????扎瓦德茲基稱，像MediaMath這樣的公司看重AppNexus的開放平臺(tái)所提供的靈活性和便捷性，他們可以在AppNexus的平臺(tái)上嵌入自己的軟件。AppNexus的奧凱利表示，這些個(gè)性化服務(wù)是公司打造互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告交易平臺(tái)的重要內(nèi)容。最近AppNexus還推出了一個(gè)應(yīng)用軟件市場(chǎng)，通過該市場(chǎng)客戶可以輕松地為AppNexus操控界面增加新功能，也可以將自己開發(fā)的應(yīng)用軟件授權(quán)給其他AppNexus用戶。這些插件程序改善了功能性：比如，一個(gè)具有知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)的競(jìng)價(jià)系統(tǒng)可以給出一些性能指標(biāo)，幫助用戶優(yōu)化廣告位的競(jìng)價(jià)過程；而一個(gè)收入管理系統(tǒng)可以幫助廣告發(fā)布商了解何時(shí)以及如何銷售互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告位，才能獲取最大的利潤。

????雖然谷歌的開放式策略效果一直不錯(cuò)——例如，上個(gè)月它就剛剛和Mozilla續(xù)簽了火狐瀏覽器（Firefox）的搜索合同，盡管火狐是谷歌Chrome瀏覽器的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手——奧凱利認(rèn)為AppNexus應(yīng)用軟件對(duì)于小公司來說是最好用的，小公司不用支付高昂的開發(fā)費(fèi)用，不必為廣告流程的每個(gè)階段購買不同的軟件。如今，谷歌號(hào)稱也能達(dá)到這樣的水平。

共生共榮

????當(dāng)然，AppNexus自己也有一些強(qiáng)大的合作伙伴（和影響力）。微軟（Microsoft）采用AppNexus作為從MSN到Xbox Live Marketplace所有平臺(tái)的廣告競(jìng)價(jià)工具。“AppNexus給這一領(lǐng)域帶來了新穎有趣的解決方案，”微軟負(fù)責(zé)Atlas和其他廣告業(yè)務(wù)的總經(jīng)理丹尼斯?巴切海姆表示。

????據(jù)巴切海姆稱，微軟沒有選擇和谷歌合作，也有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)性因素考慮（“這說起來可能很有意思，”他笑著說）。但拋開微軟和谷歌的對(duì)峙，AppNexus和谷歌仍是友好的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。谷歌的莫漢稱，AppNexus是谷歌交易平臺(tái)上的常客，兩家公司在推動(dòng)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告發(fā)展方面也也有著一致的利益。

????據(jù)eMarketer的費(fèi)希爾稱，目前只有10%的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告收入來自交易平臺(tái)，因?yàn)楹芏喙镜摹案叨恕眱?nèi)容依然依賴傳統(tǒng)銷售團(tuán)隊(duì)，所謂“高端”內(nèi)容即公司方面謹(jǐn)慎選擇相關(guān)網(wǎng)站，且價(jià)格較高的廣告。吸引更多高端廣告進(jìn)入實(shí)時(shí)競(jìng)價(jià)系統(tǒng)，對(duì)于交易平臺(tái)的發(fā)展非常關(guān)鍵。谷歌的莫漢認(rèn)為業(yè)界應(yīng)該徹底拋棄“高端”的標(biāo)簽，如今的實(shí)時(shí)交易平臺(tái)已經(jīng)非常成熟，完全能照顧公司的廣告發(fā)布需求，同時(shí)讓市場(chǎng)決定廣告的價(jià)格。

????這樣的商機(jī)促使AppNexus的投資者——Venrock的邁克?泰瑞爾樂觀地期待，終有一天將有90%的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)展示廣告通過交易平臺(tái)出售。費(fèi)希爾對(duì)此有所保留，但她也相信會(huì)出現(xiàn)顯著增長(zhǎng)。它將涉及幾十億美元的市場(chǎng)，美國互動(dòng)廣告局（Interactive Advertising Bureau）和普華永道（PwC）的一份報(bào)告顯示，2011年第三季度互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告收入同比增長(zhǎng)了22%，已經(jīng)接近80億美元。

????“如今，全球互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告市場(chǎng)已達(dá)到250億美元的規(guī)模，”莫漢稱。“我們認(rèn)為如果市場(chǎng)潛力得到充分釋放，整個(gè)市場(chǎng)規(guī)模將增長(zhǎng)至2,000億美元。”如果谷歌和AppNexus能提高交易平臺(tái)廣告的總量占比，未來仍然有足夠的市場(chǎng)空間容納這兩家公司的發(fā)展。

????According to Zawadzki, companies such as MediaMath value the flexibility of AppNexus' open platform and the ease in which they can add their own additional software on top. At AppNexus, O'Kelley says such customization is part of the company's goal of creating an online ad infrastructure. The company recently launched an application marketplace through which companies can easily add functions to their AppNexus consoles and license out apps they build to other AppNexus clients. Those plug-ins improve functionality: a proprietary bidding system, for example, gives users performance metrics so they can refine how they bid on ad spaces; a yield management system, meanwhile, makes it easier for publishers to know when and how to sell their online ad space for the most profit.

????Though Google's open stewardship has a fairly strong track record -- take its recent renewal of its search contract with Mozilla last month for Firefox, a rival to Google's Chrome browser -- O'Kelley sees the AppNexus applications as the easiest to use for the little guy, saving small companies prohibitive development costs without having to buy a different proprietary product for every step in the advertising process, as Google now has the clout to offer.

Not exactly a 'David' to Google's 'Goliath'

????To be sure, AppNexus has gained some powerful partners (and clout) of its own. Microsoft (MSFT) uses AppNexus as its vehicle for ad bidding across all of its platforms, from MSN to the Xbox Live Marketplace. "AppNexus has taken a really interesting approach to this business," says Dennis Buchheim, general manager of scale display for Microsoft Advertising.

????According to Buchheim, there were also competitive reasons why Microsoft didn't team up with Google instead ("that would have been interesting to say the least," he says with a laugh). But any rivalry between Redmond and Mountain View aside, AppNexus and Google remain cordial competitors. Google's Mohan notes that AppNexus is a regular buyer on the Google exchange, and the companies are on the same team when it comes to promoting growth for online advertising as a field.

????According to Fisher at eMarketer, only 10% of online ad revenue comes through exchanges right now as many companies rely on traditional sales teams for their "premium" content, ads that companies are careful to associate only with certain sites and come at a higher price. Opening up more premium ads to real-time sales could be critical to the growth of the exchanges. Mohan at Google thinks the "premium" label should be abolished entirely, arguing that real-time exchanges are sophisticated enough now to take a company's ad placement concerns into account while letting the market determine an ad's value.

????Such opportunity leads AppNexus investor Mike Tyrrell at Venrock to bullishly predict a day when 90% of online display ads are sold through exchanges. Fisher is skeptical, but she also foresees significant growth. Billions are at stake, with online advertising revenues up 22% year-to-year to almost $8 billion in the third quarter of 2011, according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PwC.

????"The online ad market is $25 billion globally today," Mohan says. "We think it can grow to $200 billion if its potential is realized." If Google and AppNexus can bring a growing percentage of that pot through the ad exchanges, there's more than enough room in the sandbox for two.