Since 1996, 24/7 Real Media has consistently held the silver medal in the race for domination of publisher-side ad-serving technology. Blame it on first-mover advantage, but the gold belonged — and
still does-to DoubleClick’s behemoth DART. That may soon change. 24/7’s Open AdStream has recently made some waves in the competitive marketplace, converting several of DART’s new technology clients,
including Vivendi Universal, which is made up of Rollingstone.com, the Flipside network, uproar.com, and iWin.com, among others. 24/7 claims superior one-on-one service, privacy policies, easy-to-use
products, and cookie ownership for advanced targeting as advantages over the competition. Its luck holding steady, the company has decided to try its hand at launching a new version of its
advertiser-side ad-serving tool. Making its U.S. debut this month is Open Advertiser 2.0 (OAD 2.0), whose predecessor OAD has been a regular fixture in Europe for more than five years. The product is
designed specifically for agency media buyers and planners. Don’t expect to encounter too many differences between Open AdStream and Open Advertiser, the biggest one being that creative and campaign
updates are done within 15 minutes with OAD 2.0, but in real-time through OAS. Much like OAS, OAD 2.0 handles surround sessions — something the company views as the bait that lures customers away
from other technologies. Jack Smith, director of product management at 24/7 Real Media, says, "We know of other technologies doing things similar to surround sessions, but nothing quite like ours."
24/7 Real Media is also big on privacy. With OAD 2.0, which is strictly an ASP product, clients own their audience data. Rich media capabilities are also emphasized, along with reach and frequency
tools (a plus when enticing traditional advertisers), email campaigns, and delivery into iTV and wireless. All capabilities are included in one core suite instead of offering add-ons to clients àla
carte. Smith says that economically it doesn’t make sense to have product suites for each deliverable platform. And 24/7 Real Media feels that OAD 2.0 can reach numerous platforms. Smith says, "If
it’s ones and zeros, we can deliver to it." David J. Moore, chairman and CEO of 24/7 Real Media, feels that OAD 2.0 will allow media buyers and planners to gain new perspectives on their future
campaigns. "Open Advertiser will enable media planners and buyers to derive more value from their campaigns than has previously been possible. The solution's ability to retarget users by creative
while following prospects through the entire advertising cycle, from initial impression through their ultimate visit to the advertiser's site, provides clients on the buy side with a store of
actionable data that simply has never been available before." —Amy Corr
