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Real-Time Bidding for Programmatic Advertising

Real-Time Bidding for Programmatic Advertising

7 min read  |  by Epom

Despite the fact that clean programmatic advertising remains a bit utopic, the online advertising industry has drastically evolved since its heroic appearance.

Real-time bidding has many obvious advantages for publishers: it helps minimize the risk of unsold inventory and maximizes the value for each impression. RTB is beneficial for advertisers because it eliminates the possibility of overpaying for an impression and ensures that the ad will be shown to a human.

If you're a programmatic newbie, the vast variety of abbreviations may be frustrating. The definition of Real-time bidding is as simple as this:

Real-time bidding is buying & selling of an ad impression in real-time without any human intermediaries. The whole process takes less than 100 milliseconds: just the time it takes a webpage to load.

The purpose of this article is to enlighten you on a very important aspect of programmatic advertising — Real Time Bidding. We'll see how the advent of RTB has made the life of publishers and advertisers easier, how RTB works, and the best way to implement real-time bidding into your marketing strategy.

How Does Real-Time Bidding Work?

This programmatic advertising concept is not as complicated as some people may think it is. The real-time bidding process starts from the user going to the publisher's website with ads (meaning basically every page on the web).

At that moment, the website sends a request to the supply-side platform (SSP) with the information that there is an opportunity to show the ad. SSP analyzes the information about the user (cookies, location etc) and then passes it to the ad exchange. When the ad exchange gets the information, it passes it to the demand-side platforms (DSP) revealing the extensive information about the user.

The DSP then produces bids on this impression: the bid amount is pre-determined by advertisers according to their targeting criteria. The highest bid wins and the advertiser's ad is shown to the user. All of these actions are done within the blink of an eye — while the website is downloading.

user visits webpage

Read also: How to choose the right DSP for your programmatic advertising?

Why Should Advertisers Use Real-Time Bidding?

RTB has a number of benefits for every online advertiser, and some of them are:

  1. Cost-effectiveness: in RTB advertising, advertisers pay a reasonable price, not overpaying for the ad impression. This means that you are not wasting money on impressions that will have little to no return.
  2. Quality impressions: Rather than buying ad impressions in bulk, RTB allows advertisers to bid on one impression at a time. A DSP analyses every impression and offers a price.
  3. Time-saving: RTB as a means of programmatic ad buying reduces human interaction as much as possible by automating most of the process, which leads to less time spent on ad campaign optimization.
  4. Greater reach: With programmatic advertising, you can reach potential customers worldwide by placing ads within multiple geographical locations, partners, channels, and ad networks.
  5. Budget-savvy: RTB algorithms help you minimize expenditure by focusing only on the most efficient impressions, helping you reach an audience that's more inclined to your product or service.

How to Find the Best Real-Time Bidding Partner for Publishers?

Choosing the right partner is important. These 3 tips will help you find the best RTB partner for your business.

  1. Goal alignment: The RTB marketplace is oversaturated, with many companies offering the "all-in-one" solution without getting the specifics of your business' needs. An agency that serves with your goal in mind is your best bet at optimizing the programmatic advertising process.
  2. Price & targeting transparency: Epom RTB technology provides total transparency and control over your programmatic advertising. Publishers can maximize the usage of their ad inventory and get precise traffic forecasts with Epom RTB Solution.
  3. Guaranteed traffic quality: Your Real-Time Bidding Partner should ensure clean and safe traffic. With Epom you'll get the best traffic for the best price without building your own RTB solution. Take back control over your demand management!

Real-Time Bidding provides the numerous opportunities listed above, and it helps brands, media buyers and marketers to be able to finally display relevant messages to their target audiences. With RTB, you can purchase every ad impression independently rather than paying hundreds of dollars for a pack of a thousand impressions that bring little or no real value.

Want to integrate RTB Solution in your programmatic advertising strategy?

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