying to build new features as plugins so that you don’t need to upgrade the whole ad server to take advantage of new features like the bundled plugin for OpenX Market, improved GeoIP targeting data from NetAcuity or an upcoming in-stream and overlay video ad plugin we will be including in the next ad server release.

There are currently four main ways that a plugin can interact with the ad server (mapping to the four main areas of the application):

• Web Service API - Plugins are able to define their own method calls to be accessed through the OpenX API
• Maintenance - Plugins can add tasks to the hourly process which summarizes statistics and assigns priorities
• User interface - Plugins can:
  • Add pages to the menu system to add new features and functionality
  • Define new types of banners
  • Generate custom invocation tags
  • Provide additional (Excel) reports
  • Override the user authentication system
• Delivery Engine: There are a number of hooks in the delivery engine at which plugins can register and execute custom code during the ad selection/rendering/logging process.
  • The front-controller allows new delivery scripts to be provided in a plugin
  • Sophisticated targeting rules can be evaluated to control banner delivery
  • Pre/post processing of a banner HTML
  • Events and actions (requests, impressions clicks etc) can trigger plugin events
  • Replace the file-based cache store with something else (e.g. memcache)

We’ve put together some tools to help budding plugin developers get started creating their first plugin including a toolbox with a plugin builder component and a demo plugin showing the kinds of things that can be done with the plugin framework.

And of course you can always jump into the #openx chatroom to ask (or offer) help!

We’ve been working on ways for you to maximize your revenue and are excited to release eCPM optimization with OpenX 2.8. eCPM optimization is a free feature that changes delivery and prioritization to make revenue-based serving decisions, making you more money from your campaigns without having to share your profits with a third party.

eCPM prioritization maximizes your revenue by allocating requests to campaigns in proportion to their expected revenues and by spreading risk across different campaigns to adjust for volatile eCPM values. It works across your non-guaranteed CPM, CPC, and CPA campaigns to increase yield on any impression that isn’t allocated to a contract campaign.

When using eCPM optimization along with OpenX Market, you will get the most out of your existing relationships as well as supercede low value campaigns with higher priced offerings from OpenX Market’s direct advertisers, agencies and networks. The two combined form a very powerful yield generation and optimization toolset, using competition instead of daisy-chained guesses to bring you more money for your ad space.

Activating eCPM optimization within OpenX 2.8 is simple, fast and free. To learn more, please click here.

To download OpenX Ad Server 2.8, please click here.

With the recent release of OpenX Ad Server 2.8, a very powerful addition to the product was added with the new plugin architecture. This new framework is a first for our industry: no other ad server offers an extensive plugin architecture. A plugin architecture provides hooks into many of the core engines to allow developers to write code (plugins) that extend or change the functionality of these engines such as targeting, banner types, or delivery. We believe it will really help accomplish our vision of making OpenX Ad Server the advertising foundation for any business serving ads on their web properties by powering innovation in a meaningful new way. To download OpenX Ad Server 2.8, please click here.

We think a few key aspects of the plugin architecture are especially worth noting:

• First, the plugin architecture extends most aspects of the ad server from the targeting engine to the delivery engine to the administrative user interface. This extensibility and flexibility empowers a broad range of innovation that allows you to customize the ad server and streamline your workflow.
• Second, plugins are outside the core application, which allows you to (1) upgrade a particular plugin without needing to upgrade the core or (2) upgrade (or patch) the core code without overwriting modifications made via plugins. Within the ad server, you can automatically check for new updates to a plugin and upgrade it with two clicks. No messy installations!
• Third, unlike changes to the core code that are required to be contributed back as open source to the community by our GPL license, commercial proprietary plugins are not required to be contributed back. Many developers have nontheless already begun to contribute open source plugins.
• Fourth, we’re providing the OpenX Developer Toolbox (Beta) for those who want to get started developing their own plugins. If you’d like to download the latest version, please click here.

There are many plugin efforts already underway. Next month, we are planning to launch a video ad plugin based on IAB’s VAST workflow and compatible with several leading video players. This exciting addition to the ad server will fully utilize the plugin architecture to extend the product in a completely new direction. Many more plugins are also being planned or are already underway and we believe this powerful system will allow our users to take their advertising efforts to the next level. Stay tuned!

Hello,

I spent some time on our IRC chatroom discussing the release of the new downloadable version of OpenX Ad Server (OpenX Download 2.8). It was great to hear from the developers about how the new UI is being received and which additional features they’d like us to consider.

The best way for OpenX to continue building ad products that publishers love is to get continuous, constructive feedback from the community, and to incorporate it into our future product roadmap.

OpenX Download 2.8 has been out in the wild for a few days now and we’re eager to hear what you think: 

1. What new features of v2.8 do you find really useful?
2. How has OpenX Ad Server made an impact on your business?
3. What are the additional features you’d like to see in future versions?
4. What else can we provide to make OpenX more useful to you as you build your online business?
5. Are you using the API or plugin framework to do something interesting?

We will not only use this information for future product roadmaps, but also to build case studies about how folks use OpenX to optimize their ad serving.

Please either leave your feedback in the comments, or contact us. Your feedback is truly appreciated!

Today we’re delighted to announce the launch of the newest version of OpenX Ad Server. More than any OpenX update so far, OpenX 2.8 is a major step in helping us help you to grow your business online.

Among the many new features in 2.8 is our plugin framework, which allows you to customize OpenX Ad Server in literally limitless ways. You can build your own plugins, use existing plugins built by the OpenX community or have folks like OpenX Consultants build them for you. And you can expect lots of new functionality via plugins like video ads and mobile over the next few months!

Another key feature of 2.8 is the new OpenX Market plugin, which allows you to seamlessly flow your inventory directly into OpenX Market to maximize your revenue. It’s very easy because the Market is now natively integrated into the ad server. It’s risk free because a Market ad will only ever show if it beats your existing campaigns’ CPM. And it’s revenue maximizing because it flows your ad inventory into a large, open market where multiple classes of advertisers bid for each impression in a full real-time auction.

Key benefits of 2.8 include:

• Easier Customization: The plugin framework allows you to customize your ad technology and build any plugin you need. You also have access to additional plugins developed by the OpenX community, OpenX and third parties.
• Revenue Maximization: The OpenX Market plugin allows you to maximize revenue by flowing your inventory directly into OpenX Market.
• eCPM Optimization: You can further maximize your advertising revenue by using an entirely new eCPM-based revenue optimization system for ad serving prioritization across your remnant CPM, CPC and CPA campaigns.
• Improved Scalability: Raw data storage has been overhauled by a re-architected distributed statistics technology (bucket logging) to provide significantly improved scalability and reduced storage requirements.
• Enhanced Usability: The first time you log in to OpenX 2.8, you’ll see significant UI improvements to make OpenX even easier to use.

If you’d like to download OpenX 2.8, immediately begin to take advantage of all its features and gain instant access to OpenX Market, please click here. To upgrade to 2.8 from any prior version of OpenX, please click here.

Or, if you’d prefer to take full advantage of the benefits of using OpenX while letting us run the software on our infrastructure, please click here to learn more about OpenX Hosted.

Lastly, thank you very, very much indeed to all the many members of the OpenX community who suggested ideas, tested the Beta, provided feedback and worked on the translations for the new version of OpenX. Thank you so much!