Openads 2.3 Beta Launched, But Google Threat Lurks
I've mentioned Openads, a free open
source ad server, twice in the last few months here on Read/WriteWeb. I continue to be
very interested in their business model; but also I hope they disrupt not just the ad
fulfillment and tracking business, but also expand to focus on creating an
open alternative to the current online ad networks. While this week's announcements
didn't note any change in strategy, towards attacking Google's cash cow (AdSense), they
did make a few announcements that show that the organization continues to make great
progress on the heels of their $5 million
venture raise.
New Leadership
First of all, James Bilefield has been announced as
the new Opensds CEO. Before joining OpenAds he was a senior executive at Skype and
Yahoo!. Most recently, he was the General Manager of Skype in Europe. James had an
interesting take on the similarities between Skype and Openads, calling Skype "another
business which used free software and the power of community to deliver real benefits to
end users."
Public Beta Release
The Openads team also announced the beta release of their newest version 2.3. Two of the features I was particularly interested in were: a) the improved performance and, b) more thorough reports.
Improved Performance
According to Openads, their benchmarks have actually shown a 10x improvement in the speed of ads loading. Beyond that, they now support scaling the service across multiple servers. This allows them to explain on their site that "Openads 2.3 is now capable of serving billions of ads each month."
More Thorough Reports
Openads has increased the number of available reports and simplified the creation process. Here are a few examples of the report generation options:
Beyond the more thorough reports, Openads also allows publishers to automatically generate these reports on a pre-defined schedule. Based on my experience working with publishers, I would imagine this being a requirement for many of the ad operations groups. There are too many media buyers and marketing departments that want to be constantly monitoring their campaign's performance.
Conclusion
While the future looks bright for Openads, and I think they could really disrupt the online advertising business, one note of caution is that Google has a habit of acquiring companies and then giving away their paid services for free. The most recent example of this is Google giving away Feedburner's premium services after acquiring them. Obviously the DoubleClick revenue that Google would concede would be much larger, but I'm sure this is one of the things that Openads is concerned about. One thing is for sure, the online advertising space is getting more interesting!
Note: The picture of James is from his profile on the Skype page.
Comments
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Good Article, but any other examples outside of FeedBurner?
Another good example would be Urchin which is now Google Analytics and free.
Sean, have you heard of Direct Media Exchange (Formerly known as RMX Direct)?
I think you might find it interesting for two reasons. First, publishers can make more money with Direct Media Exchange versus Openads because ad networks are competing for every impression from a publishers ad inventory. Second, I personally find the Direct Media Exchange interface much more user-friendly and intuitive.
You should check it out. Until then, great post, it's exciting to see this industry heat up with competition!
Sean,
Great post. Thanks. I think OpenAds is an excellent solution for someone who wants total control over their own ad server and is technically inclined. I agree with you that in today's world you should always assume that someone is going to offer a free version of your service, so either do it first, or be ready with answer.
I also agree with you that an Open Ad Network could be interesting. I think in today's world publishers and networks don't have the tools or standards they need to work in an optimal way.