How Increasing Advertising Demand Sources Boosted Website Profit by 60%: The Mediapool.bg Case Study
Project: Mediapool.bg
Promotion period: February 2024 – February 2025
Service: ADX monetization.
The client
Mediapool.bg is a news site that specializes in current events and provides timely, verified information. The platform is designed for users who value convenience, fast loading speeds, and minimal advertising.
The challenge
The management of Mediapool.bg approached us because the previous agency was not performing adequately. The main complaints were a lack of communication and transparency, as well as inefficient site monetization strategies.
One of the key challenges of this project was to maintain a high-quality user experience (UX). Specifically, the number of banner ads had to be strictly limited to avoid any negative impact on the audience. This meant that we could not use additional ad formats such as interstitials or anchors.
We had the following goals for this site:
- Increase average cost per impression. Competition between different sources of demand will increase eCPM.
- Reduce the number of unfilled impressions. In cases where ads are not displayed, the site should display its own banners promoting its services and content.
- Increase the overall revenue of the site without changing the number of banners on the pages to maintain the quality of the user experience. This is possible only if all stages of monetization are optimized.
- Integrate Google Ad Manager for direct advertisers. Since the client had their own advertisers, they wanted to use Google Ad Manager as a platform for displaying their ads as well. Ad Manager allows you to manage all advertising on the site, both from direct advertisers and algorithmically through a system of real-time auctions (programmatic advertising).
Team strategy
- Connect new sources of demand.
First, we implemented Ad Exchange, an algorithmic advertising service from Google that automatically selects the most profitable ads to display.
We also implemented the Header Bidding technology, an advanced solution that enables us to bid for ad space before the user loads the page. This open-source solution allows us to involve not only Google but also other advertising platforms (e.g., demand-side platforms (DPSs)) that compete with each other for the right to display ads.
These platforms are mostly small, independent agencies that have their direct contracts with advertisers and work with more niche or geographically targeted audiences.
Adding these players has created a greater demand for advertising and significantly increased competition in the auction. As a result, the site's overall advertising revenue has increased.
- Optimize ad impressions.
The platform already had an advertiser working directly with the site owner. By integrating Ad Exchange, we could automatically route Ad Exchange impressions with an eCPM below a certain threshold to the direct advertiser. This allowed us to eliminate unprofitable low-bid Ad Exchange impressions and increase profitability.
At the same time, when the Ad Exchange offered a higher price than the direct advertiser, the Ad Exchange ads were displayed.
- Respond quickly to unwanted ads.
The client wanted us to promptly block advertisers and ads that could negatively impact the site's reputation. These could be ads from sensitive categories (tobacco, casino, etc.) as well as competitor ads.
At the beginning of our collaboration, the client sent us screenshots of unwanted ads, and we responded within an hour. Later, we instructed the client's employees on how to block unwanted ads on their own.
- Provide training on working with Google Ad Manager.
We created several direct advertising campaigns with local advertisers using Google Ad Manager. We then trained the partner's employees to set up campaigns on their own, step by step.
In the early stages, we provided immediate assistance if there were any difficulties. After that, the client's employees quickly learned how to use Google Ad Manager to manage direct advertising on their own effectively.
- Use house ads
To avoid empty ad space on the website, we implemented house ads that promoted the website itself and its social network pages. We used this to promote the site when ads from third-party advertisers were not available.
Promotion results
Over the 11 months of collaboration with us, the client's Google Ad Manager revenue grew by 45%. Header Bidding contributed an additional 15% of growth. Overall, the total revenue growth was 60%, and this was achieved without increasing the number of ads on the site.
The monthly growth dynamics of ad exchange and direct advertising revenue
Additional revenue generated by header bidding
Header Bidding revenue and total revenue over the months
Feedback on cooperation
Muraher Sharipov, Head of AdX Monetization Department at Netpeak Ukraine
We achieved these results thanks to consistent efforts in attracting relevant demand, which proved effective in the target market.
An important success factor was the high professionalism of the client's team, both those working with advertisers and the technical team. They responded promptly to our requests, handled tags (the code used to display ads) professionally, and implemented them without delay.
In addition, the Mediapool.bg website loads quickly and is perfectly optimized. This has greatly facilitated the monetization process and increased the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
Stoyana Georgieva, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Mediapool.bg
There are several reasons why we chose Netpeak. First, we had worked with them and were very satisfied with the results. Second, we were looking for greater transparency in service delivery, something we felt was lacking with other providers. Lastly, Netpeak offered more favorable financial terms and responded quickly whenever we needed support.
There hasn't been a single standout moment, which is actually a positive thing. Everything has run smoothly and seamlessly throughout our cooperation. From our perspective, no part of the process was particularly challenging. However, Netpeak may have found aligning with our conservative advertising format requirements most difficult, but they managed it well.
Netpeak's dedication and clear focus on improving our financial performance were key to our success. We are very satisfied with the quality of Netpeak's services. At this point, we can’t think of anything that needs improvement.
Project team: Oleksandr Ostapenko (Project Manager), Muraher Sharipov (Head of AdX Monetization Department at Netpeak Ukraine).
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