RMX Direct launches, lets publishers optimize inventory

About six months ago, my friend Pat McCarthy gave me a beta invite to RMX Direct, a self-serve application that makes publisher-ad network relationships so very much easier. When an online publisher wants to monetize their ad space, they’ve got a few options. They could take a hands-on approach and sell their own ad space, if they’ve got enough inventory to justify the overhead of ad sales and trafficking. Or they could take a more hands-off approach and sign up with an ad network – like the Google AdSense ads I’m running right now – which takes their ad space and fills it for them in exchange for a chunk of the proceeds. Either option works, but they’ll all lead you with a ‘path not taken’ problem. The option you’re not using, the network you didn’t sign with, they could be monetizing better for you. You could constantly test new options, which many publishers do. But it’s not always easy to pick up on changes in one ad network’s performance vs. another, and it’s tricky to catch subtle differences in performance – if, say, one network performs better in the mornings and another in the afternoon.

Well, six months have passed, now I work at Right Media (life can be funny sometimes), and RMX Direct is now officially out of beta and accepting sign-ups. The product allows publishers to optimize the value of their inventory by conducting a real-time auction for each impression served. After signing up, publishers apply to work with RMX Direct’s participating ad networks, and place RMX Direct ad tags on their site. These ad networks then compete for that publishers’ inventory as each impression is served – if Network A is willing to pay $X.00 CPM for a publishers’ inventory but Network B is willing to pay $X.01, Network B wins. If Network A changes their bid to $X.02 CPM, then Network A will win. Perhaps Network C will pay $X.05 CPM…

Of course, many publishers already have profitable deals with other ad networks, who may not be working with RMX Direct. It’s okay – RMX Direct has you covered. Take my Google AdSense ads, which are currently doing around a $2.00 CPM for me. RMX Direct lets me create my own external networks using their interface – so I just create a Google AdSense network, enter the current CPM, and paste in the Google AdSense ad tag, and presto, RMX Direct starts taking that into account. If Network A bids a $1.99 CPM, RMX Direct will serve my Google AdSense tag for me. If Network A bids a $2.01 CPM, then RMX Direct will serve the higher-paying Network A advertisement. As long as I keep my external network CPMs accurate, updating the numbers if performance changes, I’ll be guaranteed to receive the most optimal advertisement.

Of course, running ads isn’t just about money. Building a popular website takes work, and without the regular traffic, there’s no point in running ads. RMX Direct is therefore very customizable, allowing publishers to control exactly what type of ads can appear on their sites. Don’t want to serve suggestive dating ads or flashing ads that might distract your audience? A single click in the interface prevents this. Want to finely tune your settings – say, banning ads that deceptively look like new browser windows, while allowing ads with more suggestive themes? The interface quickly allows you to filter out many different types of content. It’s your audience, and you have the freedom to only run ads appropriate for them.

Finally – and this is something I’m proud of – RMX Direct was designed to have an open, active, vocal community. There’s a big ‘community’ tab right there with the other tools on the RMX Direct dashboard, and every participant can talk to every other participant and RMX Direct’s support team through use of the forum systems there. Helping your publishers to talk to other publishers is pretty rare in the online advertising world, so the community feature really is a testament to Right Media’s open culture, the quality of the product, and the confidence of the team.

I know there’s a few online publishers who read what I write from time to time – if you’ve got questions about RMX Direct or anything Right Media’s up to, just let me know.