OpenX Tips

Editor’s note: this is a post by guest blogger Erik Geurts

A new version of the OpenX Ad Server software has been released. This version 2.8.7 fixes a very serious security issue. According to the announcement on the OpenX blog:

there is a vulnerability in the 2.8 downloadable version of OpenX that can result in a server running the downloaded version of OpenX being compromised.

The issue stems from the Video Ads plugin for OpenX, which in turn uses an open source third party component called Open Flash Charts (OFC) to display graphs about video ad performance. There was a security issue with OFC which has now been fixed.

In addition, the upgrade notification inside the OpenX management pages has this information:

If you recently upgraded to version 2.8.6, you can simply install an upgraded video ad plug-in available [here] or remove the following file: admin/plugins/videoReport/lib/ofc2/ofc_upload_image.php from your installation.

This is the second update in less than 1 week, which might sound alarming. On the other hand, there will always be bugs and security vulnerabilities in software, and it’s better to have those fixed.

Besides this fix for the security issue that was uncovered, there is also a seemingly small functional change in this new version:

For users in the UK, all market interfaces now reflect your participation in Orange Ad Market, and all Orange Ad Market market monetary values are in GBP.

Since both the OpenX main website and the OpenX blog appear to be down at the time I’m writing this, I can’t give you any more information than what I included above.

What does still seem to work at the moment is the download link at http://download.openx.org/openx-2.8.7.zip.

Last month, OpenX announced a partnership with Microsoft. But what does this partnership mean for small publishers?

The OpenX blog post announcing the deal says that there are two main parts to the deal:

“First, it will help us enable more online businesses to grow by exposing our advertising technology to more potential customers via the referral arrangement with Microsoft.”

This is good news for OpenX — hopefully, the promotion of the OpenX ad server to Microsoft’s clients will increase the number of large publishers using OpenX, which in turn should mean that OpenX continues to grow. This is important for small publishers, as OpenX needs to succeed as a company if it is to continue to develop the OpenX platform, and continue to release updates to the open source OpenX ad server.

“Second, the Content Ads component of the partnership enables us to make another revenue option easily accessible to OpenX publishers. By integrating Content Ads into the OpenX Market, it will become another buyer competing for your inventory. We will also build a plugin for the ad server that will make it easy to sign up and use Content Ads.”

The second part of the deal actually consists of two parts.

Firstly, Microsoft, through their Content Ads program, will participate in the OpenX Market, as a supplier of advertising/buyer of inventory. This should mean more opportunity for OpenX users to sell their inventory in the OpenX Market, which should mean better income for OpenX publishers.

Secondly, OpenX will be building a plugin for OpenX, to make it easier for publishers to sign up to the Microsoft Content Ads service as publishers¹.

However, the OpenX blog post and press release doesn’t say if Microsoft are already participating in the OpenX Market, or when the plugin for OpenX will be available. So, The Guru wrote to OpenX CEO Tim Cadogan, to try and clear up the situation:

The Guru: Are Microsoft Content Ads already in the OpenX Market? Will Microsoft Content Ads be treated specially in the OpenX Market (e.g. separate reporting)?

Tim Cadogan: Not yet. They won’t be treated specially, they will compete in the same way as everyone else.

The Guru: When is the Content Ads plugin expected to be released?

Tim Cadogan: We’re working together with Microsoft on timing for that. Stay tuned.

So, it sounds like the OpenX/Microsoft deal is a work in progress, and hopefully, we’ll be hearing something from OpenX very soon to announce the start of Microsoft’s participation in the OpenX Market, and the release of the Microsoft Content Ads plugin for OpenX!

1. Assuming they are US-based publishers, of course! [↩]

The OpenX team are looking for users to participate in a usability event for upcoming features for the OpenX Market. If you’re in the LA area, and you’d like to take part, details are on the OpenX forum.

Two days ago, Google announced the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a system for advertisers to buy inventory from publishers.

It would seem that the product is aimed mainly at large advertisers and advertising networks on one hand, and large publishers on the other. As a result, it would seem that for most OpenX users, this announcement will have little immediate relevance, although the exchange does support smaller advertisers through AdWords and smaller publishers through AdSense, which hopefully means that at the very least, OpenX users will be able to obtain higher levels of income from their AdSense banners.

Ultimately, though, Google’s announcement is welcome news for OpenX users as it seems to confirm that online advertising is slowly moving towards an open exchange market, where smaller publishers will be able to participate in online exchanges, like the OpenX Market, which will allow advertisers to more easily access obtain the most useful inventory for them, which should translate into higher earnings for publishers.

Great news for OpenX users — support for sending any unsold inventory to the OpenX Market, so that it will fill the inventory for you (as opposed to the current competition based system) has just been announced for delivery in (roughly) mid-November 2009. You can see details in the roadmap.

Now all the community needs is for OpenX 2.8.2 to be released!