{"id":9854,"date":"2017-12-01T08:21:48","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T08:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/?p=9854"},"modified":"2018-05-08T09:23:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T09:23:08","slug":"header-bidding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Buying 101: What is Header Bidding &#038; How Does It Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mobid-before-content\" style=\"margin-top: 5px;margin-bottom: 5px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\" id=\"mobid-626572698\"><div class=\"mobid-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/recommends\/banner-placement-1\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"da\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/da.gif\" alt=\"\"  class=\"no-lazyload\" width=\"730\" height=\"90\"   \/><\/a><\/div><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#introduction\" >Introduction<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#direct-buying\" >Direct Buying<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#real-time-bidding\" >Real-Time Bidding<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#waterfall-bidding\" >Waterfall Bidding<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#what-is-header-bidding\" >What is Header Bidding?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#how-does-pre-bidding-work\" >How Does Pre-Bidding Work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#is-header-bidding-a-good-thing\" >Is Header Bidding a Good Thing?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#should-you-go-for-header-bidding\" >Should You Go for Header Bidding?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/#conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"introduction\"><\/span>Introduction<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There are many approaches for publishers to sell their traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Direct orders, programmatic orders, private and open RTB auctions, and a relatively new one:<\/p>\n<p>Header bidding.<\/p>\n<p>What is header bidding?<\/p>\n<p>How to use it?<\/p>\n<p>A lot of questions!<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t worry!<\/p>\n<p>First, I&#8217;ll explain what is Direct Buying, then I&#8217;ll go over Real-Time Bidding, and then I&#8217;ll tell you what Header Bidding is all about for you to get some knowledge!<\/p>\n<p>Ready?<\/p>\n<p>Time to see what header bidding is all about!<\/p><div class=\"mobid-in-content-15-p\" style=\"margin-top: 26px;margin-bottom: 26px;\" id=\"mobid-1777329449\"><div class=\"mobid-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/recommends\/semrush-v2\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"semrushtrialseo\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/semrushtrialseo.gif\" alt=\"\"  class=\"no-lazyload\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"  style=\"display: inline-block;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"direct-buying\"><\/span>Direct Buying<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Direct order is simple.<\/p>\n<p>This model of digital ad selling appeared before all the others.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s still widely used, even though it gives almost no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/media-buying-campaign-targeting\/\">targeting<\/a> options.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, it&#8217;s just selling certain banner views on a specific website.<\/p>\n<p>No segmentation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/banner-design-ads\/\">banner<\/a> on a page, which is shown to every visitor until the number of paid views is depleted.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s almost no logical excuse for you to buy this kind of thing.<\/p>\n<p>Direct order is usually expensive and, as I\u2019ve mentioned, provides no targeting whatsoever.<\/p>\n<p>The only plausible scenario in which you could think about direct buying?<\/p>\n<p>In case you have an unlimited budget and want to cover all website visitors.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/media-buying-budget-strategy\/\">How to Create a Killer Media Buying Budget Strategy<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, well.<\/p>\n<p>What about programmatic order?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also directly bought traffic, but without an auction.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, there\u2019s a cool twist here.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, you do have some targeting.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9866\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"target\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-250x141.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-760x428.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-623x351.jpg 623w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-316x177.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target-120x68.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/target.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The banner is shown to a certain audience, picked by programmatic algorithms.<\/p>\n<p>You pay a fixed price and don\u2019t participate in any auctions, because your banner has higher priority by default.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes, programmatic order also participates in an auction.<\/p>\n<p>That may happen due to header bidding, but we&#8217;ll get to this later.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"real-time-bidding\"><\/span>Real-Time Bidding<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/real-time-bidding\/\">Real-Time Bidding<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>There are private and open real-time bidding auctions.<\/p>\n<p>The difference?<\/p>\n<p>Private auctions are held among top-tier advertisers and have priority over open auctions.<\/p>\n<p>Requests are activated only in the event that they were not sold privately.<\/p>\n<p>That also applies to the whole pyramid.<\/p>\n<p>The first views are sold directly, then through programmatic order, and finally through auctions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9867\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"auction\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-250x141.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-760x428.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-623x351.jpg 623w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-316x177.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction-120x68.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/auction.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Publishers are okay with the first two, but super disappointed regarding how current RTB auctions are being held.<\/p>\n<p>They think they don&#8217;t get an appropriate income and that the whole RTB system fails to be transparent.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"waterfall-bidding\"><\/span>Waterfall Bidding<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>RTB uses something that\u2019s known as Waterfall Bidding.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/ad-exchange\/\">ad exchange<\/a> sends a request to advertisers, one-by-one, until the bid goes over the bid floor.<\/p>\n<p>And then bam!<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s sold.<\/p>\n<p>Probably, there are higher bidders.<\/p>\n<p>However, they simply didn&#8217;t get the request or didn&#8217;t get the ability to bid.<\/p>\n<p>Most publishers use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doubleclickbygoogle.com\/solutions\/digital-marketing\/ad-exchange\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google\u2019s Doubleclick Ad Exchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s sort of good, but it has a last bid right.<\/p>\n<p>It can outbid any advertiser by a smaller bid for no logical reason.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds a bit unfair, doesn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p>In the parallel universe, there\u2019s only one fair <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/supply-side-platform-ssp\/\">SSP<\/a> which always gives publishers the highest bid and is absolutely transparent.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there are about 50 major SSPs and countless smaller ones.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-is-header-bidding\"><\/span>What is Header Bidding?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>While using open RTB, the publisher has to juggle SSPs, replace their codes, find the balance, and chase the highest eCPM.<\/p>\n<p>Header bidding allows you to do that automatically.<\/p>\n<p>The publisher can connect multiple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/demand-side-platforms\/\">DSPs<\/a> to a single ad seat and sell impressions to the DSP which has the highest bid in that specific moment.<\/p><div class=\"mobid-in-content-15-p_2-2\" style=\"margin-top: 26px;margin-bottom: 26px;\" id=\"mobid-305266016\"><div class=\"mobid-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/recommends\/semrush-v1\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"backlinks\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PD-970x250-Discover-backlinks-faster-than-ever-1.png\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PD-970x250-Discover-backlinks-faster-than-ever-1.png 970w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PD-970x250-Discover-backlinks-faster-than-ever-1-250x52.png 250w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PD-970x250-Discover-backlinks-faster-than-ever-1-700x144.png 700w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PD-970x250-Discover-backlinks-faster-than-ever-1-768x158.png 768w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/PD-970x250-Discover-backlinks-faster-than-ever-1-120x25.png 120w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" class=\"no-lazyload\" width=\"970\" height=\"200\"  style=\"display: inline-block;\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Why is it called Header Bidding?<\/p>\n<p>Why is it also known as header auction or parallel bidding?<\/p>\n<p>Because the first auction is being held not at an SSP, but at the website header.<\/p>\n<p>A special code (called \u201cad server tag\u201d) is placed there.<\/p>\n<p>It goes off every time a new user visits the page.<\/p>\n<p>The coolest feature of header bidding is pre-bidding.<\/p>\n<p>Yep.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve set a bid before your bid so you can prebid before you bid.<\/p>\n<p>Awesome stuff, am I right?<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-does-pre-bidding-work\"><\/span>How Does Pre-Bidding Work?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/dsp-advantages\/\">connected DSP<\/a> and SSP makes a pre-bid, sending the bid its advertisers can provide.<\/p>\n<p>Only after that does the actual auction happen at the winning-DSP and the impression is sold.<\/p>\n<p>This way, the publisher actually gets the best bid from all the advertisers from every connected DSP and SSP.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s no way for Google&#8217;s Ad Exchange to cheat and outbid everybody.<\/p>\n<p>Google\u2019s employees repeatedly stated that putting the auction into the header slows down the page\u2019s loading speed.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s a really tough spot to get into.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9868\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"needle and thread\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-250x141.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-760x428.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-623x351.jpg 623w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-316x177.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread-120x68.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/needle-and-thread.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Google knows that.<\/p>\n<p>Google claims people will use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2017\/8\/1\/16074742\/google-chrome-ad-blocker-canary-build-test\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more ad blockers<\/a> to speed up a publisher\u2019s website, leading to even more catastrophic losses of sweet cash.<\/p>\n<p>The problem?<\/p>\n<p>AppNexus has discovered that this isn\u2019t entirely true.<\/p>\n<p>Traditional RTB works as a waterfall.<\/p>\n<p>An SSP goes from top advertisers to the lower tier, allowing you to know they can bid one-by-one.<\/p>\n<p>That takes a lot of time.<\/p>\n<p>Header bidding is much faster, since everybody gets the request at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>The solution is also called pre-bidding.<\/p>\n<p>You can compare that with signing contracts.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say every request is a contract.<\/p>\n<p>When going through traditional RTB, you have to sign a contract with each participant and then decide who to sell the impression to.<\/p>\n<p>You haven&#8217;t been able to reach some of the participants, a couple of them have quit, one of them is asleep.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unproductive.<\/p>\n<p>With header bidding, though?<\/p>\n<p>Easy peasy!<\/p>\n<p>You just shout &#8220;who wants to buy this impression?&#8221; and only after that will you actually sign the contract with the highest bidder.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"is-header-bidding-a-good-thing\"><\/span>Is Header Bidding a Good Thing?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Even though Header Bidding rocks, publishers will still have to use third-party pre-bidding solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because it makes no sense to develop all this from scratch.<\/p>\n<p>Google, AppNexus, Platform.io and others are already providing that solution.<\/p>\n<p>This means that there actually is still a layer between publisher and advertisers.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/advertisers-vs-publishers\/\">Advertisers vs Publishers: Difference and Relationship Status<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just become much thinner and more transparent.<\/p>\n<p>Getting back to ad sell approaches:<\/p>\n<p>Header bidding usually has a higher priority than direct orders, programmatic buying, and RTB auctions.<\/p>\n<p>This allows publishers to get a higher eCPM and advertisers to just outbid their competitors.<\/p>\n<p>It seems like header bidding is a good thing for both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/advertisers-vs-publishers\/\">publishers and advertisers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9869\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"happy people\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-250x141.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-760x428.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-623x351.jpg 623w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-316x177.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people-120x68.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/happy-people.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Is it good for SSPs and DSPs?<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no way for publishers and advertisers to completely get rid of their solutions.<\/p>\n<p>I guess direct sales are the solution.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, it\u2019s all extremely inefficient, it takes lots of effort, and only lowers the publisher\u2019s income while also wasting unsold traffic.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Learn More: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/remnant-traffic\/\">How to Monetize Remnant Traffic and Get Good Profit?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Index Exchange experts say publishers gain \u201cup to a 30 percent lift in rates\u201d, and PubMatic claims to have recorded a 50 percent growth in CPM.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing surprising about it, since publishers get more abilities to sell their traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Does this mean that advertisers also spend more?<\/p>\n<p>Well\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Publishers get more, which means that advertisers will probably also spend more.<\/p>\n<p>They will, if they want to.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Due to the fact that RTB will hinder the progress of some advertisers:<\/p>\n<p>Those who aren\u2019t rated top tier and who can&#8217;t buy impressions at top tier websites are gonna be screwed.<\/p>\n<p>Even if they\u2019re willing to pay two times as much as those top ones.<\/p>\n<p>What about header bidding?<\/p>\n<p>Header bidding sends requests to everybody simultaneously, so there\u2019s no such problem.<\/p>\n<p>This way, advertisers can pay more, but they finally get what they want and they reach a better-matching audience.<\/p>\n<p>Which will eventually bring more sales and a cool profit growth.<\/p>\n<p>SSPs and DSPs still get their piece.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because they still participate in the process and provide solutions for both advertisers and publishers.<\/p>\n<p>I guess this is a win-win situation.<\/p>\n<p>It sure sounds like it, but header bidding is far from perfect.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"should-you-go-for-header-bidding\"><\/span>Should You Go for Header Bidding?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Publishers have to choose their partners carefully.<\/p>\n<p>Since the delay is now critical, impressions can be easily lost.<\/p>\n<p>The whole process still depends on service providers, especially Google with its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doubleclickbygoogle.com\/solutions\/revenue-management\/#error=no_adsense\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DoubleClick for Publishers<\/a>, which has often been attacked by publishers.<\/p>\n<p>And what about advertisers?<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll pay for all that.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"394\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9870\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-700x394.jpg\" alt=\"paying the restaurant bill\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-250x141.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-760x428.jpg 760w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-623x351.jpg 623w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-316x177.jpg 316w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill-120x68.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/paying-the-restaurant-bill.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n<p>All the commissions and fees of those layers between the advertisers and the publishers.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Header bidding is not perfect, but it\u2019s still better than anything we&#8217;ve had before.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, I would never suggest you suddenly remove all waterfall-sold ads and switch to header bidding.<\/p>\n<p>The best decision?<\/p>\n<p>Test it on some of your inventory.<\/p>\n<p>Do that for a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n<p>That way, you\u2019ll shoot some bugs and decide whether or not header bidding is good for you.<\/p>\n<p>Another little tip?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easier to use <a href=\"https:\/\/platform.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrapper<\/a> for header bidding, than to actually create it yourself!<\/p>\n<p>Cheers!<\/p>\n<div class=\"mobid-after-content\" style=\"margin-top: 5px;margin-bottom: 5px;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\" id=\"mobid-3542432037\"><div class=\"mobid-adlabel\">Advertisement<\/div><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/recommends\/banner-placement-2\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"da\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/da.gif\" alt=\"\"  class=\"no-lazyload\" width=\"730\" height=\"90\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Introduction There are many approaches for publishers to sell their traffic. Direct orders, programmatic orders, private and open RTB auctions, and a relatively new one: Header bidding. What is header bidding? How to use it? A lot of questions! Don&#8217;t worry! First, I&#8217;ll explain what is Direct Buying, then I&#8217;ll go over Real-Time Bidding, and&#8230; <a class=\"view-article\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mobidea.com\/academy\/header-bidding\/\">View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":10230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8974],"tags":[172,200],"learning_paths":[3827],"class_list":["post-9854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-buying","tag-affiliate-marketing","tag-internet-marketing","learning_paths-media-buying"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["en","ru"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v26.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Header Bidding &amp; 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