I'm a young entrepreneur who just launched a start up. In my niche I see an opportunity for an Ad Network, but I don't really know much about how to set one up. Could anyone mentor me on this?
The ad network business is very crowded, the margins are getting lower and Google is crushing it in display ads of late.<p>There is very little room for new player in this space, and the players who have reached scale are very well funded.<p>Ad Networks will be a 'winner take most' market, and I do not suggest trying to play in it unless you have:<p>a) deep pockets
b) some amazing technology that is really innovative and groundbreaking
c) a disruptive business model
d) massive domain knowledge (which you just said you don't have).<p>This is not the best beach to surf IMO. Any niche you've found that reaches any kind of scale will be taken by the bigger players who have hundreds of sales executives each.<p>The opportunity for bootstrapped ad networks is long over.
Check out OpenX
<a href="http://www.openx.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.openx.org/</a><p>In addition to setting up your own private label network, you can buy and sell inventory on their exchange. This lets you appear bigger than you are. For example, if you are able to sign up a publisher in your niche, you can immediately start trafficking relevant ads to show him you're capable. You'll make more money attracting Advertisers in your niche to buy those impressions, but that's a chicken/egg problem that being part of an exchange helps with.
I used to manage product/ operations for a large display ad network and now have an online ad startup. I am happy to help you with questions. Not sure I can answer them but should be able to at least point you in the right direction.
I'm working on an ad network for the second time in 2 years. The key in my opinion has been around sales, assuming you're a premium network.<p>It took me 2 years to understand the sales process and to make the right connections at brands and agencies to make it work. YMMV.
Ad networks are tricky. I did a <i>lot</i> of research on them and even built a small one at my last startup. They're easier the start than ever, but also riskier to grow than ever. Contact me directly if you want to chat. grantis_omega(at)hotmail.com
While I don't actually setup the networks, I do work with the ad sales team at Grooveshark (mostly in development for new proposals). This doesn't directly answer your question, but here's a few things I've learned:<p>1. Setting up a network outside of Google Ads is all about traffic. Most of the networks have minimum traffic quotas and won't really talk to you until you satisfy their requirements.<p>2. Most use Google's DFP (DoubleClick For Publishers) to serve/price ads.<p>3. Be aware that the lower quality ad networks are susceptible to malware intrusion which sometimes run through their ads and you will have no control over when they infect your users.
A quick way to get started might be something like this:
<a href="http://buysellads.com/privatelabel" rel="nofollow">http://buysellads.com/privatelabel</a>
On a similar note I was wondering if anyone had experience (as an advertiser) and had an opinion on the most cost effective advertising network for text ads?<p>Google Adwords seems overly competitive for certain keywords and seems to result in overpaying for traffic. As an alternative, Microsoft AdCenter has been effective - but I was wondering if anyone else has had experience on other networks?
I'm curious about this too. I've been toying with starting an ad network in my niche as well, but I'm still not sure if I want to head in that direction because I don't know enough about the process.
you'll need to contact a buyer at an agency. Be wary of being a 'remnant of remnant' ad network, your CPMs will be extremely low. Email me if you need any help.