What is Header Bidding

Ad-operations-what-is-header-bidding

Header bidding works in a way that mutually benefits advertisers and digital publishers. Advertisers use header bidding as a way to secure ad inventory on a digital publisher’s website. Digital publishers use this to improve yield and revenue from multiple ad networks at the same time. Not long ago, header bidding was just a vague term used to refer to a new payment method. However, in recent years it has taken on a whole new meaning as more publishers started using this technology to make their ad operations more efficient.

Contents:

  • What is Header Bidding
  • How Header Bidding can help publishers
  • Website header was traditionally used to include first party tools such as publisher ads, analytics, and ad servers
  • Header bidding benefits
  • How does it work
  • Taking it slowly, ensures you get money and quality simultaneously
  • Conclusion

What is Header Bidding

Header bidding is a real-time auction that takes place on the publisher's ad server and that allows all demand sources to compete for publisher ad space. It essentially works by adding an interstitial layer between your inventory and the SSPs, which enables buyers to bid on ad impressions before they are served. Header bidding (pre-bidding or advanced bidding) is a programmatic technique that allows publishers to offer their inventory to multiple ad exchanges simultaneously before making calls to their ad servers, thus improving the publisher’s yield. Spiny specializes in providing publishers with a software that will help track website data in real time but also provide analysis and recommendations based on performance. Spiny’s product BidRoll helps you with header bidding and ensures you stay ahead of competition.

The goal of this technique is to increase the revenue that a publisher can make from their inventory. Pre-bidding is used in a variety of contexts, but it’s most commonly used when: -The publisher has inventory that’s highly desirable by premium publishers, so they use pre-bidding to increase the revenue they can make from those impressions - The publisher has a large volume of inventory available that can be sold programmatically, and wants to maximize their yield The publisher has a large volume of inventory that can’t be sold programmatically, but still needs to monetize it.

How Header Bidding can help publishers

Header bidding is a technology that allows publishers to maximize their revenue by allowing them to sell inventory in an open auction without any restrictions. The process works by allowing demand sources to bid on every impression available, with the highest bid winning. Publishers then set a floor price for every impression to ensure they get paid at least that amount per ad impression even if no one else bids higher than what the eCPM was set at. The problem with this method is that it requires publishers to give away part of their revenue (the portion below what's set as a "floor") when they could be making more money than this through other means.

Website header was traditionally used to include first party tools such as publisher ads, analytics, and ad servers

Header bidding is a way to sell ad space in real time. The header of a web page is the part that appears before the body and usually includes navigation and other functionality. Header bidding is a way to sell ad space in real time, instead of waiting for someone to click on an ad or wait for an impression that you've already sold out for. Using this technology, publishers can get better rates because they have more control over their inventory and can bid on every impression instead of just those where someone has clicked on an ad unit first. As header bidding becomes more popular, it means that there will be less inventory available overall since all these websites are getting more control over their own advertising efforts. Theoretically this should help advertisers pay higher prices when they do buy ads through header bidding methods because there will be fewer people competing over them than in traditional IAB standard impression exchanges where all impressions are auctioned off at once. The main benefit of header bidding is that it makes the process more transparent and allows publishers to sell their inventory at a higher price. Since publishers have more control over their inventory, they can also choose to show ads from only those advertisers who pay above a certain rate. This means that advertisers will have to bid higher for ad space if they want it on these websites since there are fewer people competing over them overall. Spiny’s BidRoll allows publishers to do that exact thing. BidRoll helps you optimize the supply path of your impressions so that they can be served faster meaning there are higher opportunities for advertisers to bid on it. As a result, it is quickly viewed by the end user after it is delivered to the publisher’s website. Spiny also allows publishers like yourself to set up custom rules for their ads so that they only get shown when certain conditions are met—for example, only showing ads from brands that have an ad budget of over $10K per month or only showing ads with a certain amount of engagement time on page.

Header bidding benefits

Header bidding benefits the publishers in many ways:

  • Higher fill rates: Header bidding enables you to get higher fill rates. Since it’s using real-time data, you can make it more targeted and optimize your bids on the fly. This way, you will be able to maximize your ad revenue by getting more clicks at a lower cost per click.
  • Increased revenue yield: Header bidding helps publishers earn more money from each impression with its ability to bid on new inventory that’s not usually available through waterfall setups. This means that when header bidding comes into play, advertisers bid on all of your impressions rather than only those shown in a waterfall scenario (where each advertiser has their own set of rules) which could result in higher bids from advertisers and therefore an improved eCPM for publishers
  • Increased inventory: Header bidding allows you to get access to more inventory within the same amount of time. This means that publishers can make more money from their existing inventory since they’re able to sell more impressions.

How does it work

Header bidding works by allowing publishers to receive bids from multiple ad exchanges at the same time. This allows a publisher or site owner the opportunity to see what kind of offers are available for their inventory. It also allows them to control how many ads they want to run and which ones they don’t want running on their site. Advertisers love this because it gives them more places where they can bid on inventory, increasing their chances of winning an auction and getting their ads shown on sites that might have previously turned them down. The header bidding process is also faster than traditional waterfall-based auctions because publishers are no longer waiting for other buyers to submit bids before making theirs; instead, all bidders compete at once in real time as soon as a page loads up in someone's browser window (as long as it supports JavaScript).

Taking it slowly, ensures you get money and quality simultaneously

The best way to start is by making sure that you have all of your ducks in a row. Don't rush into anything. Take your time and make sure everything is set up correctly, because once you get started, there's no going back! The last thing you want is to be stuck with an ad network that doesn't work for your website or gets banned by Google Ads (and who knows what other search engines). You don't want that kind of headache on top of everything else! Once everything's set up, then look into adding some new features like Header Bidding or Programmatic Video Ads if they are relevant for your business model or industry type. As always, take things one step at a time—don't try to do too much at once! It'll just lead to more mistakes and confusion for everyone involved (including yourself). Once again: steps before jumps.

Conclusion

While the header bidding technology is still new, it has become the most widely used solution to help publishers monetize their inventory. While many publishers have only started implementing this solution, it is clear that the benefits outweigh any potential drawbacks. The main benefit of header bidding technology is that it allows publishers to run multiple auctions at once rather than just one ad server auction. This means you can put all your bids into one place and let multiple parties compete for them instead of having a single party like Google AdSense take control over everything. A good solution is investing in a software that will help you run your business but also take care of header bidding, like Spiny. To learn more about it , book a demo with one of our team members!

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