Into the future

Dear AdThrive publishers,

Tired as we all may be of phrases like “unprecedented” and “uncertain times”, I’m writing you this letter in the middle of yet more unpredictability for the future of the digital advertising industry.

As the economy recovers from COVID, we will likely see a short-term bump in ad spend, but that just masks a coming storm.

Around the world, various countries and states in the US are passing privacy regulations with strong implications for your business and revenue. Google Chrome, the last browser that still supports the third-party cookies that are the backbone of today’s digital advertising, will turn them off early in 2022. And the tech giants continue to vacuum up more and more digital advertising spend and attention.

Digital advertising is on a precipice.

We believe there is only one way to ensure the ongoing success of independent publishers into the future and protect their revenue:

We must invest even more.

It’s our responsibility to make sure that you see the best ad revenue today, and pull even further ahead in the future. Heavy investment behind the scenes in our team, technology, and partnerships has always been our “secret sauce”.

Today

Are you truly taking home the highest ad revenue for all your hard work?

For us, the answer has to be “yes”. This question drives our investments and decisions on where to focus development efforts and new offerings for you.

Our data team has done detailed analyses over the years, measuring how new publishers perform when they move to AdThrive from competitive ad managers. 

We dissected the numbers for over 400 different sites joining from other ad companies over the last year and found that they take home more money with AdThrive every time — regardless of what company they switch from, and also regardless of the revenue share (net percentage of gross revenue) that publisher had previously, and without increasing ads. 

The analysis also confirmed that this isn’t just a short-term boost. Publishers’ ad performance improves over time as our hands-on approach allows us to get to know each site more closely, find the exact best setup for that site, and refine it over time.

Delivering RPM lift for every site that joins AdThrive is compelling evidence that we make publishers more money today. But what about into the future — especially the future without third-party cookies?

Tomorrow

That’s where you really get to enjoy the benefits of the foundations we’re building today!

Here’s what you can expect to see at AdThrive over the coming months to help you succeed for the long term:

• Accelerated ad code that earns you more — our ad code engineering team (who work on Nucleus, the most-advanced ad code platform in the industry) is doubling in size, bringing on talented new developers
• Even stronger direct ad sales as our advertising sales team nearly doubles this year, too
• Supercharged account management, serving the unique needs of our largest publishers
• Expertise to help you build your business at your fingertips, as our overall team grows to 200+ strong with talent from places like Mailchimp, Travelzoo, Mozilla, Pocket Outdoor Media, Tripadvisor, Tumblr, and more

These investments are already allowing us to move faster and do more to serve you, from things like our recent “Flex Deploys” ad code innovation, upgrades to our contextual targeting, and unique new partnerships like with Kargo and JW Boost. There’s a deep pipeline of other enhancements, exclusive partnerships, special advertiser access, and more coming your way!

AdThrive publishers will see their RPM continue to rise, and we’ll be building on this foundation to support publishers through the uncertain times ahead.

And beyond

If you’re concerned about third-party cookies and what that means for your ad revenue in 2022, you’re paying attention — it’s a fundamental upheaval in the way digital advertising works today.

Rebuilding the advertising ecosystem is no small task, which is why we’re taking such an aggressive and multi-faceted approach to the third-party cookie’s demise.

We’re working with the best minds across the industry and on the Privacy Sandbox, launching alternatives to third-party cookies like email identity, making huge advancements to our contextual data, and expanding our advertiser relationships and sales team to protect your revenue and build a future where you can continue to grow and thrive.

The future is difficult. It’s complex. It’s unclear.

But you can be entirely confident that our efforts will support you into the future.

— Michael Sanchez, CEO