24/7 Real Media Releases Open Advertiser in U.S.

Web ad server and network 24/7 Real Media is set to release the agency-side version of its Open AdStream Central ASP in the U.S.

The company’s new Open Advertiser server brings many of the features associated with OASC to the agency and client side.

Open Advertiser is designed to appeal to advertisers and their agencies through a number of features. For one thing, the system’s cookie setup ensures that campaign data remains the exclusive property of the advertiser or agency — rather than the publisher.

It’s also a hosted solution, like Open AdStream Central, while the company’s flagship Open AdStream offering is publisher-focused, and software-based.

As a result, the product is aimed at countering the dominance of DoubleClick’s own ASP-based DART for Advertisers solution, which counts about 400 agencies and advertisers as clients.

Open Advertiser’s debut in the U.S. comes after more than a year of availability in Europe. Open AdStream Central itself took months to migrate to the Americas, launching in the U.S. in April, 2001.

Continental clients include Wunderman Interactive in France; Brand Links, Universal McCann interactive, Cheeze, and Zenith Interactive in the U.K.; and jom in Germany. Last month, the company’s European divisions rolled out Open Advertiser version 1.6, featuring beefed-up rich media support, reporting, and better bot filtering.

Prior to its merger with Real Media last October, 24/7 Media briefly marketed a competing software product in the Americas, dubbed Connect for Advertisers and based on technology acquired from Sabela Media. But in a bid to cut costs, the company wound up selling the unit to DoubleClick last year.

After the merger, 24/7 Real Media adopted Real Media’s Open AdStream platform for all of its products, dropping support for its Connect ASP and promising the eventual rollout of Open Advertiser.

DoubleClick, meanwhile, has been busy solidifying its lead in the area. In August, the firm updated DART for Advertisers to integrate with its MediaVisor solution, and to introduce more advanced optimization and reporting features.