• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 25, 2008

Vertical ad network management company Adify today is expected to launch an inventory forecasting module for vertical ad network builders to predict supply and demand across the publishers in their networks.

Driving the need for the new module is the continued segmentation of the online content market that is requiring advertisers to further augment their branding campaigns with vertical ad networks.

"Vertical ad networks are growing and the sophistication of buying on them is growing as well," said Russ Fradin, president and co-founder of Adify. "Advertisers and network builders want to ensure they have accurate information about availability not only across the entire network, but also by ad size, DMA, country and ad type."

Mike McGuire, research director for Gartner Research, said it was too early to assess the effectiveness of Adify's new product, but agreed there is a high demand for more reliable metrics in this area. "Ad networks are a hot topic, so the demand is obviously high for better and more accurate ways to measure their effectiveness," McGuire said.

With multiple algorithms, the module is designed to address the variability in inventory levels, which occur with vertical ad networks.

Through inventory forecasting, Adify network builders evaluate the value of their online inventory over periods of time by analyzing the number of impressions generated and advertiser demand for the inventory. The tool begins to analyze data within weeks of a network's launch, and is at least designed to improve over time as vertical networks become more established.

Adify's network builders rely on the company's technology to determine inventory pricing decisions, adjust ad rate cards, increase rates for inventory in high demand and lower rates for less attractive inventory.

With the forecasting tool, network builders are expected to identify trends such as gaps in supply and demand and adjust accordingly with custom reports that forecast inventory based on ad size, location and type.

What did Adify's clients do before the availability of the new module?

"Many used Excel spreadsheets and tried to calculate a trend," Fradin said. "A number of our customers tried their existing inventory management systems which were designed and work very well for large publisher's single sites, and found that the estimates were not accurate enough or useful for their vertical ad network."

Separately, Adify today is announcing that its platform is now 120 vertical ad networks strong. The latest networks to join its platform include SOAPNet and the Forbes Business and Financial Blog Network.

In April, Cox Enterprises agreed to acquire Adify for a reported $300 million.

Other ad networks that Adify powers include Time Warner, Comcast, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.