Innovation and Efficiency: The Future of Bid Requests

Let’s explore the challenges and opportunities facing digital programmatic advertising. In this article, I’ll focus on the world of OpenRTB and bid requests. After reading Alisson Schiff’s article on AdExchanger (which I recommend if you haven’t yet), I felt inspired to further reflect on the topic.

The Chaotic World of Real-Time Bidding

In the article, the author addresses the inefficiencies of the bid stream. To dive into the topic, it’s important to first understand what a bid request and RTB are (according to the IAB):

«Real-Time Bidding (RTB) is a media transaction method that allows an individual ad impression to be auctioned in real-time. This is done through an instantaneous programmatic auction, much like how financial markets operate. Ad requests (bid requests) originate from websites or apps… For each incoming ad request, the requests are sent to bidders, responses are evaluated based on auction rules, and a winner is selected.»

As we can see, critical information travels in that request, essential for SSPs to process it correctly and then forward it to DSPs or bidders. While the article emphasizes the proliferation of ads.txt and bid request duplication (a natural result of publishers trying to work with as many demand sources as possible), it fails to mention broken requests. By this, I mean requests that, regardless of how many hops they take in the supply chain, lack or contain malformed information necessary to be processed or considered. Clearly, these are a waste of computing power, and thus, of energy and money.

Various statistics place the percentage of failed requests (not responded to by a DSP) at a staggering 94%. It’s worth looking under the hood to see what’s contributing to this number. While bid request duplication is a serious problem, as Chris Jounce explains, it’s not the only cause. Much of that 94% is due to requests that had no chance of being considered for auction. Yet, they still contribute to this large figure and the crowding out effect Jounce aptly describes.

Let’s Save the Planet (from Ourselves)

Reducing the carbon emissions caused by these malformed bid requests would have a positive impact on the environment and enhance the ability of DSPs to listen to more inventory.

Think of it like a game of broken telephone: the more intermediaries, the more distorted the message. There’s no doubt that reducing these hops and achieving the most direct relationship with publishers benefits everyone. This should be the industry’s guiding goal. Reducing the carbon emissions caused by these malformed bid requests would have a positive impact on the environment and enhance the ability of DSPs to listen to more inventory. However, right now, there are gray areas that cannot be ignored. Many cases justify the presence of intermediaries, which add value and drive innovation in our industry.

The proliferation of ads.txt mentioned in the article could stem from networks working with publishers on high-impact formats, exclusive placements, or content generated via AI. A valid example would be ad-block recovery tools, like those offered by companies such as Blockthrough. In each of these cases, advertisers receive unique, non-duplicated impressions, even if they come from the same site and are sold to the same SSPs. Thus, the notion of duplication, like so many things, fades away when examined closely. Intermediaries will continue to add value in a tech landscape where rapid change, driven by AI, still requires human intervention to realize its promises.

Discarding this part of our industry, which creates innovation and jobs, would push us toward a monopoly where a few walled gardens control inventory, demand, and data. What we need is greater efficiency, and that’s what we specialize in at 152 Media.

Towards Greater Efficiency

If we focus solely on bid request duplication as the cause of high carbon emissions, we miss the mark. The impact of malformed and incomplete requests on that aforementioned 94% is substantial and has been largely overlooked.

At 152 Media, we’ve developed a bid request analyzer, an essential tool for real-time analysis of requests sent from publishers or value-adding intermediaries to SSPs.

At 152 Media, we’ve developed a bid request analyzer, an essential tool for real-time analysis of requests sent from publishers or value-adding intermediaries to SSPs. Our platform enables the analysis of request structure and can process thousands of them simultaneously. The goal is to detect and resolve issues affecting integration performance. By taking into account the specific needs of each demand partner, this tool maximizes revenue and ensures optimal integration performance.

To meet the growing demand for direct, high-quality inventory, publishers will need to invest more in content creation and high-impact formats. In this scenario, I believe networks will reinvent themselves as a value-add for publishers, especially in the AI era, where many of its promises remain far from fulfilled (Midjourney’s images are mediocre, and the texts are still too artificial).

Having a tool that optimizes requests sent to SSPs will be crucial for sites and networks that add value and operate through their own or third-party ad servers. The OpenRTB request analyzer is a vital tool for real-time analysis of requests from publishers to demand partners. Its aim is to detect and resolve problems that could affect integration performance. Considering each demand partner’s specific requirements, this tool maximizes revenue and ensures optimal integration functionality.

A Brave New World

There’s no denying that the world Jounce envisions is an ideal one. However, it raises the question: what about the small and medium publishers also trying to build their brand in this ideal (and metaphysical) order?

The effects of the problem referenced in the article are real and present, and we see a tool as necessary to solve them—at least partially—in this real world where things are rarely black and white.

While unproductive requests aren’t exclusive to intermediaries (a request can be broken or malformed even when a publisher is directly connected to an SSP via standardized tech like Prebid, for example), it’s true that they proliferate as the supply chain expands. Networks that add value through intermediaries must address this issue at its root to avoid being ignored by SSPs or DSPs.

Let’s start by ensuring all bid requests provide advertisers with a complete picture of the inventory. This will help SSPs do a better job of determining which impressions are most valuable for DSPs. Since DSPs work with a limited number of QPS, ensuring that the message is as clear and strong as possible will also allow them to maximize ROI. By solving these issues, the chain linking publishers, networks, SSPs, and DSPs will become healthier, and perhaps DSPs won’t feel as compelled to eliminate innovative networks or do the work of SSPs themselves.

Author: Alejo Ajras – Director Of Product Development at 152 Media