WHAT DOES AN AD OPERATIONS MANAGER DO?

Published: Nov 14, 2024 – The Ad Operations Manager oversees both internal and external resources to ensure successful, contract-compliant campaign delivery and operational continuity in a dynamic digital advertising environment. This role develops and enforces policies that drive effective operations, maintain high ad inventory quality, and maximize revenue while upholding privacy standards. The manager also builds strong partnerships with Sales, Agencies, Clients, and Management to implement best practices and improve overall operational efficiency.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Ad Operations Manager

1. Ad Operations Manager Accountabilities

  • Quality Assurance: Manage the Quality Assurance (QA) process for digital media campaigns and media plans.
  • Digital Media Strategy: Work with the media team on the development and implementation of digital media strategies – guiding the operations and development of campaigns.
  • Implementation and Reporting: Responsible for implementation, reporting, and optimization strategies used for all clients.
  • Campaign Optimization: Responsible for all campaign optimizations, analysis, reporting, and vendor recommendations.
  • Campaign Management: Utilize Campaign Manager 360 (CM360) for all campaign information and execute all digital campaigns.
  • Ad Unit Implementation: Facilitate the implementation of new ad units and creative executions.
  • Performance Reporting: Create digital performance reports, working with Campaign Manager 360 (CM360), Google Data Studio, and vendor data, and provide performance insights.
  • Trend Monitoring: Monitor trends in performance and identify areas of improvement weekly.
  • Ad Trafficking: Ensure accurate ad trafficking, contract fulfillment, and quality control across multiple clients.
  • Error Management: Maintain low error rates, traffic efficiently, and proactively anticipate potential roadblocks to meet campaign performance goals.
  • Collaboration: Work directly with Campaign Manager 360 (CM360), digital media vendors, internal media planners and coordinators, and client account teams.
  • Campaign Management Support: Assist in the day-to-day management of campaigns and support other ad ops team members.

2. Ad Operations Manager Functions

  • Team Leadership: Team lead for all campaign delivery across the True Digital network
  • Mentorship: Manage and lead the campaign management team providing mentoring, training, and guidance
  • Campaign Management: Ensure efficient delivery of ad campaigns including sponsorship, direct sales, and programmatic
  • Campaign Delivery: Campaign delivery across web, app, and video properties
  • Expertise in Programmatic: Be the subject matter expert on programmatic deal creation and campaign monitoring and optimization, reporting within SSPs
  • Inventory Management: Inventory management and ad server responsibility including managing ad unit creation, ad blocking rules, and user management within Google Ad Manager
  • Collaboration: Attend regular Revenue team meetings providing updates on ad operations matters
  • Communication: Communicate clearly with the Ad Sales team on campaign status and performance
  • Client Interaction: Communicate directly with ad clients including agencies, programmatic vendors, and ad networks on ad delivery
  • Project Contribution: Contribute to wider Ad Solutions projects and initiatives across Adtech and Ad Product
  • Support: Support agency teams during operational and business reviews and act as a critical team member for operational and technical discussions
  • Issue Identification: Identify and escalate potential technical issues, and identify and build specifications on potential market needs requiring technical developments.

3. Ad Operations Manager Job Description

  • Client Operations: Work as the Client Operations lead in optimizing publishers' accounts with TMT's suite of ad quality and data compliance services and recommend/implement account-level modifications.
  • Programmatic Strategy: Support publishers with their programmatic ad quality strategies while ensuring they are aligned with TMT’s service delivery objectives.
  • Issue Resolution: Assist with identifying, recommending, and resolving creative quality, site tagging, and tracking issues that may arise throughout the delivery process.
  • Media Filter Implementation: Direct contribution to the implementation, alignment, and performance of TMT’s Media Filter (creative-blocking) solutions for Publisher and Adtech clients.
  • Script Implementation: Support ad-creative-blocking script implementation and configuration initiatives for client partners.
  • Collaboration with Product Teams: Work with The Media Trust’s Product teams to ensure that new solutions are built to meet clients’ needs.
  • Process Improvement: Identify process inefficiencies, and champion ways to improve information and communication workflow (reporting, sales, ops, etc.).
  • Cross-Functional Liaison: Work as an Operations liaison between cross-functional departments (Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Product Management, System Engineering).
  • Account Optimization: Use GAM/GTM knowledge to drive account-level optimization and gain performance insights.
  • Client Support: Assist clients in identifying and resolving issues within their programmatic stack.
  • Data Synthesis: Synthesize/simplify data into actionable and coherent stories for both internal and external audiences.
  • Industry Trends: Stay on top of industry trends and continuously recommend new ad products, technologies, systems, etc.

4. Ad Operations Manager Overview

  • Data Gathering: Gather data from relevant data sources (both first-party and third) to craft audience insights and consumer trends reports that can be used for media planning.
  • Data Consolidation: Consolidate a variety of different media data sources for holistic reporting on campaign performance.
  • Data Analysis: Analyze the data to provide insights to the broader team and craft media optimization recommendations for implementation.
  • Campaign Management: Manage the implementation, execution, and optimization of digital advertising campaigns across multiple platforms including DV360, Facebook Ad Manager, Google Ads, LinkedIn, and other media platform providers.
  • Strategic Collaboration: Collaborate with agency and client teams to formulate and create strategic proposals that meet identified objectives.
  • Process Establishment: Establish campaign management processes and methods that can scale across multiple clients to drive efficiencies based on a predetermined set of KPIs.
  • Execution Management: Manage the execution and technical deployment of both direct (creative assets and tags) and programmatic video and display campaigns.
  • Cross-Device Implementation: Cross-device implementation (desktop, mobile, IPTV, etc.).
  • Monitoring and Reporting: Provide high-end monitoring and reporting of media activity.
  • KPI Monitoring: Monitor KPIs (VTR, CTR, etc.) daily, and work on standard and executive-level reporting and activity summaries.
  • Daily Interaction: Interact on a day-to-day basis with the agency’s Media Operations team to ensure campaign optimization and success.

5. Ad Operations Manager Role Purpose

  • Team Management: Manages a team of internal and external resources to ensure campaigns are delivered according to contract terms.
  • Oversight: Provides direct and indirect oversight and management of both FTE and contracted/managed resources.
  • Policy Development: Develop and enforce policies and procedures that allow the Digital Advertising Services group to run effectively.
  • Contract Enforcement: Ensures insertion order contracts and terms are accepted and enforced, and efficiently delivers on insertion orders.
  • Operational Continuity: Maintains continuity of operations within the ever-changing technology infrastructure of a digital advertising team.
  • Revenue Optimization: Provides a stable operational foundation that allows revenue to be maximized through direct sales efforts and remnant monetization.
  • Inventory Management: Maintain high-quality ad inventory, high return on investment, and protection of member privacy as we generate ad revenue.
  • Relationship Building: Builds strong relationships with Sales, Agencies, Clients, Accounting, Finance, Development, and Senior Management.
  • Campaign Delivery: Works with Sales, Account Management, and Advertisers to make sure that all advertising campaigns are delivered according to agreed-upon specifications.
  • Liaison Role: Acts as liaison with advertisers/agencies to oversee proper implementation of campaigns (ad tags, mitigating reporting discrepancies, ad placement/tracking, etc.).
  • Best Practices Development: Takes a lead role in developing and implementing best practices and processes to improve overall operational efficiencies.
  • Project Execution: Executes special projects involving quantitative analysis, industry research, and strategy development.