AppNexus vs. Skai

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
AppNexus
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
AppNexus AppNexus offers online auction infrastructure and technology for data management, optimization, financial clearing and support for directly negotiated advertising campaigns. It integrates with advertising sources including Google's DoubleClick, Microsoft's AdECN, and aggregators.[3]N/A
Skai
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
Skai (formerly Kenshoo) is a cross-channel advertising solution for search marketing, social media and online advertising. The product aims to give advertisers and agencies the control and automation needed to make better investment decisions across search marketing and online advertising.
$10,000
Starting Price
Pricing
AppNexusSkai
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Kenshoo
$10,000
Starting Price
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AppNexusSkai
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AppNexusSkai
Considered Both Products
AppNexus
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus is less retargeting-focused than Criteo. Their solutions are more focused on building awareness and not so much on the bottom of the funnel and on conversions. Regarding Mopub, their focus is on mobile, and Appnexus, even though it has a very strong mobile set of …
Chose AppNexus
The TTD platform seems to have better CTV/OLV inventory, so that is typically preferred over AppNexus (APN). Usually, if clients have an internal desk, they will use TTD, which can often lead to us bidding against them, which is also another benefit of running campaigns within …
Chose AppNexus
We use AppNexus as a part of a full advertising stack which includes the other platforms listed below. AppNexus is similar in it's offering and also offers unique header bidding options which help it stand out slightly against the other options in the demand side platform …
Chose AppNexus
AppNexus is a different kind of DSP. They put a lot of focus on taking care of their ecosystem, they are very restrictive in which kind of ads you can serve there. They audit all of the creatives, and that's why they never have issues with fraud and are good for branding …
Chose AppNexus
AppNexus has more advanced targeting options as well as better publishers than The Trade Desk. Even if the system is harder to use and less intuitive they have a lot of CTV inventory and are at the forefront of the industry. They should expand on other markets to improve their …
Chose AppNexus
Qlikview's dashboard is hard to configure. Also, it is unable to report on metrics by section or DMA. It does not update data that have been corrected. There is no visualization with Qlikview.
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus reporting was significantly more granular than Rubicon. It's reporting also was better organized and felt more trustworthy when pulling historical data.
Chose AppNexus
Before using AppNexus we have used Ad Juggler and compared to Ad Juggler, AppNexus is sophisticated ad server and the UI is awesome.
Chose AppNexus
n/a
Chose AppNexus
N/A
Chose AppNexus
Appnexus is the only one that i have used but I don't see why I would use anything else. It fits all of my needs, has extra things that I never got a chance to use and I look forward to learning and playing more with the data tools. I also like knowing that our user data is …
Chose AppNexus
Adobe Photoshop,Basecamp,DoubleClick,GoToMeeting,McAfee,Synthesio,WebEx Meetings
Chose AppNexus
AppNexus stacks up very well and works to mend across similar products, and to our proprietary technologies. They've created a platform that's close to a one-stop shop that spawns across a number of technologies and services, which is great from an advertising or publishing …
Chose AppNexus
Google Marketing Platform is the platform we used prior to AppNexus, while Google Marketing works innately with so many other platforms and does a wonderful job of streamlining everything we thought the vast features that AppNexus brings to the table would assist us better. …
Skai
Chose Skai
I think Skai beats the competitors with its advanced bidding management system, this is a unique feature of them that if you implement properly, your accounts will surely benefit from this, especially if you have tons of data that the algo can learn from and optimize …
Chose Skai
I personally like Kenshoo better than Marin for a few reasons. When it comes to Ecomm Search, Kenshoo is far better in terms of available features, algorithmic bidding which is more focused on ROAS, and reporting especially for eCommerce. Marin is a good platform, especially …
Chose Skai
Google marketing suite - Good for Google but nothing else
Marin - Was very problematic and lacked easy of use & features
Chose Skai
We selected Kenshoo in 2017 due to its market presence and its notoriety. We learned about Kenshoo's integrations with internal data warehouses, and the bid management aspects were touted as first class. In practice, our unique marketing needs did not align with the limitations …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo's integration with sales and social platforms as well as search made it the only choice when it came to managing campaigns. Other interfaces may be simpler and quicker but Kenshoo's range of external integrations makes it more flexible for certain campaigns and the …
Chose Skai
I definitely prefer Marin for paid search only accounts. I select Kenshoo when my client also purchases Google shopping media, since their proprietary tools there are best in class.
Chose Skai
Some features of Kenshoo outshine other solutions we've evaluated. Kenshoo Infinity Suite is a great product for multi-channel management but overall is less favorable especially from a pricing perspective. We've transitioned several client accounts from Kenshoo to DoubleClick …
Chose Skai
An advantage that Nanigans has over Kenshoo is that their version of 'portfolios' didn't have any budget or flight length requirements and was extremely easy to use. They also offered 'affinity' segments. These are studies they would run on certain audiences that would result …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo is the best in class. With "time" being the most precious resource we have, Kenshoo allows us to get more done in the same amount of time as comparable products.
Chose Skai
I have not explored other platforms.
Chose Skai
While DoubleClick does not fully budget pace accounts I think it overall provides more accurate changes than Kenshoo. When our company selected Kenshoo we were told it would be able to manage hundreds of small accounts with small budgets. It is more designed for accounts that …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo Search offers keyword bid policies based off of sophisticated algorithms rather than simple bid rules. Also, the Kenshoo Desktop Editor allows for extremely easy bulk optimizations. Marin Software doesn't have bid algorithms or an easy-to-use desktop tool. These are …
Chose Skai
Very different tool that Hootsuite - which is a good tool for monitoring, but not for ad management. Kenshoo social was easily implemented since we use Kenshoo Search for paid program. When comparing tools, this one seemed to be the most robust and solved many issues we had - …
Chose Skai
Kenshoo is a more effective and user friendly platform than most competitors. Their tool is more expensive and like I said before, tailored to larger marketing budgets. They set them self apart with the ease of use, the Kenshoo editor, and cross channel functionality. However, …
Features
AppNexusSkai
Ad Network Integration
Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.5
Ratings
14% above category average
Skai
7.1
Ratings
4% below category average
Data Transfer8.00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
DSP integration9.00 Ratings5.70 Ratings
Ad Campaigns
Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.0
Ratings
3% above category average
Skai
6.1
Ratings
24% below category average
Ad campaign creation8.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Ad deployment9.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Display advertising7.00 Ratings4.30 Ratings
Ad display and retargeting segmentation8.00 Ratings4.80 Ratings
Sequence targeting8.00 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Ad Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
AppNexus
8.2
Ratings
6% above category average
Skai
7.3
Ratings
6% below category average
Ad dashboards9.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Ad performance reports7.00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Ad conversion tracking8.00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Ad attribution reporting8.00 Ratings7.60 Ratings
Cross-channel ad management9.00 Ratings5.90 Ratings
Ad forecasting and optimization8.00 Ratings6.20 Ratings
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
AppNexusSkai
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
4.0
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Usability
5.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
3.6
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Online Training
2.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
4.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AppNexusSkai
Likelihood to Recommend
AppNexus is well suited to use for programmatic campaigns that we have to launch for clients. Everything from standard display, native, high-impact, and video can run within the platform. Our trading team is well experienced within AppNexus (APN), and it's typically the first DSP they learn when starting.
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Kenshoo Search may not be appropriate if you don't spend much on search engine marketing. It also may not be appropriate if you don't care about tracking conversions and are only concerned with increasing awareness. Or, if you care about tracking conversions but don't expect to capture many, Kenshoo Search may not be necessary.
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Pros
  • As per my experience they have strong support personnel. Solving the issues as and when required.
  • We can solve certain issues like campaign performance, inventory optimization and more with the help of AppNexus wiki. We get all the required information in the Wiki itself.
  • They have given the right platform to both buyers and sellers to workout and meet their digital marketing needs and goals.
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  • Customized reporting. There are many features that users can't report out on in power editor. Kenshoo makes it incredibly easy to get everything you need for a raw data dump.
  • Automation. Whether it's automated rules, portfolios or refreshing CRM uploads, Kenshoo helps cut some of the manual tasks out of the process making me more efficient.
  • Staying up to date with Facebook product updates. I can appreciate that Kenshoo does an exceptional job and ensuring new capabilities in Facebook are ready for use in the Kenshoo platform as well.
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Cons
  • Better visualization and dashboard will make it a perfect product.
  • The product concept is hard to master. More video training in addition to the interactive training may help.
  • More report templates will make my life easier since it takes time to build one.
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  • Syncing - I have had many issues where syncs would time out, or not show that changes were posted to Facebook.
  • Library - if there was a library for targeting settings that could be saved and easily accessed and input into new campaigns, that would be very helpful.
  • Updates - seemingly basic tools that a social management platform should have often taken a long time to be released.
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Likelihood to Renew
I love almost everything about AppNexus because I feel like the user data is easy to track because of the identifiers, you can see which adverts got clicked and which were ignored. We can track the location of the ad on the page fold and this makes it so much easier for future campaigns. The only thing I don't like is that the data is only kept for a year, and I'd like it for a longer period of time
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It's great to have a product like Kenshoo Social. It has a lot of data and is a great tool to use. Honestly, I think we would have looked somewhere else if we didn't have some much data and time invested into the platform. We had used it across search and social, so we invested a lot of time to get it running smoothly. It is very expensive and we think we could have gone elsewhere to get the same results over time. Once they have your data and the system is running smoothly, it's very difficult to go elsewhere
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Usability
Because I think the interface is kind of confusing at the beginning and it confuses you a lot.
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Set-up like other marketing platforms. If you know Google Ads, you know Kenshoo
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Reliability and Availability
I've never had any problems with appnexus - the software is always available
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Yes, everything works great in that sense
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Because the support team does give you support, they take 24hrs to get back to you but once they open a ticket they focus on resolving the issue for you. My only problem is that you don't have a specific account representative assigned to you.
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Very responsive and bring fast answers for problems
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Online Training
Online training are not user friendly and not easy to understand
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Appnexus is less retargeting-focused than Criteo. Their solutions are more focused on building awareness and not so much on the bottom of the funnel and on conversions. Regarding MoPub, their focus is on mobile, and Appnexus, even though it has a very strong mobile set of solutions, is specialized on CTV and other media channels.
Read full review
While DoubleClick does not fully budget pace accounts I think it overall provides more accurate changes than Kenshoo. When our company selected Kenshoo we were told it would be able to manage hundreds of small accounts with small budgets. It is more designed for accounts that would be spending minimally thousands of dollars a month. We had extreme issues with Kenshoo budget pacing and increasing our bids. Overall it did not meet our needs, and we will be switching vendors at end of contract
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Scalability
Because it's a great DSP but not the best
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • After using AppNexus for our banner ads, which used to be a simple task became a complex one and we lost time building it out.
  • After realizing there is no dedicated way to contact AppNexus for troubleshooting and exchanging many emails going into long threads we lost even more time.
  • Our return on investment was poor with AppNexus due to the vastness of the platform and poor support experience limiting what we could do and losing time.
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  • ROI is harder to track due to reporting/column & time frame default tech in my humble opinion but generally better results when compared to other products
  • Since the interface is difficult to navigate and paid search is a reactive medium, can produce barriers to change.
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ScreenShots