Understanding Ad Networks: Defaults And Daisy-Chaining

Advertising as a self-service proposition can be very rewarding if you use the right tools and do your research. Understanding the online advertising landscape is essential for the small and medium-sized business to import the marketing function and get maximum efficiency out of it.

A great piece of research discussing how ad networks fill the impressions they have in their inventory is PubMatic's 2006 report Online Advertising Management: Ad Network Defaulting And Daisy-Chaining For Ad Revenue Optimization.

Its' a fine bit of background for anyone interested in how the ad network ecosystem works, how ROI is achieved and how impressions are juggled in the real world. What's a daisy-chain?  What are defaults?  Find out after the jump.