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Getting started: Accounts

An account represents a business unit or business relationship and can be one of four types: ad networkAn OpenX account type, which represents a business that manages other businesses and typically contains and manages both publisher accounts and advertiser accounts., publisherAn account type that represents a business with ad space to sell., advertiserIn OpenX, an account type that represents a business that runs advertising campaigns to display ads on websites., or ad agencyIn OpenX, an account type that represents a business that provides services to advertisers.. You can create as many accounts as you need, at any level. An account contains objects, such as orders and line items, but the types of objects that it contains depend on the type of account.

Some ad tech platforms have flat structures, grouping ad units under other ad units; however, that kind of grouping is not allowed in OpenX Ad ServerA complete digital advertising platform where publishers sell, manage, and deliver their advertising inventory across all digital formats.. The structure of OpenX Ad Server platform is hierarchical, and this structure enables you to group ad units by siteAn OpenX component that represents top-level domains or sub-domains and is used to organize ad units. Sites enable you to target and report on inventory performance., ad unit groupA collection of ad units where related ads display together at the same time., or site sectionA way of classifying inventory, for example into vertical segments of content.. An ad unitThe smallest inventory component that represents the space on a site where ads display. group, for example, allows you to have competitive exclusion and targeting. Read more to find out how accounts can help you stay organized and efficient.

Please refer to the diagram below to see how the Account terms relate to each other.


Network accounts are containers for other accounts, like publisher and advertiser accounts. Network accounts manage the revenue share settings for the publisher accounts beneath them. The advantage of keeping accounts confined to a network account is that network accounts allow you to separate business operations - both now, and in the future, as your business expands.


As a publisher, you structure your inventoryAd space available on a website or app. The basic unit of inventory for OpenX is an ad unit. with sites, each with their own ad units. Any settings you apply at the publisher account level are passed down to all sites and ad units under it. You can create multiple publisher accounts, enabling you to partition publishers’ ad units and data.


Advertiser accounts contain orders, line items, and creatives. As with publisher accounts, your custom advertiser account settings are passed down to all orders, line items, and ads under an advertiser account. Having multiple advertiser accounts helps you keep advertisers’ ads and reporting partitioned.

Ad Agency

Ad Agency accounts represent multiple advertisers. Grouping advertisers into an ad agency account makes it easy to roll up data across those advertisers while keeping their data distinct.

Are you ready to set up accounts?

Create Network accounts

Create Publisher accounts

Create Advertiser accounts

Create Ad Agency accounts



This topic applies to Ad Server.

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