The basic role of ad servers installed by media companies is to manage ad spaces and delivery projects, but it’s not the only role. They must also realize new ad products by media companies, respond to requests from advertisers/advertising companies, and adjust ad delivery methods in response to changes in the market environment.
FlexOne®, DAC’s ad serving solution for media companies, has a variety of targeted delivery functions to meet these needs, one of which is country/region targeting.
*IREP Co. established Consortiumablished D.A.Holdings Co., a joint holding company with Digital Advertising Consortium Co.
Country/Region Targeting
As the name suggests, the country/region targeting feature enables users to select a particular area (such as prefectures, cities, etc.) and delivers ads only to the selected area. FlexOne® offers the country/region targeting feature by default.
Adapting to Changes in the Market
Major news outlets using FlexOne® have traffic from around the world, which led to advertisers and ad companies requesting the delivery of ads be limited to the United States.
By using the default country/region settings and configuring the target country to “United States,” we were able to limit the delivery of ads to the United States.
A separate news outlet using FlexOne® designated 31 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) as exclusions to the ad delivery destinations in order to comply with the GDPR (The General Data Protection Regulation) that went into effect in May 2018. Although traffic from the 31 countries in the EEA were minimal, there was still a risk of being imposed a huge financial penalty for storing cookies without the permission of users and delivering ads.
To eliminate this risk, countries around the world must pay attention and keep up to date with news and information on personal information protection. In that sense, we expect FlexOne® and its default country/region targeting feature to play an important role in adapting to changes in the market.
Area Targeting Using IP Address
The country/region targeting feature of FlexOne® uses the IP address of users accessing the websites of media companies.
We’ll skip over the detailed mechanism of how it works, but in essence, it uses the country/region data connected to the IP address issued to users when accessing websites on their computers and smartphones. The users’ IP address is used to locate their country/region to deliver information and ads appropriate for that area.
The IP address used in this situation cannot be used to identify the individual. To put it another way, it allows content and ads to be delivered to a particular region without relying on personal information.
Previously, this mechanism was patented by another company, which meant that other companies had to pay a fee to use the patent. However, the patent expired in June 2018, after which, companies no longer had to worry about the patent.
The country/region targeting feature powered by the users’ IP address is also available with FlexOne® as a default function provided to users at no additional cost.
Pre-Assessment Combined with Inventory Prediction
FlexOne® contains an inventory prediction function that predicts the amount of inventory (the number of times an ad can be displayed) based on various targeting conditions.
It can predict the amount of inventory for particular countries/regions and is also able to exclude particular regions such as the 31 EEA countries subject to the GDPR to measure the effects on inventory as a type of pre-assessment.
Compatibility with Advanced Location-Based Targeting
The country/region targeting feature enables regions to be specified down to city units. But some want to enable even more detailed targeting.
As a separate feature, FlexOne® does offer the option to link to DMP AudienceOne®. AudienceOne® enables the use of ZIP code segments based on precise location information, which enables users to target specific ZIP codes. Users can also make use of the various segments provided by AudienceOne® for targeting.
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Irep Inc. is an award-winning global digital marketing agency based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our headquarters are in Tokyo and our network spans more than 20 countries. In Japan, we are ranked No. 1 for performance-based marketing. We also offer highly specialized market entry, as well as integrated marketing and localization services. Since 1997, our data-driven solutions have effectively led our diverse international clientele to continuous success in Japan, Asia, and beyond.
Irep Inc.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/irepinc
Email: info@irep.inc
Address: 900 Concar Dr. Suite 400, San Mateo, California 9440
