Case Study: SmartNews

Category: In-App Monetization
Solution: Prebid, Pre-packaged Deals, Ads.txt
Region: NAM

Opportunity

News organizations continue to find new ways to crack the code on better monetizing their readership. Media innovators like SmartNews partner with SSPs to bring their premium ad inventory to the best, most engaged audiences and drive revenue efficiently.

As a chart-topping news app, SmartNews prioritizes ad quality and is always seeking high-quality demand partners. SmartNews highlighted that their premium supply deserved higher yields in the US, and why they chose to work with Smaato (now part of Verve Group).

SmartNews has a high volume of mid-page unit display ads inventory (MPU, 300 x 250 banners). Their goals for MPUs were simple: to open doors to new demand, elevate fill rates, and increase eCPMs.

Solution

Smaato used a multipronged approach to boost SmartNews’s monetization by delivering high-performing ads tailored to their premium traffic quality, enhancing inventory appeal and revenue generation.

To accomplish this, Smaato established a Prebid integration to connect SmartNews’s in-app inventory with demand from Smaato’s ever-growing pool of demand partners. The team made SmartNews’s inventory even more appealing by unleashing demand from Smaato’s pre-packaged deal aimed at clients to reach news apps and premium US traffic. These pre-packaged deals help to increase competition — and eCPMs — for SmartNews’s ad units.

Smaato also implemented ads.txt to further boost SmartNews’s credibility and desirability, which helps to secure ad spends from demand partners.

Results

How did Smaato’s approach impact SmartNews’s monetization goals? The key results for SmartNews’s new Prebid integration speak for themselves:

This remarkable growth all comes down to the substantial surge in competition and spending from demand partners, both existing and newly onboarded. Smaato’s proactive approach, including the implementation of pre-packaged deals designed to seamlessly connect the right traffic with suitable buyers, has played a pivotal role in achieving these results.

Additionally, based on Smaato’s recommendations to establish additional transparency measures, SmartNews secured spending commitments from demand partners and further solidified their revenue stream.

SmartNews now considers Smaato a top-tier partner, and Smaato looks forward to maintaining the client’s growth and delivering positive results.

Smaato’s strategic partnership, excellent customer services, along with the introduction of pre-packaged deals led to significant open exchange revenue growth. They will continue to be an important strategic partner and an invaluable asset to SmartNews.

Adam Sadur | Head of Programmatic, SmartNews

About SmartNews

Founded in 2012, SmartNews is a leading global information and news discovery company, dedicated to delivering quality information to the people who need it. SmartNews provides news that matters to millions of users thanks to its unique machine learning technology and relationships with more than 3,000 global publisher partners.