By dropping tag-based programmatic ads — and moving to server-side, direct-sold ads — Sort sees ad revenue increase.
UK’s sortyourfuture.com closes the gap between young people and career advice. Their platform connects users with guidance and recruiting services to help them find fulfilling employment.
To add an additional revenue stream, Sort integrated programmatic ads using a JavaScript-based third-party ad server. But the set-up wasn’t ideal: the ads were slow to load and ad blocked; the advertisers were off-brand; and the relationship hard to manage.
Sort realized they needed a faster, tag-free ad server, with a focus on direct-sold banner ads, not programmatic ones. Unfortunately, no traditional ad server or ad exchange could enable this.
So Sort turned to Kevel’s server-side ad APIs to easily launch their own ad platform for tag-less, direct-sold banner ads. Within a month, and with just a small engineering team, Sort built this ad server, which gave them full control over what advertisers appeared, while speeding up ad load times and avoiding ad blockers.
With Kevel, Sort controls what advertisers appear on their platform, and where. Plus, ads load simultaneously with the page and aren’t ad blocked, which increases value for Sort’s advertisers.
The switch from programmatic ads had an additional benefit: ad revenue went up. Rather than handing 50%+ fees to ad tech middlemen, Sort now oversees their own ad rates and revenue.
"Tag-based ad serving is flawed, even for display ads. The alternative is Kevel’s server-side approach, which offers fast ad load times, ad block workarounds, and more privacy controls."
– Lucy Griffiths, Co-Founder
Since Sort’s integration is all done server-side, there are no Kevel tags or cookies on Sort’s site, and the only data Kevel receives is what the user and Sort consent to send.
Additionally, these ad units are fully white-labeled and have response times less than 50ms, so the ads won’t slow down the users’ browsing experiences
"Maintaining user experience is our number one priority. Kevel allows us to deliver on-brand ads that enhance, rather than detract, from our mission."
– Lucy Griffiths, Co-Founder
With Kevel’s UI, Sort has a single location for managing and reporting on their ads. Having quick access to impression and click data is helpful to both Sort and their partners.
Sort has already added these display ads to their platform. In the future, they plan to test native ads, as well building in custom targeting with first party data.
"As we expand our ad offerings, we wanted a one-stop solution. With Kevel, we can serve standard banner ads, native ads, sponsored employer listings, and more — all from one partner."
– Chris Thomas, Co-Founder
