How 1XL Unlocked Incremental Premium Demand with Opti Digital

About 1XL

1XL is a digital media display proposition comprising 43 local and regional news publishers. With over 700 sites throughout the UK and Ireland, and a de-duplicated unique user reach of 34.7 million monthly, their offering provides scalable access to over half of the UK digital population across highly trusted established news titles.

The Challenge

As a growing premium publisher network, 1XL aimed to further strengthen its monetization strategy by introducing additional high-quality demand — without adding operational complexity or impacting performance metrics.

The priority was clear:

• Increase incremental revenue
• Preserve a clean and engaging user experience
• Integrate seamlessly into the existing ad stack

Like many sophisticated publishers, 1XL carefully evaluates monetization partners and only works with solutions that provide truly differentiated demand and measurable uplift.

Our Solution: Opti Digital Demand Hub

To support 1XL’s monetization and engagement objectives, we partnered with them through Demand Hub — our attention-based Prebid Bid Adapter designed to maximize the value of premium publisher inventory.

What stood out to 1XL was Demand Hub’s ability to introduce highly engaging social-style display experiences within conventional IAB formats.

Strategic Pillars

Access to Incremental Premium Demand
Demand Hub enabled 1XL to connect directly with exclusive PMP campaigns and premium brand advertisers, creating additional monetization opportunities.

Next-Generation Social Display Formats
Through immersive social-inspired display units, 1XL transformed standard placements into high-attention experiences. These formats generated stronger engagement and delivered higher eCPMs compared to traditional banner inventory.

Attention-Based Optimization
Using predictive attention modeling at the impression level, Demand Hub evaluated engagement potential in real time. This allowed inventory to be priced and optimized based on expected user attention.

Ensuring Quality, Performance & User Experience

Demand Hub was implemented with strict controls to preserve site quality, advertiser performance, and audience trust.

Attention-Driven Delivery

Unlike conventional refresh-based monetization strategies, carousel activations only occur when placements are viewable and user attention signals are strong. Ads are never refreshed on fixed timers or while outside the viewport.

Controlled Creative Rotation

Creative rotation is intentionally optimized to remain limited and sustainable — averaging around two to three creatives per placement — protecting yield and campaign effectiveness.

Efficient Monetization Infrastructure

Demand Hub operates through a single ad call architecture, avoiding additional latency or unnecessary load on the page. Advertisers are charged exclusively for measurable viewable exposure.

“Opti Digital has added a strong layer of competitive demand that aligns with our performance standards. The integration was straightforward, and the incremental results have been clearly measurable.” — Alistair Patterson, Head of DataLab & Lead Data Analyst at 1XL

About Opti Digital

Opti Digital is the premium platform empowering digital publishers to maximize ad revenue while protecting user experience and site performance.

The flagship solution, Ad Manager Hub, available in Saas or managed service, seamlessly layers over Google Ad Manager to optimize ad inventory value across Display, Native, Video, and original formats, delivering an ultra-lightweight solution that preserves Core Web Vitals and SEO performance. 

Complementing this, Demand Hub delivers unique demand and premium ad revenue by connecting with top brands through exclusive PMPs and direct deals. It also curates high-quality, high-viewability inventory, using unique high-impact formats and AI predictive technology to ensure every impression captures user attention and maximizes value.

Meanwhile, Yield Hub, powered by advanced machine learning, dynamically manages price floors, traffic allocation, and real-time market shifts, ensuring every impression is sold at its true market value while maintaining strong bid volume and auction health. 

Together, these solutions give publishers granular control, full transparency, and operational efficiency, allowing them to grow revenue, retain audiences, and unlock sustainable growth. 

Over 10,000 websites and apps worldwide, including leading publishers like Gizmodo, Webedia, Sportskeeda, Valnet, Venatus, The Objective, and Orange, rely on Opti Digital to transform their digital advertising challenges into measurable results, maximizing revenue while keeping audiences engaged..