By industry

Ad server for news publishers

Local businesses want to advertise with the local paper. Right now that means a phone call, a rate card PDF, an invoice and a chase, for a two hundred dollar booking.

What Pyrobid does here

Your portal lets the bakery, the estate agent and the council candidate book and pay for a placement without a phone call. They register, add funds, pick the sections and towns they want, upload artwork and wait for your approval. You keep all of it, with no share taken, and nothing appears beside your journalism until you have seen it.

Why this is harder than it should be

The same product, a different obstacle. This is what stands between your advertisers and your inventory.

The deal size does not justify the sales process

A small local advertiser is worth a few hundred dollars a month. The manual process of quoting, invoicing and chasing costs more staff time than the booking is worth, so those deals quietly stop being pursued.

Programmatic pays a fraction of direct

Filling local inventory with generic programmatic demand earns a small share of what the business down the road would happily pay for the same slot, if buying it were not so awkward.

Your media kit is a PDF nobody reads

The gap between someone deciding they want to advertise and being able to actually do it is where almost all of the loss happens.

Political ads: where the platforms have stepped back

Across the EU. The EU's political advertising regulation has applied since 10 October 2025. Google stopped serving political ads in the EU before it took effect and applies the same restriction across its ad serving and exchange products. Meta stopped political, electoral and social issue ads in the EU on 6 October 2025.

If you carry them yourself. The regulation expects the publisher of a political ad to label it as political and show who paid for it, along with further transparency information. Read the rules, or take advice, before you accept an EU political booking.

In the United States. Google runs election ads only for verified advertisers and limits their targeting to location, age, gender and context. Meta requires authorisation and a "paid for by" disclaimer, and blocks new political ads in the final week of a US election campaign. Both refuse ads about Washington State's state and local elections.

For a local paper that means campaigns, causes and civic groups have fewer places to reach local readers, and more reason to come to you, on your terms and with your approval.

Who buys placements on sites like yours

Local retailers and restaurants, estate agents, law and dental practices, car dealerships, event promoters, political and civic campaigns, and regional brands.

What sells on sites like yours

Package your space around how these advertisers already buy.

Sections with their own buyers

Sport sells to clubs and bars, property to agents, business to accountants and lawyers, what's on to venues. Each section can be its own slot with its own price.

Towns within your patch

A regional site covers several towns. City targeting lets a shop in one town buy only the readers who could walk in.

Weekly local bookings

A week in the sidebar is too small for a sales call and just right for a form. Flat weekly slots suit most local businesses.

The Pyrobid floor price field, labelled as the least the publisher will take for a thousand US views — One floor on every slot, and every country priced as a share of it. Nobody buys below your number.

The Pyrobid ad approval screen, with status filters and three submitted banners waiting in the queue — And you approve every banner before it appears next to your journalism.

Open the live demo

Both of those are the real product. The demo is open if you would rather click through it than look at a picture of it.

How to set it up

City and region targeting, for businesses that only want their own town.
A slot per section, each with its own floor price.
Approval of every ad before it runs, so nothing sits beside a story it should not.
Vouchers for businesses that pay by invoice or cheque: take the payment your usual way and credit their balance.
Reporting logins, so advertisers see their own results without calling your office.

Our advertisers are not technical. Will they use it?

They already buy on the internet. A portal where they register, add funds, build a campaign and upload their artwork is considerably easier than reading a rate card and waiting for someone to call back. You keep approval control, so nothing appears on your site that you have not accepted.

Common questions

Can I sell political ads through the portal?

The portal does not stop you, and the decision is yours. In the United States, follow the disclosure rules for your state and keep a record of who paid. In the EU, check your obligations under the political advertising regulation before you accept one.

Can a local business pay by invoice?

Yes. Invoice them as you do today, and when it is paid, issue a voucher for the amount so the campaign runs from that balance.

Sources

Let local advertisers book themselves

A branded portal where businesses buy your sections and towns in a few minutes, and you approve everything first.

Start free trial

14 days free. Your existing ads keep running. Cancel anytime.