Finding the right Ad Ops provider for you

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Are you looking to monetize your site or switch Ad Ops providers, but can’t figure out how to choose the right Ad Ops provider for you? How do you figure out which one is right for you when there are so many out there?

Many Ad Ops providers have features like a header bidding implementation, access to advertising partners, and ad quality protection. What many publishers and website owners find difficult is finding what differentiates Ad Ops providers from each other. In this article, we’ll share and compare three categories that differentiate select Ad Ops providers from each other. 

Here are some popular Ad Ops providers we’ll be comparing in this article. If you’re interested in a particular provider, you can click the link to skip to that section.

  1. Ezoic
  2. AdPushup
  3. AdThrive
  4. Freestar

How do you choose the right Ad Ops provider?

Before diving in, it’s helpful to know what you need from an Ad Ops provider and ensure that you’re asking the right questions. Do you want a fully-managed service or more control of your ads? Do you like looking at your numbers? If so, how in-depth do you want them to be? What do you want your tech stack to do? 

It’s important to think about what you want for your website, and if your Ad Ops partner can help you get there. As your site grows, you may want to host your own direct deals, change your ad strategy, or implement new features for growing and retaining your users. That means it’s important to choose an Ad Ops provider that’s flexible. 

Even if you’re unable to monetize your site or don’t have plans to switch yet, it’s smart to make sure you know your options for the future. With that in mind, let’s compare a few Ad Ops providers.

Ezoic

Founded in 2010, Ezoic is an end-to-end digital technology platform for publishers that includes a wide array of apps and technologies that are designed to help publishers. Ezoic’s technology uses machine learning to help publishers make better decisions. By doing so, they can effectively “predict”’ how a website visitor will respond to an automated and individualized change. Their features include ad and layout testing, site speed support, AMP conversion, and big data analytics. 

AdPushup

Starting in New Delhi, India, AdPushup has grown its team across the globe. They started with a simple idea of A/B testing publisher-side ad layouts, and expanded into setting up high-yield ad formats, reducing page load time, providing premium demand and header bidding recovering adblock revenue, and in-depth reporting.

AdThrive

AdThrive, alongside CafeMedia, helps online publishers make the most money possible by optimizing the ads on their site. They started as a husband and wife blogging duo and grew into a team of world-class experts in programmatic advertising. AdThrive specializes in ad management, learning tools, video monetization, exclusive premium campaigns, and mobile ad optimization.

Freestar

In 2014, Freestar began when co-founders, Chris Stark and David Freedman bought nine websites with the hopes of fixing them up and selling them off. It was during this time they started experimenting a new technology known as header bidding. With the desire to simplify monetizing websites and apps, Freestar decided to do something about it and create their solution. Leveraging the ideal mix of programmatic header bidding, private marketplace deals, and a unified analytics platform, Freestar’s team of monetization experts help publishers, e-commerce sites and apps unleash their true revenue potential. 

How do they compare?


EzoicAdPushupAdThriveFreestar
Onboarding and customer support









A team of account managers and support staff support customers.







All client publishers receive a dedicated account manager.







As a winner of the Google Customer Satisfaction Award, there is a team of Ad Ops experts helping you achieve your goals.


All publishers are assigned an onboarding specialist, and post-onboarding, small-sized publishers are assigned to a team of specialists. Medium to large-sized publishers have a dedicated account manager.


Reporting and analytics








Understand everything from session value to how article length affects SEO, which pages generate the most revenue, and how users behave.You receive detailed metrics related to header bidding setup, partner-level performance, and granular auction data.
Monitor revenue and traffic insights, and daily performance.





Make real-time optimization decisions using 30 dimensions and metrics. You can also build custom dashboards and reports.




Tech stack












Ezoic leverages the power of machine learning to automatically test the most critical elements of web properties. 


AdPushup uses machine learning to optimize publishers ad stack.






AdThrive uses industry-leading technology combined with custom development to create the strongest competition.


Freestar works with publishers to determine goals and performs customizations to ensure our team works seamlessly with yours; for example, we’ll host your ad serving logic in our Google Ad Manager account so you don’t have to.

Note: All information taken directly from company websites

What do you do now?

Are you interested in excellent customer support starting from onboarding? Looking to make real-time data-driven decisions? Want a flexible implementation that works with your business needs? Contact one of these Ad Ops providers to learn what they can do for you!

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