What is Header Bidding?

Header Bidding - a technique that allows publishers to offer ad inventory to multiple ad exchanges simultaneously before making calls to their ad servers. This helps in increasing the yield on their inventory by enabling advertisers to bid higher for better placements.

The process of header bidding involves placing an auction script directly in the header of a publisher's website, which then sends simultaneous bid requests to several demand partners. The highest bidder wins and their creative is served, all within milliseconds.

This method has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its ability to significantly increase revenue for publishers while also providing greater transparency into the value of each impression.

How Does Header Bidding Work?

The first step involves inserting a code snippet into the head section of a web page that triggers an auction as soon as an ad request is made. Once triggered, all participating demand sources receive bid requests at the same time, rather than having them filtered through one-by-one like in traditional waterfall auctions.

The bids are then compared across all demand sources, and the highest bidder wins. Finally, the winning ad creative is loaded onto the page just like any other display ad.

Header bidding provides more insights into which buyers are interested in specific impressions and helps publishers identify areas where they can maximize revenue opportunities with increased competition among bidders.

The Advantages of Using Header Bidding

The biggest advantage of using header bidding over traditional methods lies in its ability to improve yield by bringing about fair competition between buyers for every impression sold on your website or app. Publishers get access to more demand sources resulting in increased competition amongst bidders – ultimately driving up prices per impression served on your site or app.
Another advantage of this approach comes from greater transparency – publishers have a better understanding of the value and worth of their ad inventory as well as which bidders are interested in purchasing it. This leads to more effective monetization strategies with increased revenue.

Finally, implementing header bidding is relatively easy compared to other methods, making it an accessible solution for publishers who want to see higher returns on their ad inventory without much effort or technical expertise needed.