Thursday, April 24, 2008

Default Ad Substitution

As of today Cubics has launched a new feature: Default Ad Substitution.

This feature allows developers to provide ad code from another network to replace our "default views". So if Cubics is not able to show a well-earning ad, then we'll run somebody else's ads in place. It's really a way to help ensure that you're providing ads to all of your traffic.

Set-up
To set up these default ads, first login to your Cubics publisher account. Then click on the Manage Ads button and the Default Ads link.
Next you select an ad size and enter the code for your replacements ad. Ensure that you select replacement ads for all ad sizes that you're currently running. Once you've hit the Save button your changes should be active, though a few minutes may be required as the appropriate caches are updated.
Q & A
Does Cubics pay for these substituted views?
No, whenever a view is substituted that view displays an ad that is not a Cubics advertiser, so we don't pay you for that view. However, you should be logging views with the other ad network.

Can I set my own threshold for default ad substitution?
Not yet, we have this feature slated for deployment in May or June.

Of course, it's worthy of note that the value of "well-earning" tends to vary pretty dramatically from country to country. So there's definitely some extra overhead on the publisher side to make that feature work.

Does this work across all of the Social Networking Platforms?
The code right now supports a simple substitution by size. If you have apps on Facebook and Bebo, the substitution will always be the same. If you need to substitute different code for different platforms, please let us know in the comments.
Can I add larger ad sizes?
We have support for allowing larger ad sizes such as those that are wider.

If you would like to substitute ads that are larger than 468x60 (such as ads that are 645x60) you will need to modify your original Cubics ad display code in addition to entering in a larger default ad code.

After you enter in your default ad code for a size, you'll need to change your Cubics ad code.
FOR EXAMPLE: In javascript, simply add the line: var framesize="645x60"
(DO NOT COPY THIS EXAMPLE ONTO YOUR PAGE. MODIFY YOUR OWN CUBICS AD CODE)

<!--- Cubics.com Ad Code START -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var pid = XXXXX;
var plid = XXXXX;
var adSize = "468x60";
var linkColor = "%230033ff";
var textColor = "%23000000";
var bgColor = "%23ffffff";
var channel = "";
var firstName = "";
var frameSize = "645x60";
</script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://cubics.com/displayAd.js"> </script>
<!--- Cubics.com Ad Code END -->


FOR EXAMPLE: In FBML / SNML, modify the frame height and width properties: i.e.: width='645' height='60'
(DO NOT COPY THIS EXAMPLE ONTO YOUR PAGE. MODIFY YOUR OWN CUBICS AD CODE)

<!--- Cubics.com Ad Code -->
<fb:iframe src='http://cubics.com/displayAd.aspx?pid=XXXXX&plid=XXXXX &adSize=468x60&bgColor=%23ffffff&textColor=%23000000&linkColor=%230033ff&channel='
width='645' height='60' frameborder='0' border='0' scrolling='no'></fb:iframe>

6 comments:

Mark M - Clutterme Founder said...

Hi, the test lightbox doesn't work with Socialmedia ads and/or AdSense ads.

Social Advertising said...

Hey Mark;

The problem is simply that the preview button wasn't forcing the page to reload, so any script on the "lightbox" simply doesn't run.

We're changing up that code right now. Also, see the notes above for getting SocialMedia's larger ads to work.

Unknown said...

Good feature to have. At least I dont see those "Advertise on Facebook and Bebo" ads anymore. I was wondering if they counted towards my impressions in the first place?

Social Advertising said...

I was wondering if they counted towards my impressions in the first place?

Our default ads ("Advertise on Facebook and Bebo) don't count towards your impression count, but they don't influence your quality either.

That was the reason for this new feature. If we don't have monetizable ads we'll send the traffic where it can earn money.

andy said...

I would like to specify different defaults for different cubics zones. I have several different apps on Cubics and Adbrite and I want to link to adbrite if cubics doesn't have an add, but want to use the right channel.

Social Advertising said...

Thank you for the feedback Andy. The channel issue has been brought up with the team and it's on the working list.

Providing some type of "Alternate Channel" parameter is definitely the next change we're going to make on the substitution code. We'll let you you know as soon as we have the feature live, likely via both a blogpost and a mass mailer.