What is an ad server and where to use?

Adservers (Ad Servers) are the web applications that show ads in various digital platforms like websites and mobile apps and report how many times these ads are shown, how many times they are clicked, how much of them watched (for video ads) etc. Adservers have a user interface where ad campaigns can be created. Through this interface, ad creatives can be created under the ad campaigns with the redirection links that will be triggered when ads clicked. After definitions, adserver gives a code set for the defined creatives. These codes are generally in the form of tracking, iframe, script or vast code.

Tracking Code : These are the codes in url type like https://adserverurl.com. It can be used separately to count impression and clicks, or it can be used as a single code that can count both at the same time. In cases where the impression and click codes are to be used separately, the ad creative (image or video) is also needs to be sent to the publishers or uploaded to the platforms where the ad will be defined. In single-code structures (this is also called url publish code), there is no need to send it separately, as the creative will automatically come from the code.

Iframe Code : Iframe is an html element with <iframe> </iframe> tags that are used to display data from another web source inside web pages. Iframe codes are a type of code that automatically publish the ad creative, just like the tracking codes in the single code structure described above. The only difference is that it is in the form of <iframe> </iframe> tags, not url.

Script Code : A type of code again that automatically publish the ad creative. The difference is that the code type is in the form of <script> </script> tags.

Vast Code : Type of code used for video and audio ads. This code is in a url form and refers to an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file source. XML file types present data through tags, similar to HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) files. XML files directed by Vast codes have the parameter tags that will transmit information such as how many times the video or audio ad is published, how much of it is watched / listened and how many times it has been clicked (for video ads) to the adserver.