Ad Auctions

We solicit submissions for the Fourth Workshop on Ad Auctions, to be held July 8-9, 2008 in Chicago in conjunction with the ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce. The workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to discuss the latest developments in advertisement auctions and exchanges.

In the past decade we've seen a rapid trend toward automation in advertising, not only in how ads are delivered and measured, but also in how ads are sold. Web search advertising has led the way, selling space on search results pages for particular queries in continuous, dynamic "next price" auctions worth billions of dollars annually.

Now auctions and exchanges for all types of online advertising -- including banner and video ads -- are commonplace, run by startups and Internet giants alike. An ecosystem of third party agencies has grown to help marketers manage their increasingly complex campaigns.

The rapid emergence of new modes for selling and delivering ads is fertile ground for research from both economic and computational perspectives. What auction or exchange mechanisms increase advertiser value or publisher revenue? What user and content attributes contribute to variation in advertiser value? What constraints on supply and budget make sense? How should advertisers and publishers bid? How can both publishers and advertisers incorporate learning and optimization, including balancing exploration and exploitation? How do practical constraints like real-time delivery impact design? How is automation changing the advertising industry? How will ad auctions and exchanges evolve in the next decade? How should they evolve?

Papers from a rich set of empirical, experimental, and theoretical perspectives are invited. Topics of interest for the workshop include but are not limited to:

  * Web search advertising (sponsored search)

  * Banner advertising

  * Ad networks, ad exchanges

  * Comparison shopping

   * Mechanism and market design for advertising

  * Ad targeting and personalization

  * Learning, optimization, and explore/exploit tradeoffs in ad placement

  * Ranking and placement of ads

   * Computational and cognitive constraints

   * Game-theoretic analysis of mechanisms, behaviors, and dynamics

  * Matching algorithms: exact and inexact match

   * Equilibrium characterizations

   * Simulations

   * Laboratory experiments

   * Empirical characterizations

   * Advertiser signaling, collusion

   * Pay for impression, click, and conversion; conversion tracking

   * Campaign optimization; bidding agents; search engine marketing (SEM)

   * Local (geographic) advertising

   * Contextual advertising (e.g., Google AdSense)

   * User satisfaction/defection

   * User incentives and rewards

   * Affiliate model

  * Incentive analysis

  * Click fraud detection and prevention

   * Price time series analysis

   * Multiattribute and expressive auctions

   * Bidding languages for advertising


We solicit contributions of two types: (1) research contributions, and (2) position statements. Research contributions should report new (unpublished) research results or ongoing research. The workshop proceedings can be considered non-archival, meaning contributors are free to publish their results later in archival journals or conferences. Research contributions can be up to ten pages long, in double-column ACM SIG proceedings format ( http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates ). Position statements are short descriptions of the authors' view of how ad auction research or practice will or should evolve. Position statements should be no more than five pages long. Panel discussion proposals and invited speaker suggestions are also welcome.

The workshop will include a significant portion of invited presentations along with presentations on accepted research contributions. There will be time for both organized and open discussion. Registration will be open to all EC'08 attendees.

The first three workshops on sponsored search auctions successfully attracted a wide audience from academia and industry working on various aspects of web search advertising. Following the footsteps of the previous workshops, the Fourth Workshop on Ad Auctions strives to be a venue that helps address challenges in the broader field of online advertising, by providing opportunities for researchers and practitioners to interact with each other, stake out positions, and present their latest research findings. While the first three workshops focused on web search advertising, we have broadened the scope this year to include auctions and exchanges for any form of online advertising.

 

Submission Instructions

Research contributions should report new (unpublished) research results or ongoing research. The workshop's proceedings can be considered non-archival, meaning contributors are free to publish their results later in archival journals or conferences. Research contributions can be up to ten pages long, in double-column ACM SIG proceedings format:
http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates
Positions papers and panel discussion proposals are also welcome.
Papers should be submitted electronically using the conference management system ( http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=adauctions2008 ) no later than midnight Hawaii time, May 6, 2008. Authors should also email the organizing committee ( adauctions2008@yahoogroups.com ) to indicate that they have submitted a paper to the system.
At least one author of each accepted paper will be expected to attend and present their findings at the workshop.

 

Important Dates

 

Organizing Committee

Susan Athey, Harvard University
Rica Gonen, Yahoo! Research
Jason Hartline, Northwestern University
Aranyak Mehta, Google Inc
David Pennock, Yahoo! Research

Siva Viswanathan, University of Maryland

 

Contact and Further Information

Email the organizing committee: adauctions2008@yahoogroups.com