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Archive for Working On It

| April 8, 2013
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One bid per DSP per impression – why?

Why historically (and currently) only one single bid was allowed for each DSP per impression? Why hide demand from the exchange and create opportunities for the DSPs to arbitrage? – I know this is changing now with the possibility of multiple bids per DSP (openRTB v2) but why ad exchanges let this happen at the beginning?
This question was asked on quora, below is my answer.

One bid per impression, why?Short Answer

A multiple bid response was discussed at the very first OpenRTB meeting.  It was not seen as a favorable feature by the demand side, at first.  They preferred submitting one bid.  Supply side partners were not in a position to force the issue, nor had the necessary research been done to support the idea.

Early Days

From the supply side’s perspective, as with many transaction systems, early efforts in RTB were focused on connecting the pipes.  RTB represented a new source of demand and the pressure was applied to getting plugged in to as many DSPs as possible. Read more

Category: Working On It | Tags: , , , , , ,
| April 4, 2013
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Coming to a screen near you: Fewer Cookies

I wrote an earlier post called “In a world without cookies” which was my early response to the default setting in Apple’s Safari browser.  This issue has expanded such that we’ll see even fewer cookies out there, so I’m going to bring a little more light to the issue of privacy and privacy compliance in mobile, tablet and the desktop.

For the purposes of addressing privacy, the physicality of the device, whether it is a tablet, phone, or a desktop computer, can be mostly ignored.  The real technical distinctions with regard to privacy are between browsers and apps.  It’s also important to understand the need for advertising companies to maintain compliance with organizations like the NAI and initiatives like the OAB.  Together, the OAB and NAI dictate opt-out rules that online advertising companies must adhere to.

3rd Party Cookie Blocking

Block 3rd Party Cookies Results in Fewer Cookies in the Browser

Apple’s Safari browser has a default set to block third party cookies. Firefox will soon have a similar default setting.

The most prolific obstacle in privacy and compliance is probably a result of Apple’s move to disable 3rd party cookies by default in their Safari browser.  This is not just the Safari that ships on your iPad or iPhone, but all Safari browser installs, including that one on everyone’s beloved Windows machine.  Now, the team behind Mozilla’s Firefox browser has pledged to do the same.  Blocking by default causes two problems: advertising companies can’t do simple things like frequency cap using a cookie, and there’s no way to determine the user’s actual intent.  If the default setting was to allow 3rd party cookies, a user’s intent would be crystal clear if it was set to block. Read more

Category: Free Ideas, Working On It | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| March 13, 2013
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How do SSPs work with Google Ad Exchange?

This post is getting old and might not be as relevant today. If you are looking for information on Google’s Exchange Bidding program you might check out this question on Quora.

I am not clear if SSP send a impression to a ad exchange and get ad from it, and how it works? I know ad exchange send a request to DSP then DSP send back response. But how SSP work with adx?
This question was asked on quora, below is my answer.

Ad Exchange nested in the Lumascape

Luma creates two distinct categories. One for Exchanges and another for SSPs.

In its purest form an SSP would only send bid requests to DSPs. Google’s Ad Exchange actually behaves like an SSP in this regard. The Ad Exchange, however, does not behave like a DSP. It does not receive bids from SSPs, nor would it bid on them if it did. Ad Exchange receives inventory via a traditional ad request using an ad tag.

Online advertising has very few companies filling a single role, such as the role of SSP. Most SSPs are also in the yield optimization business. In cases where a yield optimization platform runs an impression through their SSP technology and doesn’t receive a bid that wins the impression, it’s possible that the impression may be sent to Google’s Ad Exchange via an ad tag redirect.

In some cases the publisher may even be responsible for such an occurrence. The publisher might have a pass-back tag set up with their SSP which, in the event that there’s no winning bid, redirects traffic back to the publishers adserver which, in turn, would redirect the impression to Google.

Google does have DSP technology, but it’s not AdEx. It acquired a DSP company called Invite Media in 2010.

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Category: Working On It | Tags: , , , , ,
| March 6, 2013
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Do DSPs provide advertisers with more data…

… than when purchasing through an ad exchange or even using an ad server? I am tasked with helping to expand my company’s online marketing, the options we are looking at are essentially 1) using an ad server to manage ‘private’ media buys 2) using an ad exchange like OpenX Market or 3) using a DSP. One major factor in this decision is the amount of data we can collect in order to optimise media buys.
This question was asked on Quora, below is my answer.

In the current marketplace a DSP is going to be able to give you more insight into your buys across many exchanges and SSPs. They are built from the ground up to cater to the needs of buyers.

Data

You’ll want to find a DSP that can work with many SSP and exchange’s private marketplace technology stacks. You may even find yourself using an SSP’s interface to place orders with particular publishers. Those deals are likely to be executed through the SSP/DSP technologies, so you’ll still need your DSP to act as the buying agent once the deal is done.

Since data collection is one of your primary needs, you might consider using a 3rd party ad server if the DSP you’re working with doesn’t have one that suits you. You can use an ad server as a service or set aside some hardware and install one on your own.

Category: Working On It | Tags: , , , ,
| February 4, 2013
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Why does the average RTB win price jump up significantly at midnight EST?

…and do others see this jump at midnight in their own timezone?
This question was asked on Quora.com, below is my answer.

I dug into this win price problem several months ago after noticing the same jump in spend at that hour. Rubicon is on Pacific time so we refer to this as the “9 O’Clock Bump” effect.

Richter's Dodo didn't fix his algorithm, it's causing a win price jump

Dr. Richter pointing at a Dodo bird. “Adapt or perish”

After asking several DSPs about the problem we determined that it was, indeed, campaign budgets resetting combined with less-than-optimal pacing algorithms and in some cases lack thereof.

We’re in the process of finishing up some documentation on our pacing algorithm that does a pretty good job pacing to the needs of the campaign while considering the fairly predictable traffic pattern throughout the day. We’ll be putting this information out in the next couple weeks. Hopefully it will inspire some folks in the market to upgrade their systems and resolve some of this win price inefficiency. I’ll update post with a link to the document once we release it.

UPDATE: The document is finally out the door. You can read it here.

Category: Working On It | Tags: , , , , ,
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