Editing Advertising network (section)

{{Short description|Company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements}}
{{About|online advertising networks|advertising with traditional media|advertising agency}}

An online '''advertising network''' or '''ad network''' is a company that connects advertisers to websites that want to host advertisements. The key function of an ad network is an aggregation of ad supply from publishers and matching it with the advertiser's demand. The phrase "ad network" by itself is media-neutral in the sense that there can be a "Television Ad Network" or a "Print Ad Network", but is increasingly used to mean "online ad network" as the effect of aggregation of publisher ad space and sale to advertisers is most commonly seen in the online space. The fundamental difference between traditional media ad networks and online ad networks is that online ad networks use a central '''ad server''' to deliver advertisements to consumers ('''ad serving'''), which enables [[ad targeting|targeting]], [[web tracking|tracking]] and reporting of impressions in ways not possible with analog media alternatives.