- Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) DoubleClick Ad Exchange came first in ad analytics firm Pixalate's study of the quality of the ads delivered by 400 real-time bidding (RTB) platforms. Pixalate says its analyzed 100B+ ad impressions, gauging metrics such as viewability, fraud rates, engagement, and domain masking (i.e. the disguising of the Web address an ad links to).
- Google/DoubleClick, which has been gaining display ad share for a number of years, received a maximum network score (measures the quality of ad domains) of 99. It also got high marks for inventory quality (92), viewability (96), engagement (90), domain masking (96), and fraud (88).
- Among publicly-traded online ad firms, The Rubicon Project (NYSE:RUBI) was a standout, coming in at #3. Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) also fared well, ranking #15.
- On the other hand, mobile ad network owner Millennial Media (NYSE:MM) was ranked #300. Millennial, bleeding mobile ad share to Google and Facebook (among others) over the last two years, is said to have a "high ratio of fraudulent traffic."
- RTB accounts for much of the burgeoning programmatic (automated) online ad market. eMarketer forecasts the U.S. RTB market will grow 123% this year to $9.25B, and total $11.8B in 2016. The adjacent programmatic direct market (covers the automated buying of entire ad campaigns from publishers) is expected to grow over 10x from 2014 to 2016, to $8.6B.