• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer, November 3, 2009

“Real-time matters a lot,” Scott Spencer, Group Product Manager at Google, said with regard to yield optimization. Unlike search and other areas, the parameters that determine what you want to buy change continuously, says Spencer. Being able to look at every parameter and know in real-time what is the best buy for any given advertiser, he adds.

What is the most critical data that matters to advertisers? There’s no real standard answer,” says Spencer. “Data means differs thing to different people … Sometimes geo matters; sometimes time-of-day matters…”

Looking more broadly at the industry, the mega trend of fragmentation presents a great opportunity for ad networks specifically. Why? “They’re almost not showing the true potential of what they can do,” says Spencer. Their lots are destined to improve “as networks can start to get access to more inventory.”