RTB (Real time bidding)
RTB is the acronym for Real Time Bidding, a model or way to advertise on the Internet. It is based on bids and auctions in real time where advertisers compete to acquire advertising space to impact their potential customers at the ideal time for them to receive the ad.
In general, RTB (real-time bidding) is the model where advertisers buy advertising space in real time, choosing who sees their ad, where and when.
1. How does RTB work?
Let’s describe in a clear and simple way how an RTB auction works, to put the different actors involved into context:
The user or visitor enters a website and their user data is collected through cookies, creating a visitor profile.
Based on the interest of companies and advertisers in that type of profile, they receive an offer they can bid on. However, they most commonly use DSPs (Demand Side Platforms), where advertisers set purchase parameters and place bids automatically, and where they can monitor the performance and reach generated by their bidding parameters.
Other actors are the publishers or website owners, who offer the spaces where advertisers can display their ads. These spaces for displaying ads are brought together on an SSP (Sell Side Platform), whose goal is to optimize the revenue of the different media/spaces.
After that, Ad Exchange platforms bring supply and demand together. It is the place where those who manage the spaces for sale and those who manage the buyers’ conditions carry out the transaction in real time.
The Ad Exchange takes the offers of ad space for sale from the SSPs and, on the other hand, creates the auctions based on the data provided by the DSPs. This way, advertisers bid to appear in the free spaces, the winners get their ads displayed and the available spaces are filled. This completes the RTB advertising buying process.
2. Advantages of using RTB
Those who choose to make use of RTB in their online advertising campaigns will benefit from multiple advantages, such as:
Effective audience targeting. This makes it possible to have highly personalized ads for the most interesting types of audience, always reaching them with language, tone and message that suit them.
Better use of the budget. By only paying for impressions that match the desired audience, we reach our buyer persona (increasing the chances of getting a conversion and turning them into a new lead).
Higher revenue per campaign. The goal of the inventory is for the value of each impression to generate the highest ROI, since the qualified traffic on which the ads are shown largely prevents impressions from being wasted.
Total control. You define the desired parameters and can even choose the website where you want to appear, the frequency, the time, the creative, etc. All of this so that campaign efficiency is optimal.
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