The Rubicon Project, an LA-based company that is trying to optimize online ads, has launched a new line of online ad inventory, comprised of sites it has certified as “high-quality.” Its software already lets ad networks reach a site’s visitors based on market segments like geography and topic of the site, solving the problem of unsold or nearly worthless inventory. So this certification is an iteration on the earlier offering, that might make the company some more money.
The new certified sites are intended to help networks run ads from high-end advertisers, typically brands that pay to make sure their ads appear next to seemly and relevant content. The company says it carefully screens, rates and classifies partner sites using a combination of software and human verification. Some of Rubicon Projects in the ad-optimization area include AdBrite as well as Pubmatic, along with YieldBuild’s service for site-specific ad optimization.
Rubicon: No softening of the online ad market so far
Rubicon has also released a study today that shows, through its own data, how the online advertising market is become more competitive, and fragmenting (and why Rubicon is presented to take advantage of that — see the video below involving easter eggs, a shooting and a barbecue for more).

One interesting stat: While Google has seen a dip in clickthroughs on ads, rivals have been paying more money to publishers. The report concludes that there is no softening of the online ad market, and gives the following possible reasons for Google’s dip: