Top 10 advertising network 2013

For publishers looking to monetize their site traffic through display advertising, there are a number of different opportunities out there. If selling direct to advertisers isn’t practical or possible at present, utilizing an ad network to fill your inventory is likely the most effective alternative.
But the decision to use an ad network isn’t a binary one; for most publishers, there are dozens of networks that would love to have your business. Below are profiles of 11 of the largest display ad networks in 2013, along with the characteristics that make each unique



Adblade

This network of
For smaller publishers, AdBlade won’t be much use. This network accepts only ultra-premium (i.e., really large) publishers; Fox News, Daily News, and the McClatchy properties are among those that make the cut.

Google Adsense

Google’s AdSense is one of the largest and perhaps the best known display advertising network. This platform allows publishers to monetize standard display ads, mobile and video, and search results as well.
It’s free to sign up for AdSense and the program will accept the smallest of publishers provided they meet certain quality guidelines. AdSense also integrates smoothly into other Google products (such as DFP) and generally pays publishers monthly for revenue generated the previous month.

Advertising

This network, a unit of AOL, is one of the largest out there with nearly 2 billion impressions monetized daily. Ad.com offers opportunities for publishers to monetize display ads, video, mobile, and some custom implementations as well.
This network now offers Display University, an online educational resource for publishers and advertisers looking to learn more about display ads, the process of building a campaign, and executing on creative.

Bidvertiser

This network is generally similar to Google AdSense with a few unique characteristics. The roster of advertisers is smaller, which limits publishers’ opportunity to maximize earnings, but Bidvertiser does provide extra compensation for clicks that ultimately turn into conversions. In other words, it’s essentially a blend of CPC and CPA / affiliate marketing.
Bidvertiser is free and relatively easy to join.

Chitika

Chitika boasts a network of more than 300,000 publishers, making it one of the largest networks in the world based on that metric. Chitika ads can be used on their own, or alongside ads from other networks (such as AdSense).
Chitika is also open to just about anyone, and the process for getting approval and ad implementation is generally very fast. Chitika has been a popular alternative for advertisers unable to use or frustrated with AdSense, with great results in certain niches and less impressive earnings capabilities in others.

Clicksor

Clicksor ads can be served alongside ads from other networks. If the minimum price of an ad is not met, the placement can be filled with default ads to ensure a 100% fill rate. When Clicksor is able to provide an ad that meets the specified CPM or CPC threshold, that ad will run.
Clicksor features traditional display ads, inline text links, and more custom implementations such as pop-unders and interstitials. Publishers get paid every 15 days, can get a revenue split as high as 85%, and can also participate in a publisher referral program.

Media
This platform can be used by publishers to serve contextual ads from the Yahoo! Bing Network, which offers up a large pool of national and local advertisers.
The Media.net platform allows advertisers to pick from about 15 different ad sizes (including a few non-standard ones) and customize each placement. There’s also an option to build ads from scratch, allowing more advanced users to come up with an implementation that works best with their site layout.


 Kontera

The Kontera network currently comprises about 15,000 publishers, including Shape and Men’s Fitness. The Kontera platform can fill display ads, in-content ads (in-text ads that are activated upon mouseover), and mobile ads. In addition, there’s an opportunity to syndicate content across the Web to attract more visitors to your site.
Kontera features plugins for blogging platforms such as WordPress, Blogger, Drupal, and Joomla.

Pulsepoint

More than 1 billion real-time ad transactions are processed each day through PulsePoint, which is the result of a merger between Context Web and Datran Media. PulsePoint is a bit unique; it’s an ad exchange that allows publishers to set an “ask price” for their inventory. That allows publishers to effectively set a minimum CPM they’re willing to accept; if PulsePoint is able to find buyers for the inventory at that level, publishers will receive 100% of their desired revenue level.
PulsePoint also offers a multi-channel marketing solution designed to help publishers expose new users to their content.

Tribal Fusion

This platform has the ability to reach more than 430 million people worldwide each month, which represents a substantial portion of the overall Internet audience. Qualified publishers are able to run in-text advertising, lead generation portals, and other monetization opportunities through Tribal Fusion.
Tribal Fusion accepts only publishers that have at least 500,000 unique users per month, so this network won’t be all that useful for smaller sites.


 Vibrant

Vibrant Media is best known for their text ads that allow publishers to create incremental monetization opportunities within content. (Here’s an example of their technology.) In addition to the in-text advertising opportunities, Vibrant also offers traditional display advertising opportunities for publishers now.
Vibrant’s roster of display advertising clients and partners is much smaller than many of the other networks on this list, but nevertheless offers publishers another option for display ad monetization.