What is prebid? Here’s everything you need to know

Photo by Markus Spiske

If you’ve ever wondered what prebid is, or why it’s becoming an increasingly popular choice among advertisers, this blog post is sure to answer your questions.

Prebid is an innovative technology that has revolutionized how companies purchase digital advertising by allowing them to access an open market while managing their budget efficiently. In simple terms, prebid enables buyers to control programmatic bidding in real-time on various types of inventory such as display and video ads. By leveraging the power of auctions, buyers can optimize their ad spend for desired outcomes such as increased conversions and better ROI.

But what is prebid exactly, and what makes it such a powerful tool for businesses? Below, we highlight everything you need to know about it.

Prebid overview

Prebid is a comprehensive open-source header bidding solution that enables digital publishers to maximize their web and mobile app profits with the help of real-time auction mechanisms. It essentially encompasses an entire ecosystem dedicated to standardizing header bidding, along with community support and an organization. To make the most out of prebid products, it is essential for you to understand its three major components: Prebid.js, Prebid Server, as well as Prebid Mobile.

With these three tools at your disposal, you will be sure to garner maximum yield from all your inventories.

Prebid.js

Prebid.js is an open-source header bidding wrapper solution that makes it easy for publishers to implement and manage multiple demand sources with a single code integration. Prebid.js enables publishers to access their best-performing demand sources, maximize their overall ad revenues, and optimize load times for their web pages all at the same time. It also helps publishers to control the auction dynamics, increase overall demand competition and yield, and ultimately monetize their inventory better.

Prebid server

Prebid Server is an efficient server-side header bidding solution that replaces the need to manage auctions on users’ browsers. All you have to do is make one call to Prebid Server, then it will contact demand partners and auction off the highest bid for users’ viewing pleasure. This simple integration process allows you to increase your website visibility while optimizing auction performance in real time.

Prebid mobile

Prebid Mobile is the ideal open-source software development kit for Android and iOS devices, delivering a header bidding solution that allows you to effortlessly integrate with multiple mobile demand partners. This SDK provides access to an extensive array of ad formats in addition to compatibility with Prebid Server. With this SDK at your fingertips, it’s never been simpler or faster to grow revenue on mobile platforms.

Prebid benefits

Photo by Keila Hötzel on Unsplash

Adopting prebid as part of your header bidding strategy provides a wide range of benefits to publishers.

• Prebid is an open-source program that gives publishers access to dozens of demand sources with minimal setup effort. This greatly simplifies the process of adding new demand partners, allowing websites to quickly increase the number of buyers bidding on their inventory.
• It provides a unified interface for all these demand sources to ensure that each bidder receives the same information and has access to the same data. This helps make sure that all bidders are competing on a level playing field and increases competition among buyers, leading to higher CPMs for publishers. Furthermore, it offers advanced features like auction timeouts, floor prices, and bid caching that help publishers maximize the effectiveness of their header bidding setup.
• Prebid is free to use and requires no additional fees or costs to implement. For these reasons, the solution has quickly become a popular choice among publishers who are looking to get the most out of their header bidding strategies.

Drawbacks of the solution

One of the biggest drawbacks of prebid is that it doesn’t offer support for troubleshooting. So, when it comes to problems or hardships, you’re on your own. Of course, thanks to the internet, this no longer represents a problem, because you can find answers with just a few clicks.

Additionally, it doesn’t stop at merely establishing a few demand partners. You’ll need to configure and enable multiple solutions simultaneously, as well as perfect your ad campaigns through testing and tuning. If you don’t have the guidance of an experienced mentor, it can be difficult to get started with header bidding on your own. So if you are blessed with technical resources consider getting prebid set up first.

Bottom line

Prebid is a powerful tool that can help you take control of your ad inventory and get the most out of your advertising budget. By understanding how prebid works and how to use it effectively, you can maximize your earnings potential and give your business a competitive edge.