A general definition of AdServer

27. 02. 2007.

Lets speak briefly about the differences between a printed press page (and an ad thereon) and a webpage (and the banner thereon)!

The printed press page really is a picture (even if it includes letters), which is seen in exactly the same form by everyone, in every copy, as the printing press copies each one from the same template. The strip ad at the top of page 73 of a printed magazine presents itself identically every time - there, at the top of page 73, irrespective of who picks up the paper. In point of fact, even if no-one actually looks at that particular page, the advertiser still has to pay for the ad, because it had to be printed.

In the case of the web, a programme constructs the page on each individual’s machine. The final picture may depend on the browser, or the typefaces available on that particular PC, but may also differ in terms of the ad’s appearance, particularly if a contemporary ad placer – adserver – has been “threaded into” the page. In this case sometimes one thing appears at the top of “page 73”, sometimes another and if, as it happens, no one turns to that page then no ad appears and the ad strip is relocated to “p. 72” or “p. 23” – in other words, to pages actually viewed by readers. (If for some reason the advertiser insists on “p. 73”, AdServer can still help, because in this case, although the campaign doesn’t appear elsewhere, the advertiser only has to pay for the number of readers who actually looked at “p. 73”.)

What does the “threading in” of AdServer actually mean? The insertion of a few lines of HTML into the programme that describes the webpage (this is, naturally, provided by the Adserver operator and does not need to be created by the portal operator). When, in the course of constructing the webpage, the browser arrives at this point it doesn’t insert a fixed ad on the page, but “reaches into” the AdServer (that is into the machine placed in the Adverticum serverhotel) and lifts out whatever the advertiser placed in the relevant “drawer” earlier… It is possible that multiple creatives have been prepared (that is, multiple ads can be run in this zone) and the advert placement programme decides, based on various parameters, which ad should appear at that particular time on the webpage. The ads change as a result of the decision making process and, in fact, it is possible that some visitors (say those arriving from the Sulinet network) never actually see something that those arriving from different IP addresses do.

Everything that can be said about the effectiveness and advantages of online advertising is thanks to the AdServer. Without good quality, sophisticated advert placement programmes, online ads would be no more effective than those in the printed press; furthermore, it wouldn’t even be possible to measure their effectiveness.

• AdServer business branch
• AdServer ASP service
• Our AdServer’s functions