Trend 2013: The popularity of RTB (Real Time Bidding)
RTB (Real-Time-Bidding) has been around for several years, but remains relatively unknown to most Canadian advertisers. RTB allows for real-time (digital) media buying using a platform (DSP - Demand Side Platform) and an "Ad Server". The traditional method of media buying was based on negotiating direct ad placement with the publisher. RTB allows you to make a media buy using a simple auction to deliver an impression to an audience on a site or in a category that includes several sites that talk about the same subject.
The main objective of RTB is to deliver an impression to the right person, at the right time, in the right place!
The purchase is generally done in CPM (Cost-Per-Mile) and it is possible to decrease our initial CPM with the optimization of the campaigns.
With the growth in popularity of RTB, a new phenomenon is emerging: database advertising. RTB allows us to insert tracking pixels and create specific target audiences or data groups (e.g. everyone who signed up for your newsletter). Although the information is confidential, it is possible to build a different creative strategy for each group or audience.
The advertiser's reality
For an advertiser, RTB is an effective solution that saves time, increases productivity and allows them to measure all aspects of the campaign in real time. RTB allows advertisers to build target audiences and remarket on a much more powerful scale than Google's content network.
The reality of the publisher
For a publisher, RTB allows to generate revenues simply by inserting an "Ad Tag" on its site. Advertisers can then publish ads directly through this "Ad Tag" and the publisher will receive a portion of the best bid. Why a portion and not the whole? Simply because the equation has many variables (intermediaries). First, the Ad Server that provided the Ad Tag must be paid. Secondly, publishers, to simplify management, often deal with what are called "Ad Exchanges", which are groupings that manage thousands of sites at a time. So the publisher will receive his portion as negotiated in his agreement with the "Ad Exhange".
The future of RTB
RTB was often criticized by publishers because advertisers were trying to get the lowest CPM, so necessarily, the publisher was generating low revenue. With the amount of data generated by the platforms, we are seeing a shift to the purchase per action (CPA). In addition, geolocation is making its appearance in the RTB universe allowing us to deliver an impression only in a given region.
With platforms providing more and more data and advertisers willing to pay more to deliver an impression to the right person, at the right time, in the right place and that will generate an action, RTB will surely become an indispensable tool for successful online advertising campaigns.
