Case-study
Beating AdSense:How a Local Publisher Increased Ad Revenue by 28%with Vertex Media
A US-based publisher operating a network of local business directories had
a balanced monetization strategy — combining Google AdSense with direct campaigns sold to local businesses.
Direct deals were integrated into Google Ad Manager (GAM) at a strong
$10–$15 CPM, filling roughly 32% of impressions. The remaining 68% of traffic was monetized through AdSense, generating predictable, but limited, revenue.
Like many publishers with established direct relationships, they believed their setup was already optimized. Yet most of the unsold, remnant inventory was still undervalued — leaving meaningful revenue on the table.
Challenge
The publisher wanted to explore additional yield from the remnant inventory without risking their direct deals or breaching volume commitments. Their main concern: introducing programmatic demand could potentially cannibalize premium campaigns or complicate trafficking in GAM.
At the same time, AdSense was not creating real price competition for those remaining impressions, often clearing inventory below its true market value.
Solution
Vertex Media implemented its Prebid-based Wrapper, fully integrated into the publisher’s existing GAM setup — keeping direct deals in place, untouched.
The wrapper introduced real-time competition for the unsold inventory, connecting the publisher to premium programmatic demand from platforms like Amazon, Microsoft, Pubmatic, and Magnite. Each impression was now exposed to multiple demand sources competing simultaneously, driving CPMs upward.
Key implementation principles:
01
No interference with direct deals or guaranteed campaigns
02
Transparent and controllable competition within GAM
03
Increased fill and yield on the remnant traffic
04
Zero operational disruption to the publisher’s existing setup
Results
+28%
Increase in total ad revenue
0%
Higher CPMs across all formats and devices
0%
Improved fill rate on remnant inventory
0%
Zero impact on direct campaign delivery
Conclusion
Even publishers with strong direct sales have untapped potential in their remnant inventory. By adding Vertex Media’s wrapper, this publisher kept its premium deals secure while turning unsold impressions into a competitive, high-yield revenue stream — proving that hybrid monetization setups can expand profit, not cannibalize it.