Purchasing ad inventory using manual processes is an old-school approach that is time-consuming and tedious. Not only that, but it distracts you from more productive activities, like planning your next campaign or creating great content. Enter real-time bidding (RTB), the future of ad purchasing.
Through RTB, you can streamline your campaign management, improve ad placements, and get your content in front of the right audiences. Below is everything you need to know.
What Is Real-Time Bidding?
RTB is a programmatic media purchasing strategy through which advertising inventory is bought through the use of automation and advanced algorithms. Instead of purchasing these spaces in bulk, RTB allows you to buy inventory on a per-impression basis. In turn, you are able to target specific users based on factors such as their unique browsing history, behavior, location, and demographic data.
How It Works
As it turns out, the RTB workflow is quite simple. First, a publisher will integrate their website with a supply-side platform (SSP), a solution that features tools for consolidating, managing, and pricing their ad inventory.
From there, publishers will use their SSPs to make their inventory available on something called an ad exchange, a digital marketplace for publishers and advertisers. The latter can access the exchange using a demand-side platform (DSP). Similar to an SSP, a DSP provides tools for creating campaigns, setting your budget, and identifying your per-impression bid amount.
When a user visits one of the publisher’s websites, that’s when the magic really happens. The SSP creates a bid request that includes data about the user and the page’s available ad space. The DSP will then respond to the request and place bids
based on your campaign settings. If you have the highest bid, you’ll win the impression and pay for the placement. And once the page loads, the user will see your content in the slot you just bought. If you don’t win, you won’t be charged.
The entire process happens in the few milliseconds that pass between the time a user clicks on a website and the page loads.
Benefits of RTB
The RTB process offers a ton of advantages for both publishers and advertisers. Here are just a few perks you can enjoy by participating in this dynamic ad-purchasing process:
For Publishers
If you’ve got ad space to sell, RTB represents one of the best options out there. First and foremost, it acts as a solution that will make it easier for you to sell your inventory. That, in turn, will increase both sales volume and profitability. You can get top dollar for your ad space, as multiple advertisers will be bidding on each slot.
And even though RTB automates the inventory sales process, you still retain control over what gets displayed on your website. As you integrate your platform with an SSP, you will have an opportunity to set minimum prices for each type of ad space. You can also prevent certain categories of ad content from being displayed as a means of protecting your brand reputation.
Additionally, RTB solutions make your ads more accessible while also promoting transparency. If advertisers know what you are selling, how much it costs, and what sort of results they can achieve with it, they will be more trusting of your platform.
For Advertisers
As an advertiser, the biggest benefit you’ll enjoy through the use of RTB is the ability to purchase impressions individually. By bidding on individual ad slots, you can make buying ads more cost-effective. Once you hit your daily, weekly, or campaign spend limit, the algorithm will stop entering your content into auctions.
DSPs also offer one of the simplest means of participating in real-time bidding. They provide you with a unified dashboard for your campaign, which eliminates the need to work with multiple publishers and allows you to run reports and carefully track your return on investment (ROI).
Since the entire bidding process is automated, you can get your content in front of customers faster. And more importantly, you will receive constant feedback regarding what’s working and what isn’t.
Should You Use RTB?
Adding real-time bidding to your marketing mix will save you time and money while also promoting overall advertising efficiency. The goal is to reach as many prospective customers as possible at the lowest cost.
Through RTB, you can stay on budget and target precise audience segments, the end result of which is more impactful impressions and better traffic for your business. You’ll even eliminate most of your ad waste in the process, giving your bottom line an even bigger boost.
Dive into the world of RTB today to modernize the way you build your brand.