Ad servers store and deliver online ads to websites, with the ability to collect user data and track activity. They can tailor ads for specific users and are often used by ad networks. Redundancy is common for reliable delivery.
An ad server is a type of server used to store and deliver online advertisements to websites. The server can store material for a single company’s websites, in the case of a local server, or it can be used to deliver advertising to a variety of clients on the Internet, in a remote server. Ad servers have other capabilities as well, including the ability to collect and store user data, track clickthroughs, and other activity. A number of companies offer remote ad server capabilities to sites interested in serving ads and design local servers for companies that want to control their advertising.
The ad server is dedicated exclusively to advertising matters. Store ads in a variety of sizes and styles for different applications, including banner ads and interstitial ads. The ad server can also store video and audio advertisements, along with animated ads. When someone lands on a website connected to the server, a request is sent and an ad is returned. Ads change as people navigate your site, as dynamic advertising of this style allows for greater exposure to different advertisers.
An ad server may be able to tailor ads for specific users. It can track referrals, habits on a website or family of websites, the content of a page, etc. to deliver ads it deems most relevant. Someone who spends a lot of time in the cooking section of a newspaper website, for example, might get ads for grocery stores, culinary purveyors, and so on. Ad servers also collect data about who clicks and track things like how long people spend on individual pages, as well as on a website as a whole.
The smarter the ad server, the more expensive it tends to be, as more work is required to maintain it. Many sites interested in serving advertisements lack the level of support needed to generate and serve ads internally and prefer to join an ad network. The network uses an ad server to deliver ads, typically offering some degree of control so that people can remove ads that are not relevant to their users. In exchange for ad placement, it offers a small commission per click or on another basis. Usually, the bigger the website, the better the compensation from advertisers, as people will pay a premium for placing ads on heavily trafficked sites.
Redundancy is common with ad servers, to ensure ad delivery is smooth and reliable. The servers are constantly updated with new ads and algorithms to keep them up to date and functional.
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