• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 9, 2010

24/7 Real Media will publicly release Tuesday Open AdStream 10, an upgrade to its multichannel ad management, targeting and delivery platform. The update allows the publisher's ad management platform to speak with Omniture's enterprise analytics platform SiteCatalyst.

Publishers using Open AdStream 10 also can now target audiences based on third-party geodemographic data, and receive inventory reports with forecasts and audience segmentation stats.

Although it may sound a bit peculiar, the upgrades put David Moore's mind to rest. For years, the 24/7 Real Media founder and IAB board of directors chairman didn't feel comfortable looking people in the eye and telling them his company's technology for publishers provided better support than DoubleClick's DART for Publishers.

DoubleClick, now owned by Google, has always been the "lead dog" in terms of technology, Moore says, claiming the company "spent a lot more money on developing features -- "particularly during the downturn in late 2000 and 2001 at a time when we were just trying to stay alive."

Things have changed at 24/7 Real Media since 2007. That's when it became part of WPP Group. Moore, who has been an outspoken advocate of online ad targeting, now feels comfortable saying "we have a superior product," because he believes WPP's support raised the bar.

A handful of companies have been testing the integration and new features for a few weeks, but Moore isn't ready to reveal statistics or measurements from preliminary findings. "I think it's premature," he says.

Still, Moore points to Open AdStream's integration with Omniture as being the No. 1 feature that differentiates the platform from others, followed by the ability to support ad targeting on multiple platforms such as mobile, video, online display and TV advertising.

Rather than focus solely automating processes to buy a publisher's inventory at the least expensive cost, Nicolle Pangis, vice president, product management, global media and technology at 24/7 Real Media, says the company concentrates on building an "ecosystem" that can generate revenue for publishers. "Some companies just try and build a silo for their own technology and have everything housed within it," she says. "We believe in creating value, rather than just driving down costs. Driving down costs and not driving up performance isn't the way advertisers want to operate either."

Taking a different view from the competition, 24/7 Real Media concentrates on building an "open eco system" and partnering with companies like Omniture, Pangis says. Aside from building an open platform, Open AdStream 10 follows Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) VAST standards for video ad management and provides capabilities in video trafficking, tracking and reporting.

The features let publishers manage turnkey video advertising on their sites through advanced analysis across multiple points wherever the consumer interacts with the ads. "With the data from Omniture lets customers target in Open AdStream to create better performance and new revenue streams for the publisher because we can target specific audiences from their Omniture data set," Pangis says.

Pangis, who works with IT to build out the system, calls her job easy because there's been practically no turnover since WPP bought the company. 24/7 Real Media's chief technology officer has been there on the job for years and knows the type of features necessary to make the project work.

24/7 Real Media claims Open AdStream has delivered more than 780 billion ads across 43,000 Web sites in the past year. The company claims the client interface, with multiple new workflow enhancements, enables those using the platform to navigate through the features more easily. Streamlining ad management processes aim to give publishers a boost to monetize their inventory.