Bid shading algorithms examine prior clearing prices of a placement, compare them to what a buyer is ready to pay and make their best prediction of the lowest price a buyer may submit to win the auction. However, there is a lot that may go into bid shading algorithms—for example, ad size, site, placement on-page, and so on—and each firm handles it a bit differently. Bid shading was created to keep consumers who are dissatisfied with having to pay much higher costs under the first-price model, which has recently gained favor.

How does bid shading work?

Although ad tech companies differ in how to bid shading works, the main goal is to discover and agree on a bid cost that is somewhere between the first and second-price bids. Taking the arithmetic median of the first-price and second-price bids is one approach to achieve this. While this is a simple technique, it is not the most efficient in terms of calculating the best value for the offer. 

The alternative way is to examine previously-stored data such as bid history, site statistics, ad size, and win rates, and then compute the bid based on the expected value of the impression.

However, because the main objective of bid shading is to “bid lower to save money,” users of bid shading will end up winning fewer auctions than they would if it wasn’t in use.

According to data from The Trade Desk, Rubicon Project, and Pubmatic, bid shading can save buyers up to 20% on costs. Some companies provide bid shading as a free service, while others charge a fee based on the money saved.

Who offers bid shading?

A small number of DSPs and exchanges, including all of the majors, provide bid shading. Since the introduction of programmatic advertising, publishers and advertisers have found it increasingly challenging to effectively manage ad inventory. 

Publishers are debating whether first-price style auctions are the way to go moving ahead because programmatic advertising networks predominantly rely on second-price style auctions to generate money. 

Google Ad Manager adopted first-price style auctions throughout its network in late 2019, providing for improved pricing transparency for both display and video advertisements. Bid shading has offered advertisers more control over ad space spending while also stabilizing demand for publishers’ ad inventory.

What does bid shading mean for buyers?

Bid shading is a service that is provided to buyers. If you’re a buyer, there’s nothing wrong with bid shading. Demand-side platforms (DSPs) introduced bid shading to shield their clients from price inflation when the market transitioned from second-price to first-price auctions.

Today, it’s simply one part of their larger bidding strategy. The DSP analyses historical trade data to anticipate the minimum successful bid price for future purchasing opportunities, which is used to inform bid-shading. The bid values of the DSP are then gradually reduced to achieve an appropriate price while retaining the win rate. This makes a lot of sense as a way for DSPs to add value to their consumers.

How does bid shading affect publishers?

In principle, first-price auctions mean that publishers will receive greater rates from purchasers. Many purchasers didn’t know how to alter their bids for a first-price auction before bid shading, so they momentarily overpaid, benefiting publishers. However, the recent evolution of bid shading has resulted in a 20% fall in publisher CPMs on average. With the correct tools, publishers can maintain price control and manage yield.

Setting price floors is a profitable method that publishers can adopt. Adjusting price floors in Ad Exchange may have a big beneficial influence on publisher revenues if done correctly. The price floor sets a lower price ceiling for bid shading algorithms, and the impact is similar to the second price auction, except that the adjustment occurs on the bidder’s side rather than in the auction itself.

What does the future of bid shading hold?

As per numerous advertising sources, bid shading is not a totally new concept. Historical bid data and auction dynamics have long been used by DSPs and SSPs to enhance and improve their products. In general, they aren’t merely providing ‘bid shading.’ 

Those that cannot afford to create their own technology must rely on DSPs to generate the appropriate bids and avoid spending too much. Publishers on the sell-side are not required to take any action since they have no influence over bid shading. Bid shading will very certainly be used when the industry transitions to first-price auctions.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the dynamics of both first-price and second-price auctions is critical for publishers. First-price auctions may increase income prospects for publishers while also providing advertisers with a clearer insight of auction dynamics. The switch to first-price auctions is simply one piece of the transparency jigsaw as the industry strives to create a fair playing field that allows for more transparent bidding.

In addition to the ability to win premium inventory bids, header bidding and bid shading give marketers a wider reach to reach their target audience at a lower cost. For all intents and purposes, both publishers and marketers are in a win-win position.

Read More

10 Questions Every Publisher should ask when selecting an Advertiser

Top 13 Ways to Improve Your Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR)

The post Bid Shading and its impact on Publishers/Marketers first appeared on Publir.

Top 10 Questions for Publishers

Here is a list of top questions a publisher should ask their advertisers to assist you to save time and increase your success. 

1. What added value do you bring to my company?

This should be the very first question posed since it is, without a doubt, the most significant. It’s critical to understand how your ad partner (or any other partner, for that matter) can help you as a publisher. You must be aware of their objectives and mission in order to improve your life. It’s critical for an ad partner to understand that their clients spend half of their time building their website and the other half monetizing it. As a result, their solution must be adequately managed. They must be able to assist publishers in better monetizing their websites so that they can devote their time and resources to generating new content or improving the user experience.

2. What sets you apart from other advertising networks? 

There are ad partners that are just concerned with their own bottom line. They increase sales for publishers in order to satisfy their shareholders. While it is simple for a firm to claim that they operate in the best interests of their customers, it is also crucial to understand what sets them apart from other ad tech partners.

3. Does collaborating with this ad partner help me achieve my long-term objectives? 

It’s critical to understand how you want your ad partner to represent your website. One thing to consider is whether or not the ad partner can effectively represent your website. There must be systems that allow you to log in and manage your own inventory; we believe this is an essential feature for publishers since it gives them control over their long-term objectives.

4. How might an Ad Network assist me in increasing revenue as a Publisher? 

Publishers should figure out why they’re joining a new ad network. They should think about the possible earnings they could make from an ad network. As a background check, publishers could look at the Ad Networks’ client list. Publishers should also look into payment arrangements.

5. Asking the ad network whether there is a fixed CPM? 

Working on a set CPM price model will be beneficial to a Publisher in terms of determining monthly predicted income. A fixed CPM model will be a simple approach for a Publisher with a high impression volume to monetize his site and have better income visibility.

6. Does the Ad Network / Demand Partner have a preference in the monetization funnel that the Publisher has set up? 

The publisher should specify inventory type (display, video, mobile, in-app), inventory sizes, inventory placements, any geo-targeting, and any impressions targets with Ad Network before signing the contract. Publishers must also specify what type of priorities they wish to deliver to the Ad Network, such as First Look, Top Priority, or Remnant.

7. Will there be any sort of share in the revenue? 

Prior to onboarding any Ad Network, the publisher must explain the revenue share on a signed contract. As a result, both parties will be aware of the distributions of the impression. In addition, publishers must clearly define payment conditions.

8. What kinds of ad formats are allowed on the website? 

The publisher must confirm with the Ad Network the sorts of advertising they wish to appear on their site. Publishers should make certain that ad formats do not degrade the user experience of their website or app visitors.

9. What is the payment structure for the ad network? 

The payment structure, as well as how the ad network will make payments, must be clarified by the publisher. It should be made clear whether it is a prepaid or a postpaid plan. And also, if they are postpaid, whether they are functioning on a net 30 or net 60 model. This information must be entered on BO/ IO.

10. What are the policy guidelines of the demand partner or ad network? 

With the ad policy framework, the publisher should acknowledge his new ad partners. Publishers must ensure that if advertisers are using Google AdX on their end, they are using the same blocking that Publisher AdX is using. The same is applied when it comes to the pixel in policy. The publisher must make it clear upfront and explain the ramifications of breaking the pixel policy.

11. What are the details regarding the implementation of ads.txt? 

Before monetization with the ad partner, the publisher must change his ads.txt file. If it is not implemented, the ad network will be unable to display advertisements on the publisher’s website. IAB guidelines should be followed when implementing. Hence, it is important to know the details about the implementation of ads.txt.

12. Do I have the access to your ad network’s reporting portal? 

Publishers should have access to the Ad Network’s reporting site or an arrangement of daily reports given by the client after onboarding a new Ad Network to track performance. Such a report is vital for helping a publisher in assessing performance, inconsistencies, and the fill rate.

The Ad Network/ Demand Partner must share the following data elements with the publisher:

• Ad requests made from the Publisher Ad Server to the Demand Partner
• ad requests received by Demand Partner from Publisher Ad Server 
• bid requests submitted to other Partners by Demand Partner
• bid reactions from other Partners
• ad inquiries that are matched with a buyer 
• impressions that were monetized 
• impressions returned to Publisher Ad Server 

At the very least, this data should be supplied by Device type, Geo, Ad size, and Ad unit (Placement) in the Publisher’s preferred time zone.

Conclusion 

The year 2021 is gone, and like with most things in business and life, it’s better to look ahead than back. Whatever outcomes you saw in your publisher’s company in 2021 – excellent, awful, or mediocre – it’s important to learn from them and move on. 

No matter which partner you pick, and whatever network system they use, it’s critical to understand what makes them special and what makes them a firm that will work in your best interests. After all, it’s your website, and your ad partner should primarily be concerned with your interests.

In 2022, your ad income plan will either make or ruin you. Remember to check out new display ad networks, ad optimization strategies, and new collaboration opportunities. So, allow your new digital marketing efforts some time to work, and then watch for an increase in sales overall. That’s how you’ll know whether everything is going according to the plan.

The post 10 Questions Every Publisher should ask when selecting an Advertiser first appeared on Publir.

What is Shadow Traffic?

Shadow Traffic refers to real traffic from real web users that publishers have no data about simply because the analytics tool has failed to capture it. Typically, when a website receives a visitor, the analytics software immediately records the visit, sending an indication to the site moderator. Called ‘events’, this information is sent in the form of codes, giving a general description of a user’s site behavior. Some examples of basic site activity include page view events, ad banner clicks, video plays, or signing up for an emailer or subscription. If information about such interactions is not recorded, you can’t come up with a better strategy to hone in on your target audience, because there’s simply no data to work with. 

Why is Shadow Traffic important?

Monitoring site traffic and its behavior are of paramount importance if you want to measure website performance. By poring over data from different traffic sources, you can build a sound strategy, and understand your audience better. Over time, with the growth of HTTPS, and a burgeoning of private messaging apps like Slack, WhatsApp, and other Social Media apps, dark traffic grew. Dark traffic was the visits to a website that Google Analytics couldn’t comprehend the source of. Shadow traffic grew parallel to this, stumping Google Analytics over time. 

All analytics tools require you to embed code to your website. Once that is added, your analytics provider can provide site reports. When someone visits your site, this embedded code will send ‘events’, to your analytic provider. If an adblocker or a browser somehow prevents this, you can’t fine-tune your campaigns anymore. Without information on source or page views, these visits are effectively ‘failed visits’. 

How can Shadow Traffic affect you?

With around 20% to 40% of traffic being untracked or shadow traffic, it is quite difficult to understand your audience’s online behavior. Losing data like this can lead to faulty decision making, loss of revenue and can have long-term adverse effects on your organization. Since every major browser, analytics tool, and publisher is affected by it, every possible step must be taken to measure quality traffic and website performance. Addressing the shadow traffic problem while keeping audience privacy and user experience in mind is vital.

What are some of the Factors Responsible For Shadow Traffic?

The usual culprits responsible for shadow traffic are –

Ad Blockers

Ad blockers, in-built browser privacy features, and other common tools that block analytics software, give rise to shadow traffic. Ad blocks are usually user-enabled, and are put in place to combat leakage of your information to third parties, and safeguard you from targeted ads. Around 48% of internet users rely on adblockers to keep their browsing experience hassle-free. This causes quite a revenue drop for publishers. In fact, in a single decade, the number of Adblock users increased more than 8 times. The amount of revenue that adblockers will cost publishers is only slated to rise over the next few years. These blockers prevent ads from rendering. There are a few workaround methods you can rely on. 

Browser Privacy Features

These browser-based blocking technologies do not disrupt sites but stop publishers from relying on cookies so they can’t show their audience-targeted ads. Mozilla’s Firefox employs its special Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection, Apple’s Safari has its Intelligent Tracking Prevention, and Microsoft Edge relies on its own Tracking Protection, all of which act as in-built blockers against first and third party analytics software. 

Now, coming to the privacy tools that some users employ. 

• Users sometimes deploy a network-level blocking tool, successfully banning ads across the entire network. Working differently from browser-based ad blockers, these network-level software block ads even on games and smart TVs. 

• VPN-level blocking software like NordVPN prevents publishers from tracking internet users.

• Device DNS tools like Adguard prevent access from devices or networks that send requests. Blocking communication between different users may lead to a dip in revenue. 

• Device-Application-based blocking tools like Wipr do not allow ads from apps that rely on browsers to display web pages. Tools like these make communication between publishers and users tough, as it blocks advertisements, trackers, and cookies as well as GDPR notices.

How to deal with Shadow Traffic?

So what steps can one take to effectively combat shadow traffic? 

Shadow traffic issues can be solved if you depend on the right strategy. Using suitable workarounds, you can get audience statistics and solve the problem. However, for this, you need a fair amount of engineering or IT expertise. There are a few approaches given below that should help you battle shadow traffic problems. These solutions aim to minimize the effects of ad blockers and built-in browser features on analytics software. 

Server Logs

Every time your website receives a visitor, they connect with your web servers. Every time that happens, user interaction is tracked and logged on said server. The server logs serve as a database so you can consolidate that data, and find out your actual web traffic. In practicality, this is very difficult because restoring and managing logs from various web servers is nearly impossible. Even if logs are managed using the server log management software, it is still tough to get the desired results expected from it. 

Leverage First-Party Servers

Usually, ad blockers work on the user’s web browser, which restricts certain things. The user needs to communicate with the publisher’s server to get content. It is important to keep the connection between the user’s browser and your content server constantly running. Capturing events using your server seems better than connecting to a 3rd party analytics provider’s server. You can send traffic source-related data via your server. However, you may run into complications whereas the implementation of 3rd party analytics is quite easy. All it entails is generating an analytics script and pasting it on your website. 

Depending on First Party Analytics Providers

First-party analytics vendors or managed services can help publishers access and track data about website visitors and events using first-party servers. Such a method can help you keep track of any visible or shadow traffic on the website while maintaining the privacy of your users, without compromising their browsing experience. 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, internet users are getting more aware, as the digital landscape becomes even more complex and transparent. Publishers have to constantly stay aware of trends to be on top of every problem, especially issues like shadow traffic because it impacts revenue and dents user experience. Approaching the shadow traffic quandary requires a patient and strategic approach on the part of digital marketers. Check out our blog on the best website monitoring tools for 2021 so you can always receive updated analytics figures, and keep your website in top shape to attract more visitors. 

The post Understanding Shadow Traffic and its Effect on Websites first appeared on Publir.

Publir has launched a homegrown sticky ad unit solution that gives publishers the ability to customize their ad unit, allowing for flexibility as to what the ad unit looks like, where on the page it renders and how often the ad refreshes.

Publir’s sticky ad units complement any publisher’s current ad layout. We offer two types of sticky ad units – horizontal units and vertical units. Each type comes in a range of sizes. Horizontal sticky units span the bottom of the webpage in a landscape format. In contrast to horizontal units, vertical units stick to the sides of the webpage in a portrait format.

Our sticky units are intelligent. The ads only display/refresh if they are in viewport and the user is actively engaging with the page. 

Sticky ad units generate higher yield than a standard banner units because of increased viewability – advertisers will pay more for a placement that has a higher likelihood of being seen by a user. Banner blindness, a term describing a website visitor’s behavior to consciously or unconsciously ignore placements that they perceive to be ads, is largely overcome by sticky ads that tend to catch the attention of the reader and maintain in view for longer periods of time. 

Publir also has the ability to target our header bidding and programmatic ad stacks. This results in more competition amongst buyers, creating greater auction pressure. For Publir clients, implementing our homegrown solution eliminates the need for third-party vendors, resulting in higher net revenue to the publisher. 

Check out Publir’s sticky ad units in action. If you’re interested in learning more, inquire directly at inquire@publir.com.

The post Publir Sticky Ad Units Are Live! first appeared on Publir.

Consumer identity and permission are the future of the open web, with a newfound trust and transparency between publishers and readers being the result of the death of third-party cookies. Privacy tools help publishers offer their users a way to manage their data with consent and preferences, giving individuals more choice and control. 

Publir is integrating LiveRamp’s Privacy Manager for CCPA and GDPR, a platform that enables compliance by storing proof-of-consent and preference choices, responds to visitors who request to alter data the website collects, and provides  additional transparency into a site’s data collection and usage practices. We’re also integrating their first-party cookie solution. 

LiveRamp, together with Publir’s technology, will allow for the gathering of authenticated user data, ultimately allowing us to best support our publishers’ long-term growth by encrypting and translating the data and sending it through with every ad request. 

This partnership will benefit publishers by: 

• Driving high CPMs and more efficient ad delivery 
• Enabling marketers to deliver a better customer experience and more accurate campaign matching to their readers 
• Establishing a clear, honest and direct relationship with their readers 
• Giving their readers a direct way to manage their consent preferences

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The post Publir Partners With LiveRamp first appeared on Publir.

Our reporting dashboard has a new UI! A slick, easy to navigate, all-in-one tool with easy accessibility to all data insights in one single interface. The upgraded tool now includes:

1. A dynamic dashboard that includes site metrics, such as page view data, along with total site revenue across devices, as well as overall RPMs.

2. Product-specific dashboards for each revenue stream, including ads, fundraisers, and subscriptions.

3. An “Ads” breakdown, that provides granular data. This section plots revenue and CPM by device type and lists the top-performing ad placements.

4. An Ad Block page view tracker that shows the percentage of unmonetized pages due to ad blockers.

To learn more or request a walkthrough of our interface please contact us directly at inquire@publir.com.

The post Introducing Publir’s New Reporting Tool first appeared on Publir.

While Lucianne and her team created an excellent editorial product that continued to attract a growing audience, generating a consistent revenue stream was becoming increasingly challenging.

Publir worked closely with Lucianne’s team to create a diversified monetization strategy – a three-pronged approach for long-term success.

Ad Optimization 

We revamped the site’s existing ad layout, introduced lucrative new ad formats, and implemented cutting-edge real-time bidding technology that tapped into leading ad demand sources. The result was a 23% increase in the site’s RPMs. 

Subscriptions

By converting a portion of the regular readership to paid subscribers we were able to augment existing revenue streams by 10% and improve the average revenue per user on the site – A total increase of 467% in RPMs for subscribers, versus the RPMs generated from ads.

Fundraisers

We created a donations mechanism to enable loyal users to support their favorite authors and content pieces right on the site, resulting in an additional revenue stream reliant on direct user support. Fundraising CPMs were up to 12-times higher than comparable ad units during special appeals and on average resulted in a 7% increase in site RPMs. 

By holistically integrating Ad Optimization, Subscriptions and Fundraisers Publir significantly increased sustainable revenue for Lucianne in months. 

“We began our political aggregation web site two decades ago. We were understaffed and running out of money when a colleague suggested we consult with Publir… In six months, we have doubled our revenue and staff.”

Lucianne Goldberg

Publir powers monetization for some of the best publications on the web. Find out more about Publir’s services here.

The post Case Study: A Sustainable Approach to Revenue Optimization first appeared on Publir.

Publir’s comprehensive ad block recovery tool gives publishers the power to understand their ad block traffic, such as what percentage of their site’s traffic is composed of unmonetized users and what devices and locations these users are coming from. 

Once identified, Publir’s ad block recovery tool allows publishers to display a message to ad block users, requesting that they whitelist the site and allow ads to be displayed.  

The customization of the tool gives each publisher complete control over the parameters of their message and how it’s delivered to each individual ad block user. 

For the message itself publishers can:

• Choose the location of the message on the page
• Set fonts and coloring to match with the sites aesthetics
• Create customized copy for you appeal 

When the message appears publishers can:

• Set it to show up on an ad block user’s first visit to the site, or on their second, third, etc.
• Blur site content behind the ad-block message
• Set a time-based cap that dictates when a user will see the message appear again

This technology is unlocked by deploying a few simple lines of code. 

By appealing directly to users who have an ad blocker enabled, publishers are able to establish a relationship with those readers by communicating a specific message – that message being that ads support the editors and journalists, and keep the operation as a whole up and running. 

The post We Launched A Comprehensive Adblock Recovery Tool first appeared on Publir.