In today’s day and age where the majority of people in developed countries are on the internet, online advertising is a huge market. It is an effective way for businesses and companies to find new customers, expand reach, show off products and make some money. Online advertising is a very robust and complex topic with a ton of moving parts, and can come in many different forms such as sponsored posts, videos, text, popups and everything in between.
While it is successful as is for many people, blockchain technology is hoping to make it better, easier and more efficient for everyone involved. One company that is hoping to revolutionize the world of online advertising is AdEx. This article will take a look at AdEX, what they are trying to do, how they are trying to do it, the current problems with online advertising and more.
What is AdEx?
AdEx (which stands for advertising exchange) is a completely decentralized advertising exchange based on the Ethereum blockchain). It will be a platform in which advertisers and publishers can meet directly to negotiate their advertising contracts. The app will feature bidding for advertising space, as well as have messaging channels for easy interaction. The project will also include a handy portal for internet users to specify the type of ads they want to see, as well as managing their own profile and data.
The Problems with Online Advertising
Before we take a closer look at how AdEx works and its main selling points, we need to look at the current landscape of the online advertising industry. While the industry is worth billions every year, there are a number of different problems with the industry as it is today, for everyone who involved in the process (whether it is the publishers, advertisers and anyone else in between).
For the websites hosting and publishing the ads, the biggest problem they encounter is the existence of ad-blockers. These basically hide the ads for site visitors, which stops the websites getting paid for the views or clicks. The companies who purchase the ad space also suffer from this as people who have ad blockers don’t see their product or services. The ROI for advertisers also decreases for each impression they buy, so everyone is hurt by the prevalence of ad blockers.
Another big problem is that most digital advertisements require the use of a middleman like Google Adwords, or other brokers and agencies. These middlemen all take a fee, mainly for connecting publishers and advertisers together. There is also a major transparency problem in online advertising, as no agency or broker will ever release the “behind the scenes” information about how they reach their pricing. This can make it tough to measure how successful a campaign can be. So these are the problems currently facing the industry, so how is AdEx going to be the better solution?
How is AdEx Going to be the Solution to the Advertising Problems?
The blockchain advertising exchange industry is quite competitive, but AdEx has a couple of unique selling points which include the fact that they don’t charge any fees, they are completely transparent and offer unrestricted access for everyone.
As for the detailed solution, AdEx has implemented three user stories, each of which addresses the problems of online advertising in different ways. They are the publisher, advertiser, and user.
The Publisher on AdEx
The publishers are the content creators and/or owners of the websites that will host ads on their site and be paid for them. The biggest thing that publishers want is control over which ads are shown on their site, which AdEx can provide them with. Publishers can turn off ads from certain advertisers if they do not like the ads they are given. While this might seem like par for the course, it actually is quite rare in the industry today.
When you run ads on your site through AdEx, each impression and click on the ad goes through verification to make sure it is an authentic impression and not just a bot used to pump up the numbers. Also, publishers can have direct contact with advertisers on AdEx, and not have to go through a middleman and pay them a large fee for essentially doing nothing.
The Advertiser on AdEx
The advertiser is a person or company who runs their ads for a product or service on a variety of different websites. AdEX ensures they have full control of where their ads are shown, and when they are shown. AdEx allows for a high level of audience targeting and customizations for advertisers.
If this method is successful and leads to a higher ROI for advertisers, it could bode really well for AdEx in the future. However, this is likely a ways away and it could be a big hurdle for AdEx to jump over, as they don’t have much user data to base any sort of targeting off of.
Ad fraud will also be a thing of the past as AdEx will work hard to ensure all impressions are genuine. While this is a huge task, and there is no guarantee they will be successful with it, verification is going to play a huge role and should cut down on the fraudulent activity in the industry.
The User of AdEx
Last but not least, we have the internet user. AdEx will provide a portal for everyday users like you and me to be able to pick and choose the types of ads we will see. This could help transform online ads from something that we all just accept, to something we are actually interested in seeing.
The ADX Token
Like most blockchain platforms and companies, AdEx has a coin/token that is used in the ecosystem. AdEx had a token sale for their ADX token way back in June 2017 and it was a huge success, with over $10 million raised in the first three hours of the token sale. The ADX token is what advertisers will use to buy clicks and impressions in the platform, and can also be held as an investment if you so choose, though it is still relatively unknown.
In conclusion, while the emerging advertising exchange industry is quite crowded at this juncture, AdEx is one of the most compelling offerings in the space. They seem like a great platform for those wanting to monetize their online influence, and also for those companies who want to reach their target markets more efficiently than ever before. While the platform is young, it definitely has potential and warrants keeping an eye out for it going forward.
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