UK Publishers Struggle to Turn International Traffic into Profit

Research from the Rubicon Project shows International traffic leads domestic traffic, resulting in publishers leaving significant revenue on the table

LONDON, UK - June 9, 2009 – Research out today from the Rubicon Project, the Internet advertising infrastructure company, reveals that UK publishers are losing millions of pounds of revenue because they are unprepared to effectively monetize the growing portion of traffic coming from international visitors.

Jay Stevens, Vice President and General Manager, International for the Rubicon Project, explains, “We have just launched our International offering with an office in the UK and undertook this research in order to help the industry better understand the local market.  There has been significant investment into technologies and services for advertisers over the last decade. Unfortunately, publishers have not been armed with the same kinds of tools and business strategies, particularly those that would enable them to manage and monetize international traffic.”

Stevens continues, “Almost half of UK publisher revenue is trafficked through online advertising networks, a testament to the efficient revenue stream they provide.  However, many publishers fail to effectively yield as much value from their inventory as they could be earning. Added to that, brands have different values in different territories, which can further affect rates.”

The research outlines three key reasons why publishers are struggling to turn international traffic into profit, and recommended solutions for each. Highlights include the inefficiency in the sales process, the difficulties in monitoring the advertising quality of international networks and ensuring they adhere to the publisher’s quality standards, as well as the challenges this creates in the buying process.

Download the free research report “Every Impression Counts: Making the Most of Your International Traffic” here.

Earlier this month, the Rubicon Project opened an office in London and appointed Justin Thomas as Director of UK Publisher Development, reporting to Jay Stevens. On July 15th, the Rubicon Project is sponsoring the AdMonsters Network Ops Forum, co-hosted with IASH, taking place at 60 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6JP. 

Interested in meeting with members of the Rubicon Project team? Follow Justin Thomas on twitter at @JustintRProject for more details on times and location of various events being hosted by the Rubicon Project during the week of July 13th and throughout the summer.

About the Rubicon Project
Based in Los Angeles, the Rubicon Project launched in 2007 and set on a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry. Responding to one of the largest problems plaguing website publishers today – monetising ad space that goes unsold (as much as 70 - 80 percent) across a fast-growing number of global ad networks – the Rubicon Project pioneered the category of Ad Network Optimisation (ANO). Backed by $33 million in funding from Clearstone Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, and IDG Ventures, the Rubicon Project developed its patent-pending Smart Matching™ technology, which uses billions of pieces of proprietary market data to match each publisher ad impression to the best money-making opportunities from ad networks.

The company serves more than 1500 premium customers (publishers like Gannett, CareerBuilder, Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive and YellowPages.com) by optimising more than 40 billion ads each month across hundreds of demand sources. Reaching more than 500 million unique Internet users, the Rubicon Project is one of the largest sources of ad inventory and reach on the Internet and the preferred source of targeted, audience-segmented inventory for ad networks and other resellers, many exclusive, around the world. The unique combination of demand optimisation and SmartMatch™ technology drives revenue lift ranging from 30-300% for the Rubicon Project’s customers.

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