This post was most recently updated on August 30th, 2019
Header bidding isn’t new. It’s been around for a couple of years, but only in 2015 has it become a buzzword. One by one, ad tech companies and publishers came to embrace this “technology hack” with the goal of maximizing yield on a fair auction field. It has changed the advertising landscape because it has created an auction outside of an ad server, of which 9 out of 10 cases Google runs.
Given the drastic shift in auction behavior, it has dramatically revolutionized publisher business. Today we gathered 9 expert ad tech executives – and their best takes on how header bidding has greatly affected publisher business.
“Header bidding is less complicated than it sounds. Put simply, it’s a more efficient way for publishers to open their inventory to more programmatic demand. It achieves this by offering the inventory to multiple exchanges simultaneously, rather than as a waterfall (where the inventory is offered out sequentially). Also, viewability rates rise when header bidding is implemented on a publisher’s site.”
“Header bidding is a much cleaner and better tech integration between revenue partners, ad tech companies and publishers compared to what’s going on currently,”
“…Publishers can take back control of their inventory allocation in a holistic manner. After implementing a single header tag, this allows publishers to integrate direct-sold inventory with all indirect inventory (across desktop and mobile web), which can increase average CPMs across the board for a publisher. It also helps publishers strengthen relationships with their advertiser and agency partners by providing them access to larger pools of high-quality inventory that is often guaranteed and direct-sold.”
Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus“…this is a hack around a feature gap in DFP. A neutral ad server would open up Dynamic Allocation to any bidder, and would always choose the ad that is best for the publisher – or at least give publisher transparency and control over how it’s making these decisions.”
Walter Knapp, CEO of Sovrn“Daisy chaining is a common revenue optimization technique that does not always benefit the publisher. While useful, it has resulted in lost revenue for publishers.”
“Header bidding strategies put knowledge and control back in the hands of the publisher. Sovrn gives publishers a comprehensive choice of options to quickly and easily capture more revenue with the added benefit of knowing the true value of their audience. By releasing a full suite of options for publishers, we’re helping them better understand their audience and make the money they deserve.”
Tim Cadogan, CEO of OpenX“With the influx of header bidding practice, publishers are investing more in their own revenue operations teams, which are being led by the new generation of programmatic experts. Alongside building their own teams, publishers are also heavily leveraging the expertise of their publisher platform partners. Major publisher platforms have experience with hundreds of publishers, so they can see patterns and gain invaluable insights that are hard for any one publisher to observe.”
Brian Weigel, GM of CPXi/Brealtime“Header bidding is going to continue to become ever more prevalent in the market. Publishers will need to decide whether to make the investment in in-house technologies and teams that will keep up with market innovations or whether to focus on maximizing user experience and invest in strategic partnerships with companies who focus on header bidding solutions.”
Shani Higgins, CEO of Technorati“We see this continuing down the path of moving away from the network model and into SaaS. Publishers that we’ve talked to have one to two [header bidding partners] and another four to five that have been knocking down their doors, but can’t integrate because of costs to implement, latency and data leakage concerns.”
Darline Jean, COO of Pulsepoint“As the digital ecosystem evolves, publishers should change the way they approach programmatic monetization. Header bidding levels the playing field. We’ve also designed solutions to give publishers the tools they need – with transparency into full campaign performance, the ability to manage inventory using sophisticated data and real-time revenue management tools all in one easy-to-use dashboard.”
Kean Graham, CEO of MonetizeMore“Header bidding is ad optimization 2.0. It has automated and consolidated (with header containers) the allocation of real-time bids into publisher ad servers where the highest paying demand source actually wins the bid absent of any passback impressions. Header bidding has revolutionized publisher businesses by eliminating the below pain points:
Header bidding has created the basis for a fair, efficient and competitive marketplace which has been a game-changer for publishers.”
If you are interested to implement a hassle-free setup header bid solution, sign up as our publisher for MonetizeMore Demand.
For ad networks looking for header bid partners, we welcome registrations here.
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Kean Graham is the CEO and founder of MonetizeMore & a pioneer in the Adtech Industry. He is the resident expert in Ad Optimization, covering areas like Adsense Optimization,GAM Management, and third-party ad network partnerships. Kean believes in the supremacy of direct publisher deals and holistic optimization as keys to effective and consistent ad revenue increases.
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