OpenX Case Studies How CarGurus Scaled Their Private Marketplace Deals for a 160% Revenue Increase

Edit This Case Study Record

	How CarGurus Scaled Their Private Marketplace Deals for a 160% Revenue Increase OpenX

How CarGurus Scaled Their Private Marketplace Deals for a 160% Revenue Increase

OpenX

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries	Automotive Telecommunications
Applicable Functions	Business Operation Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Demand Planning & Forecasting Inventory Management
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services
Challenge	CarGurus, a leader in providing online consumers with information to make smart car shopping decisions, was facing a challenge in finding the right balance for their traditional IO business and programmatic business. They were looking for ways to maintain ad quality while increasing competition from buyers at scale. Over the past 18 months, CarGurus had experienced massive impression growth but struggled to optimize to the best yield and fill rates without a platform solution. They also had concerns about viewability and latency in ad load. Read More
About Customer	CarGurus is a leading online platform that provides consumers with information to make smart car shopping decisions. They are committed to finding progressive ways to monetize their platform and connect with buyers relevant to their shopping audience. As a premium brand, CarGurus views quality ads as content and sought to find a way to increase yield and platform automation while maintaining high ad quality. They operate in the US, Canada, and UK sites and have experienced massive impression growth over the past 18 months. Read More
Solution	CarGurus partnered with OpenX to evolve their stack and introduce demand automation. They started using OpenX Ad Exchange and then added OpenX SSP combined with OpenX Bidder. This combination helped drive more competition for each impression and leveled the playing field. To ensure that OpenX Bidder wouldn’t introduce any latency to the ad load, they tested the page with and without Bidder. OpenX also brought in a dedicated yield team to explore solutions, starting with CarGurus’ Private Marketplace deals. They suggested re-prioritizing PMP deals (through Bidder) to compete on every impression, including inventory typically reserved for other buys. CarGurus also became one of the first publishers to co-innovate with OpenX’s new RealTime Guaranteed product, which brings audience syncing, forecasting, and a volume guarantee to Private Marketplace deals. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Applicable Industries

Automotive

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Demand Planning & Forecasting

Inventory Management

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

CarGurus, a leader in providing online consumers with information to make smart car shopping decisions, was facing a challenge in finding the right balance for their traditional IO business and programmatic business. They were looking for ways to maintain ad quality while increasing competition from buyers at scale. Over the past 18 months, CarGurus had experienced massive impression growth but struggled to optimize to the best yield and fill rates without a platform solution. They also had concerns about viewability and latency in ad load.

About Customer

CarGurus is a leading online platform that provides consumers with information to make smart car shopping decisions. They are committed to finding progressive ways to monetize their platform and connect with buyers relevant to their shopping audience. As a premium brand, CarGurus views quality ads as content and sought to find a way to increase yield and platform automation while maintaining high ad quality. They operate in the US, Canada, and UK sites and have experienced massive impression growth over the past 18 months.

Solution

CarGurus partnered with OpenX to evolve their stack and introduce demand automation. They started using OpenX Ad Exchange and then added OpenX SSP combined with OpenX Bidder. This combination helped drive more competition for each impression and leveled the playing field. To ensure that OpenX Bidder wouldn’t introduce any latency to the ad load, they tested the page with and without Bidder. OpenX also brought in a dedicated yield team to explore solutions, starting with CarGurus’ Private Marketplace deals. They suggested re-prioritizing PMP deals (through Bidder) to compete on every impression, including inventory typically reserved for other buys. CarGurus also became one of the first publishers to co-innovate with OpenX’s new RealTime Guaranteed product, which brings audience syncing, forecasting, and a volume guarantee to Private Marketplace deals.

Impact #1	CarGurus experienced a 300% increase in OpenX-procured exchange revenue from December 2015 to March 2016.
Impact #2	They saw a 70% increase in mobile revenue overnight after implementing the OpenX solutions.
Impact #3	The implementation of OpenX Bidder helped drive more competition for each impression and leveled the playing field.

Impact #1

CarGurus experienced a 300% increase in OpenX-procured exchange revenue from December 2015 to March 2016.

Impact #2

They saw a 70% increase in mobile revenue overnight after implementing the OpenX solutions.

Impact #3

The implementation of OpenX Bidder helped drive more competition for each impression and leveled the playing field.

Benefit #1	124% Higher CPMs than auto industry average
Benefit #2	160% Increase in OpenX-procured PMP revenue with a 20% increase in CPM
Benefit #3	84% Lift in overall programmatic revenue, with 25% coming from PMP

Benefit #1

124% Higher CPMs than auto industry average

Benefit #2

160% Increase in OpenX-procured PMP revenue with a 20% increase in CPM

Benefit #3

84% Lift in overall programmatic revenue, with 25% coming from PMP

Download PDF Version

Overview

How CarGurus Scaled Their Private Marketplace Deals for a 160% Revenue Increase

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit