Vungle’s In-App Video Ad Exchange First To Serve Ads Via Both Pre-Caching And Streaming

Mobile video ad tech start-up, Vungle, today announced the launch of new serving technology for its ad for in-app video ads exchange, Vungle Exchange. The technology allows ads to be served via pre-caching or streaming.

Pre-caching allows ads to be served in users’ apps even when their phones aren’t connected to the Internet, the ads in effect are saved to users phones. Streamed ads are delivered to an app in real time. They may be more targeted and relevant to the user,  but streaming ads require a fast connection to run. Vungle says it’s the first to offer a hybrid of both serving models.

“When a user opens an app, Vungle Exchange considers more than 50 variables and predicts over one million possible outcomes to decide whether pre-caching or streaming will provide the best user experience, and to select the ad with which that user is most likely to interact,” says the company in the announcement.

So how does it work? The exchange compares ad performance from both brand and performance advertisers when choosing with ads to pre-cache on a user’s phone or tablet. It selects those that yield the highest revenue for publishers and are most likely to be interacted with by users and temporarily caches them on the device. At the same time there is a competition between streaming ads. Vungle determines if there is an Internet connection that will support ad streaming. If there is a solid connection, Vungle “calls the server to stream an ad. Vungle then compares the best streamed to the best pre-cached ad and serves the winner”.

The company says the entire process takes less than 300 milliseconds.

Vungle Exchange, which launched in closed beta a few months ago, also announced the integration of Aol Platforms’ Adap.tv demand side platform, Audience Path, into the exchange.

“Video is a huge driver of mobile ad spending, particularly within app environments that are now estimated to command more than 60 percent of digital time in the US*,” said Sean Crawford, SVP, Global Marketplaces and Inventory at Adap.tv. “Integrations with key partners like Vungle provide our customers with more opportunities to reach those engaged mobile audiences within their larger marketing mix of digital video and TV.”