For publishers, Prebid Server can be the simplified future of header bidding

The
real value of Prebid lies in its ability to enable a fair, transparent and
unified auction —
regardless of whether it lives in the header or elsewhere.

As
sellers have gotten hooked on the benefits of a unified auction, they’ve dived
into Prebid head-first, adopting multiple wrappers across multiple formats. Now
there are growing calls for simplicity from the buy-side as well as the
emergence of platform-supported, server-side Prebid solutions to ease the
burden on publishers.

Publishers have grappled
with rapidly multiplying wrapper formats

Prebid’s
greatest asset — its
open source, community-driven posture — has also been a limitation for some sellers. The open source
nature of Prebid translates to transparency and extensibility, but it also
means publishers need to take the reins themselves or find an expert technology
partner.

This
perceived obstacle has led some publishers to embrace proprietary wrappers.
While they might prefer to align with Prebid and its open values, they lack the
expertise to manage it.

But
proprietary wrappers are not without drawbacks. Discrepancies in counting
methodology and payment can lead to buyers and sellers struggling to transact.
Some wrappers exclude certain types of demand from participating — this happens
in cases when internal teams haven’t built out or updated third-party adapters
to integrate the proprietary wrapper into the auction.

The
propensity to run multiple wrappers compounds these issues. Incentivized by the
promise of unique demand and multiple shots at the auction, many publishers
have been running Prebid, Amazon TAM and Google Open Bidding simultaneously.

As a
result, DSPs have been receiving impressions once for each SSP, multiplied by
the number of wrappers. Growing frustration in the DSP community is now
instigating mandates that publishers and SSPs pick a single wrapper by format,
while shutting off duplicative requests. This is entirely reasonable, and in
some cases it’s justification for declining to participate in Open Bidding.
Time will tell how the industry adapts, but many publishers are expected to
choose Prebid as their primary wrapper.

Prebid Server simplifies formats and steps — and unlocks
mobile and CTV

For
now, there is the opportunity to make Prebid easier and even more ubiquitous.
Early in the evolution of header bidding, a narrative emerged that
server-to-server was “the future.” By running the auction on the server rather
than the user’s device, the logic goes, server-side header bidding makes it
possible to create a unified auction in new environments, reduce latency and
improve user experience.

This
approach had three problems: publishers couldn’t run it as easily as
client-side, fewer
bidders were participating and it required an additional user-match layer,
reducing revenue. Today, these challenges have largely been solved.

Prebid’s
answer to server-side is called Prebid Server. Its 60 bidding partners mean
demand is no longer a concern. And with third party cookies being
decommissioned in favor of new identity solutions, Prebid Server won’t need to
rely on an additional user match layer for much longer — as goes the cookie,
Prebid Server’s advantage in user identity only grows. It also enables “header”
bidding in mobile applications and connected TVs.

For
these reasons, Prebid Server will be the future of the unified auction. Leading
providers are investing in solutions that combine Prebid Server with their own
technology, making it easy for sellers to run server-side header bidding while
retaining the benefits of an open source wrapper at the core. Xandr’s Prebid Server Premium solution,
for instance, works to bring effortless server-side header bidding
to publishers across all formats and channels. For publishers already using
Prebid.js, Prebid Server Premium is a straightforward upgrade.

Final thoughts

It’s
exciting for all involved to see years’ worth of investment in Prebid paying
off, and the Prebid.org member community swell to 45 companies.

As
we optimize the experience in the server, we’re also looking ahead to see how
TV programmers and distributors could leverage Prebid to optimize their
business. Moving forward, the benefits of a Prebid-based unified auction will
continue to build on that promise: more money for sellers, and better access to
inventory for buyers of all stripes.

For
publishers looking to contribute to Prebid, they can learn more about joining
Prebid.org as a member company by following this link:
http://prebid.org/partners/partners.html