译文/Translated：
世界各大机构每年在数字广告领域会浪费或被欺诈数十亿美元，现在，AdNode利用EOSIO技术帮助各机构解决该问题。AdNote是EOS VC赞助金的获得者，它把数字广告的调和过程自动化，这样就优化了广告客户和广告公司合作的动态模式。
AdNode的联合创始人和CEO Michael Rodov是自己经历了数字广告的一手困难之后开创的该公司。他在数字媒体行业有14年的工作经验，这些年来他发现好几百万的预算往往只取决于Excel的数据透视表。
Michael这么描述他看到的机遇：“我认为，低级的广告运作和媒体规划可以完全实现自动化，团队只要关注高级的活动，如研究数据、优化数据就可以。”-
处理多个数据集
广告业是个多面的市场。这个市场的主导是广告代理，它们代表客户从发布方手上购买广告。它们会根据广告评估公司提供的数据组，判断哪些广告被浏览了、哪些没有、是否是真人浏览、品牌安全，从而决定宣传构成和相关费用。
但是，拥有网站的广告发行方也会用自己的数据组计算宣传构成和费用，一般来说，它们会利用不同的评估公司。
市场要正常运转，广告客户、广告代理、评估机构和广告发行方必须都认同这些数据。但是Michael认为，这反而是事情最复杂的地方。“数据往往是对不上的，几组数据会出现不一致的地方。结果，相关企业必须打很多电话、发很多邮件、谈判决定收费时的最终数据是怎样的，但是，有时候就会导致各方摩擦。”
做生意的成本
月末、季末或者年末出现的调和延迟就会导致媒体投资人很难有效分配预算。同理，发行方也不知道它们在为什么付钱，它们也很难优化项目、实现更大的广告收益。
Michael认为，如果所有因素都能起作用，那么我们可能会发现，20-80%的广告曝光都浪费了。这就是AdNode想解决的问题。
“我们把广告代理和发布者之间的数字广告调和过程自动化了，”Michael这么解释，“这样，两个机构之间就会产生一定程度的共同信息。”
三步实现调和过程的自动化
AdNode这个崭新的调和方法缓解了僵局，帮助发行方、媒体投资人能和谐地合作。AnNode利用基于EOSIO的权益证明，从而让协调过程的计费实现自动化，包括验证基础数据、指令、账户明细和结算。
第一步：建立协议
首先应建立合约，其中包含代表广告客户和发布方进行计费的参数，广告代理必须同意该合约。
合约中必须包含广告需要被浏览多久才可以被认为是“有浏览价值”、哪些无效流量类型需要被计费或不能被计费、时间、价格。各方都同意之后，合约的记录就会被打上时间戳，利用EOSIO被保存在EOS公链上。
第二步：验证广告评估数据
接着，AdNode会利用广告代理和发布方选择的、验证过的评估机构验证效果，该数据的记录也会被记录在区块链上，保证数据不被动手脚。
“这样我们就有了共享的信息，”Michael说，“不单单是为了订单本身，同时也是保证其中隐含的数据，这样才能做出计算。”
第三步：计算费用
最后一步，AdNode会计算调和过程，综合考虑哪些广告曝光要计费，哪些不要、广告投入记录，包括第三方投入。结算的每个步骤都是通过区块链验证的。
每一步都可以通过哈希验证，只有通过AdNode发给合约各方的原始文件才能重建这个结果。
调和过程自动化有利于发布方快速且准确地识别最佳广告，反过来重新安排和优化预算。同时，广告客户的调和费用更低，但同时可以获得最优广告。基于区块链的证明也更容易实现第三方或内部审计。
产品启动
“从规模化、安全性和基本使用EOS公链做验证的成本这几个角度来看，EOSIO是我们的最佳选择。”
AdNode的调和解决方案在2020年5月上线EOS公链。现在该公司已经产生利润了。许多客户，包括媒体公司IAC和Investing Channel都利用AdNode自动化其广告调和方案。
Michael说现有的结果很棒，对广告客户来说，广告效率提高了大约25%，对发布者来说，媒体开支方面大概节约了50%。“我们已经有些企业客户在利用我们的解决方案，提高自己的收益，它们也很高兴能看到我们行业自动化带来的积极影响。”
Michael说，因为顾客群体越来越大，现在AdNode已经开始规模化了。“我们一直在获得新客户。AdNode合作的直接发布方每个月有超过5亿独特的用户。除了广告客户群体大，现在，我们还在往100多个不同的领域努力着。”
数字广告的未来
Michael说，数字广告的未来倚仗的，是围绕着数据的各方共同的信任。“我们证明了我们可以让那些都自动化，同时可以在整个供应链上带来巨大的经济效益。我们现在在和大客户合作，实现数字广告的问责制。我们的目标是最终实现媒体采购的时候自动化数字广告，让广告业务模型对所有股东都是可盈利、可持续的。”
Michael觉得，既然每年在数字广告领域的投入将近3800亿美元，而其中又有一大半可以说是完全浪费掉的，他可以乐观地认为，AdNode未来能够获得几十亿的利润。“我们获得了Block.one VC的赞助金，我们很高兴能够利用EOSIO技术。目前来看，它非常成功，我们也对这个技术非常满意。”
建立AdNode的团队
Michael Rodov
AdNode联合创始人和CEO Michael Rodov是科技行业的连续创业者，同时他也是纽约市一个数字媒体公司的高管。建立AdNode之前，他还成立了Market Realist，这是一个独立投资研究网站，每个月有270万用户。
Daniel Arnold
AdNode的联合创始人和CTO Daniel Arnold也是科技行业的连续创业者，他有18年的创业史，数次从概念开始创业。Daniel在2018年5月加入AdNode担任CTO，负责产品执行和技术方向。
Marc Helwani
AdNode董事长Marc Helwani是i80Group的创始人。此前，他还成立了Avenue A Ventures，这是一个关注金融科技的风投基金。他还曾担任York Capital的资产经理，也是该公司的执行委员会一员，是公司的风险管理和运营委员会的主席。
建立在EOSIO之上
我们的 #建立在EOSIO 系列展示了利用EOSIO科技的一些卓越的项目，它们都能为我们更加安全和联系的世界添砖加瓦。如果您想给我们下一个阶段的项目提建议，请给我们的开发者关系小组发送邮件spotlight@block.one
–Block.one开发者关系小组
EOS VC通过战略投资和风投合作伙伴基金支持EOSIO生态，获得更多信息，请访问vc.eos.io
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原文/Original：
EOSIO makes it possible for EOS VC grant recipient AdNode to help agencies with the issue of wasteful spending and fraud in the multibillion dollar global digital ad space. By automating the reconciliation process for digital advertising, AdNode improves the dynamic of how ad buyers and sellers cooperate.
AdNode Co-founder and CEO, Michael Rodov, started the company after experiencing the problems in digital advertising first-hand. He spent 14 years in the digital media industry and saw how multimillion dollar budgets often hinged on Excel pivot tables.
Michael describes the opportunity he saw: “In my mind, low-level ad operations and media planning can be completely automated to support a team to focus on higher value activities like studying the data and making it better.”
Wading through Multiple Data Sets
The advertising space is a multifaceted marketplace. It is dominated by ad agencies who purchase ads from publishers on behalf of an advertiser. They determine billing and invoicing for campaigns with data sets provided by ad measurement firms to see what is viewed, not viewed, human, or brand safe.
On the other hand, publishers that own the websites selling ads also calculate billing and invoicing with their own data sets, often using different measurement vendors.
For the marketplace to function properly, advertisers, agencies, measurement vendors, and publishers all must align and agree on the numbers. According to Michael, this is where the process can become complicated. “Typically those numbers don’t match up and there are inconsistencies and discrepancies. This leads to a lot of phone calls and emails to negotiate what the final numbers should be for billing, which can sometimes result in friction among the parties.”
The Cost of Doing Business
Reconciliation delays that occur at the end of a monthly, quarterly, or annual period make it difficult for media investors to effectively allocate budgets. Likewise, publishers don’t know what they’re paying for, and are unable to optimize their programs to be paid for more of their advertising inventory.
With all these factors at play, Michael says that anywhere from 20-80 percent of ad impressions turn out to be wasteful. That’s a problem AdNode set out to address.
“We automate reconciliation for digital advertising between the ad agencies and the publishers,” Michael explains. “And that brings a level of shared truth between the agencies and the publishers.”
Automate Reconciliation in Three Steps
AdNode’s novel approach to reconciliation reduces gridlock and helps publishers and media investors work in harmony. AdNode uses EOSIO-based proofs to automate the entire billing reconciliation process, including the verification of the underlying data, orders, invoices, and settlements.
Step 1: Establishing Agreements
First the agencies agree to a contract that contains parameters for billing on behalf of advertisers and publishers.
The contract covers how long an ad needs to be viewed to be considered viewable, what categories for invalid traffic should be billable or not, dates, and pricing. Once the parties agree, a record of the contract is timestamped and stored using EOSIO on the EOS public blockchain.
Step 2: Verifying Ad Measurement Data
Next, AdNode uses vetted measurement vendors selected by the agency and publisher to verify the performance, again storing a record of the data on the blockchain to make sure it cannot be manipulated.
“We now have a shared truth,” says Michael, ”not just for the order but also for the underlying data on which the calculations are made.”
Step 3: Calculating the Bill
In the final step, AdNode calculates the reconciliation, factoring in which ad impressions are billable or not, and records for ad delivery, including that of any third-party vendors. The resulting settlements are blockchain- verified at every step of the process.
Everything can be validated by the hashes that can only be recreated with the original documents that AdNode distributes to the parties in the contract.
Automated reconciliation allows publishers to rapidly and accurately identify premium advertising inventory and, in turn, reallocate and optimize their budgets. Meanwhile, advertisers are granted access to this premium inventory with the perk of reduced reconciliation costs. The blockchain-based proofs also make it easy to conduct any third-party or internal audits.
Launching the Product
To deliver this blockchain-based solution, Michael says his team evaluated all the popular blockchains that were available, including private and public solutions before choosing to build on EOSIO.
“EOSIO was the best option from the perspective of scalability, security, and also the cost of basically using the EOS public blockchain for the verification.”
AdNode’s reconciliation solution went live on the EOS public blockchain in May 2020. Today the company is already generating revenue. A range of customers, including media companies IAC and Investing Channel, rely on AdNode to automate their advertising reconciliation.
Michael says the initial results are promising, showing approximately 25 percent improvement in terms of inventory efficiency for publishers and about 50 percent in savings for advertisers in terms of their media spending. “We have enterprises using it live right now to improve profitability and they are really excited about the positive impact of automation on our industry.”
Michael says that AdNode is already scaling now thanks to a growing customer base. “We’re constantly signing up new customers. Collectively, the direct publishers that AdNode has partnered with have over 500 million monthly unique users. Currently we’re working with over 100 different domains in addition to large advertisers.”
The Future of Digital Advertising
Michael says that the future of digital advertising will hinge on shared trust around data. “We’ve proven that we can automate that and bring tremendous economic efficiencies across the supply chain. And we’re currently working with large partners to bring accountability to digital advertising. Our goal is really to be the destination place to automate digital advertising in media buying to make the advertising business model profitable and sustainable for all stakeholders.”
Michael is optimistic that AdNode will have billions in revenue thanks to the nearly $380 billion spent annually in the digital ad space, more than half of which he says is completely wasteful. “As a Block.one VC grant recipient, we’re really excited to leverage EOSIO technology. So far we’ve seen it’s very successful for us, and we’re very pleased with the tech.”
Meet the Team that Built AdNode
Michael Rodov
AdNode Co-Founder and CEO, Michael Rodov, is a serial technology entrepreneur and digital media executive based in New York City. Prior to founding AdNode, Michael founded Market Realist, an independent investment research website that reached 2.7 million monthly users.
Daniel Arnold
AdNode Co-Founder and CTO, Daniel Arnold, is also a serial technology entrepreneur, with 18 years experience building companies from concept to exit. Daniel joined AdNode as CTO in May 2018, and is responsible for product implementation and the direction of technology.
Marc Helwani
AdNode Board Director, Marc Helwani, is the Founder of i80 Group. Prior to that he founded Avenue A Ventures, a fintech focused VC fund. He is a former Portfolio Manager at York Capital and was a member of the firm’s executive committee and chairman of the firm’s risk management and operating committees.
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