Janice Williams, head of digital advertising operations for Adspace24, says she heads up an experienced team of 11 (soon to be 13) dedicated to optimising ad efficacy.

According to Williams, in their quest for ultimate ad operations, the team draws on skill, experience and technology.

Williams' naturally inquisitive mind and passion for all things tech are critical in a rapidly changing industry, says Adspace. Her team are versed in marketing knowledge that extends far beyond ad operations.

"From coding skills and the ability to troubleshoot a website page, dealing with client's tags, to working across multiple platforms — including Google Ad Manager, Display and Video 360, Campaign Manager and Google Ad Words — staying up to the minute requires constant training," adds Williams.

The team says that it is also always on the lookout for new products within the sector in order to get the best out of ad campaigns. The most recent new additions are DoubleVerify and Lotame, which Adpsace24 onboarded in 2021.

Double checking the data

DoubleVerify, double-checks the accuracy of viewability data provided by Google Ad Manager, which measures viewability through Google Active View.

According to the IAB, a banner needs to be viewable for one second while a video banner needs to be viewable for two seconds. This is so that they count as a viewable impression and rule out bots and people who scroll down too quickly to see the ad.

Clients and agencies understandably want to know just how reliable this data is, says Williams.

"DoubleVerify measures all the little things that maybe Google Active View can't, so we can see what percentage of 'views' are bots or ad fraud and how the viewability measures up against our Google stats," adds Williams.

According to the team, using DoubleVerify also gives the team additional means with which to check brand safety or suitability.

"A client will have an exclusion list which they send to us, and we then ensure that all the keywords that we place in a campaign exclude 'crime and violence' type of articles. This is to ensure that a client's banner doesn't end up there," says Williams. "This is very much a collaboration with the client. We make sure that URLs that come up in DoubleVerify are suitable for placing an ad."

"We are the only publisher — as far as I know — to make sure that our data is brand safe and determine viewability by double checking Google measurements," says Williams.

When the cookie crumbles

According to the team, the onboarding of Lotame anticipates the inevitable demise of the cookie. This data management platform (DMP) uses:
  • machine learning algorithms
  • collecting behavioural data, and
  • keywords to build probabilistic audiences.
This is so that when the cookie eventually falls away, Adspace24 can still effectively build and target the right behavioural audiences for a given campaign, says Williams.

Williams says that she and her team also keep an eagle eye on changes within Google Ad Manager, which frequently introduces products and opportunities.

It’s a team effort, says Williams.

"We are always looking at what will drive our campaigns, and for tools that ensure that we are one step ahead of other publishers," concludes Williams.

For more information, visit www.adspace24.co.za. You can also follow Adspace24 on Facebook or on Twitter.