Clash of the Giants: PubMatic vs. AdForm
The state of rivalry between PubMatic and AdForm and which platform yields more revenue for publishers.
DARE TO ASK FOR MORE
If you’ve ever wondered which platform suits your needs better, you’ve come to the right place. Knowing the essential features offered by AdForm and PubMatic is the key to getting the right deals. And although the two giants have much in common, there are some underlying differences between the two you should know about.
INTEGRATION MATTERS
One of the main differences between AdForm and PubMatic is that the former is an integrated system of SSP, DSP, DMP and adserving capabilities, while the latter serves only as an SSP. When choosing between the two, one should focus on the ease and flexibility of offering inventory to different DSPs.
Speaking about integration and how well the platforms work with DSPs, keep in mind that both Adform and PubMatic are integrated with many DSPs. But not with all of them. One of the key disadvantages of Adform is that it doesn’t work with AppNexus.
And this can be important in the case of certain markets where this particular DSP is popular among buyers.
Why does it matter so much? Well, AdForm’s own DSP solution is widely used by buyers in a few countries, e.g. Poland, Czechia, or Denmark. Some buyers consider buying inventory to be easier when made entirely through the platform. Easier than, for instance, buying it via AdForm from Google AdX.
In other words, the buyers may be willing to spend more if they can bid for inventory with AdForm tags.Simple as that.
DATA COLLECTING = ADDITIONAL INCOME + INCREASED TRAFFIC RATES
AdForm also has its own DMP, which makes it easy to set up private deals for specific audiences. If the publisher collects data about their visitors, such as their demographics and interests, it can be monetized as well. This may be used as an additional source of income, which will increase the rate traffic is being sold.
For example, instead of setting up a single private auction for an entire inventory, the publisher may create separate auctions targeting separate groups of users with different prices.
TAKE IT EASY WITH PUBMATIC
It is true, however, that setting up private deals is a bit easier in PubMatic. For example, when geo-targeting a deal in PubMatic the platform requests the user to select a designated country, region, or city. In Adform, the publisher must first use key-values to implement geo-targeting. And it’s not much better when it comes to changing an existing deal to include new ad units.
If you want to change anything, you’ll have to make them to all existing deals in Adform. In PubMatic, the deal products created are set up to be automatically updated.
Expert advice: ‘If your website has mostly geos-generated traffic in a place where Adform is widely used by advertisers (buyers), apply it to sell side too.’
