Apex will work in parallel with a publisher’s server-side header bidding solutions for banner ads. Lewine noted publishers are building those two ad stacks separately. While TripleLift integrates with all the major client-side header bidding wrappers, Lewine said that setup makes it difficult for publishers to control what ad units end up in the feed and on the right rail. He said Apex will give publishers more oversight around which ads show up in their feeds. Plus, it supports native ad templates, making it easier for publishers to control the look of their native ad placements. Lewine predicts adoption could be swift, citing how fast publishers implemented client-side header bidding. “Header bidding adoption in the past 12 months has been unprecedented,” Lewine said. “Publishers are regaining control of their ad businesses. They will earn more money, and users will win because the ads will look better with less latency.”
TripleLift has launched server-side header bidding wrapper Apex, aimed at giving publishers more control over the native ads showing up in their feeds. TripleLeft said its first-price auction will promote in-feed competition between a publisher's native ad partners. Co-founder Ari Lewine said: "Because the native ad ecosystem has less legacy holdup, I’m optimistic it will happen easier than in the banner ad space." Despite being able to incorporate demand from content recommendation engines, outstream video, Nativo and Sharethrough, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter, as yet none of them have signed up for Apex.