Central ad server

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A central ad server is a computer server that stores advertisements and delivers them to website visitors. Ad servers come in two flavors: local ad servers and third-party or remote ad servers. Local ad servers are typically run by a single publisher and serve ads to that publisher's domains, allowing fine-grained creative, formatting, and content control by that publisher. Remote ad servers can serve ads across domains owned by multiple publishers. They deliver the ads from one central source so that advertisers and publishers can track the distribution of their online advertisements, and have one location for controlling the rotation and distribution of their advertisements across the web.

The central ad server was first developed and introduced by FocaLink Media Services in 1995 for controlling online advertising or banner ads. The company was founded by Dave Zinman and Jason Strober, and based in Palo Alto, California. In 1998, the company changed its name to AdKnowledge, and was eventually purchased by CMGI in 1999.

The local ad server was first developed and introduced by NetGravity in 1995 for delivering online advertising at major publishing sites such as Yahoo and Pathfinder. The company was founded by Tom Shields and John Danner, and based in San Mateo, California. In 1998 the company went public on NASDAQ (NETG), and was purchased by DoubleClick in 1999.

[edit] Ad server functionality

The typical common functionality of ad servers includes:

Uploading creative, including display advertisements and rich media.
Trafficking ads according to differing business rules.
Targeting ads to different users, or content.
Optimizing creative based on results.
Reporting impressions, clicks, post-click activities, and interaction metrics.

Advanced functionality may include:

Frequency capping creative so users only see messages a limited amount of time.
Sequencing creative so users see messages in a specific order (sometimes known as surround sessions.
Excluding competitive creative so users do not see competitors' ads directly next to one another.
Displaying creatives so an advertiser can own 100% of the inventory on a page (sometimes known as roadblocks.
Targeting creatives to users based on their previous behavior (Behavioral marketing).