Guide to RTB advertising: everything you were embarrassed to ask about. RTB advertising is an innovative way to increase customers. RTB works.

RTB technology has become a new milestone in the development of this business on the Internet. The revolution came in 2008, when previously “wholesale” purchases of advertising platforms began to be replaced by a “retail” system. Each advertising space began to be bought and sold in real time using an auction. RTB - Real Time Bidding is the name of such a buying and selling system.

RTB advertising - concept

RTB advertising is a new online advertising technology that works on the principle of an ad auction for advertising in real time. The difference is that such advertising is aimed at the target visitor, and not at the purchase of advertising space on websites. When a user visits the selected resource, the rtb system conducts an instant auction. Each impression of RTB advertising is redeemed in a fraction of a second. After which the customer’s most advantageous offer appears before the user’s eyes. Advertising network platforms act as sellers at the auction. They must have RTB displays enabled.

User identification

Browsers, social network accounts, mobile platforms, etc. are used to identify the user. A user is called a target user if he fully satisfies the advertiser's requirements. Personal information about him remains completely confidential. The selection of the target audience (targeting) occurs on the basis of anonymous user profiles provided by DMP. From the advertiser's point of view, RTB advertising has increased efficiency. What the auction process looks like will be discussed below.

How RTB works

RTB advertising is a system that allows sellers and buyers to communicate more comfortably. The user receives the advertising they really need, and the seller increases the effectiveness of his advertising. While the user is loading the Internet page, the RTB system conducts an auction in real time. DSP systems (they represent the interests of advertisers) determine the value of an impression and place a bid. After the end of the auction, an advertiser is selected, and the site visitor will be shown his RTB advertisement. Yandex, for example, provides its advertising network for this type

Start of auction

The auction begins when the user loads the web page in their browser. Such a page contains Further, the rtb exchange sends information to potential buyers about the advertising space. It also tells you the size, placement of the ad unit and ad format. Next, it is transmitted whose Internet page will be loaded. DSP buyers check this information and evaluate the resource. Bidding for this place begins. The winner is determined based on the size. The auction lasts approximately 100 milliseconds. The maximum bid gets space for the banner, and it appears on the user’s page.

Benefits of the new technology

For advertisers

1. Targeting is more accurate due to the ability to use your own criteria. This reduces “idle” impressions.
2. The advertiser determines the value of each impression instead of buying in bulk at one cost.
3. The technology helps show the user a unique banner based on his interests and characteristics.
4. RTB complements traditional advertising. It is possible to set a minimum bid; below it the display will not be sold. In this case, advertising will be shown in traditional form.

For the user

1. Fewer ads.
2. Advertising more accurately matches the user's interests, becomes more interesting and less irritating.

For rtb platforms

1. The use of innovation increases the advertising income of sites.
2. RTB does not completely replace traditional advertising; if the auction is unsuccessful, users see the most common banners. As mentioned above, an impression is not sold unless a price is offered for it above the minimum established.

RTB system

1. Demand Side Platfrom (DSP) is a platform with which advertisers work. The platform itself does not have an interface; it appears when using add-ons over the DSP.
2. Sell-Side Platform (SSP) are companies that sell places on advertising platforms.
3. Ad Exchanges and Ad Networks are exchanges or advertising networks; they ensure interaction between platforms and advertisers.
4. Data Management Platform (DMP or Data Partners) - providers of web profiles of Internet users that are used for targeting accuracy.
5. Trading Desk is a DSP add-on that allows you to manage advertising buyouts automatically.
6. DCOP are creative platforms that help in banner creation.
7. Ad Verification & Brand Protection - a system for post-verification of advertising blocks, as well as brand protection.
8. Analytics are statistical tools that help track user activity on the Internet.

Good afternoon, dear readers, today we continue to look into the issues of how you can monetize your website without harming it, and thereby increase your family budget. Earlier, I already told you about making money on google adsense, when on your resource the great and terrible Google broadcast contextual advertising from its networks, as well as about making money on youtube videos, where the same Google showed advertising in videos and thereby gave you the opportunity to make jokes . All this is good, but there they pay people for clicks, and there is also a type of advertising where they give money for views and it’s called rtb platform.

RTB advertising networks

In this note, I will share with you my real numbers that I managed to raise on RTB advertising; there will be no water, of which there is already so much on the Internet.

RTB (Real Time Bidding) advertising is a technology for purchasing advertising space through an auction. The only difference from contextual advertising is that the webmaster is paid for ad views, not for clicks. The auction is a game of advertisers for renting advertising space, whoever gave the most gets the kings, all this happens in a fraction of seconds. The webmaster ultimately receives the best price of all offers. I won’t burden you with all sorts of terms about how this whole process is organized, this is not necessary, all you need is for your RTB banner to be seen by as many people as possible, the amount of the payment depends on this.

Examples of RTB advertising

Let me show you what ads look like on rtb advertising so you can understand. that there is little difference from Google contextual advertising banners. As you can see, everything is decent; on my websites I often have advertisements from Sberbank or the GAZ automobile plant.

Using the RTB system, advertisers can buy not specific places on websites for advertisements, but the audience that will see these ads. The platform learns from the user’s behavior on the Internet his age, place of residence and interests. Every time this user opens the site, an auction occurs: in the split second that the page loads, advertisers bid for the computer owner (for example, a 20-year-old athletic Muscovite student) to see their advertisement.

The auction involves: the platform - the seller of advertising space and DSP systems - buyers representing the interests of advertisers. The RTB platform organizes an auction, accepts bids and selects the winner. In a fraction of a second, DSP systems estimate how valuable it is to show an ad to a given user, and then bid as a cost per impression. The winner, that is, the DSP system that gave the best price, gets the right to show its advertising.

Popularity of technology

2014

According to ADFOX forecasts (March 2014), the share of RTB in 2014 could reach 10% of the total media advertising market. The growth driver could be the agreement concluded between Yandex and Google, the entry of Western players into the Russian market, as well as the development of the programmatic direct concept.

2013: 1.2 billion rubles (6% of the media advertising market)

By 2015, advertising sales through RTB systems will occupy at least 15% of the Runet banner advertising market, although as of May 2013 their share is only 1-2%, said Andrey Chernyshov, director of digital communications of the Russian representative office of Aegis Media.

In March 2014, ADFOX presented the next “Review of the RTB market in Russia,” which summarized the development of the programmatic advertising purchasing segment in Russia in 2013. In the first half of 2013, the volume of the Russian RTB market (real-time trading) amounted to 0.4 billion rubles, and in the second half of the year this figure was twice as high as the same figure in the first half of the year. Today, the weighted average estimate of the RTB market in Russia at the end of 2013 is 1.2 billion rubles - this is 6% of the total volume of the media advertising market, which, according to the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (AKAR), amounted to 20.1 billion rubles in 2013.

RTB is perceived by experts as the main driver of development of the digital advertising market. According to IDC, the volume of revenue generated by RTB will increase annually by 51% and by 2017 will amount to $20.8 billion, while in 2013 alone it grew by 60% compared to 2012. The United States holds the largest share of the global RTB market, but experts estimate that the US share of the RTB market will decrease by 2017 from 74% to 69%.

Proof that RTB will become the driver of the online advertising market are several major events related to the RTB market. In March 2013, Facebook included the display of advertisements in the news feed of network users in the Facebook Exchange RTB service. The test period lasted several months, and major market players took part in it, for example, AdRoll, AppNexus, Brandscreen and others. All companies participating in testing stated that the effectiveness of Facebook Exchange significantly exceeds the effectiveness of traditional advertising campaigns, including targeted campaigns through Google Exchange.

Also in April 2013, the social network Foursquare began a partnership with Turn, in which Foursquare provides user location data for targeting on other sites. This data, collected from mobile devices, is the most accurate for ad targeting. The effectiveness of this approach is evidenced by the fact that with an average cost per thousand impressions of $1, the cost when using Foursquare reaches $1.5.

In 2013, a new trend in the RTB market emerged – mobile advertising in videos. According to the IAB report, about 7% of all advertising budgets on the Internet are spent on advertising in online video, and this segment of the advertising market is growing by 20% per year: in 2013, $3.6 billion was spent on advertising in online video, and in 2014 This figure will grow to $4.6 billion this year. This is explained by an avalanche-like increase in the volume of video consumption on the Internet, which is growing by 24% per year.

As for the Russian market, although it is not a world leader in terms of indicators, it shows strong growth rates. According to ACAR estimates, the total volume of the online advertising market last year amounted to 71.7 billion rubles, which is 27% more than in 2012. The media advertising segment grew by 12%, amounting to 20.1 billion rubles, and contextual advertising added 34%, which in monetary terms is 51.6 billion rubles.

Despite the fact that the RTB market in Russia did not start as successfully in 2012 as experts and market players expected, interest in this segment did not subside and at the end of 2013 the market volume grew to 1.2 billion rubles, which amounted to 6% of the media advertising market. Last year there was one very important change in the RTB market: players moved from words to action, so some players whose expectations were not met left the market, but they were replaced by larger companies with already developed action plans, as well as Western players . Thus, the Yandex company announced the creation of its RTB system back in 2012, and in 2013 the company’s partner sites began to gradually connect to trading. At the beginning of 2014, Yandex took an important step towards the development of the RTB market by starting cooperation with Google in the field of advertising. Yandex's media advertising placement service, AWAPS, will be connected to Google's RTB system, and Google's service, Double Click Bid Manager, to Yandex's RTB system. At the moment, other large Russian companies do not plan to enter the programmatic buying market, however, experts are confident that Russian social networks will learn from Facebook’s experience and take part in the development of the market.

Analysts note that large Russian Internet projects have begun to enter the RTB market more often and more willingly, offering their inventory (advertising positions) through advertising exchanges or creating their own technologies. In 2013, the online dating service Wamba, the RBC holding and Russia’s largest advertising portal Avito began offering traffic for auction. The latter, for example, offers advertisers to purchase advertising impressions using Google DoubleClick AdExchange and Yandex RTB. Advertisers can participate in an open auction, or enter into a direct contract to purchase a certain amount of traffic using data through programmatic direct. Avito's major clients are BMW Group, Svyaznoy, and P&G.

Experts believe that in the near future, RTB traffic of sites will be concentrated in the hands of large SSPs (technology companies selling advertising positions). Website owners, having assessed the capabilities of each of them, will choose the one that brings the maximum income from the sale of residual traffic. I currently represent companies such as ADFOX, AdRiver, Begun, OpenX and others on the Russian SSP services market.

During 2013, the volume of purchased RTB traffic through the DSP auction grew steadily, and the dynamics consisted not only of an increase in the amount of inventory, but also of an increase in the percentage of purchases. The most popular format remained 240x400, its share in the total purchase volume was 80%, followed by the 728x90 format. The remaining formats are practically supplanted by the two leaders and account for less than 5% of the total volume.

In Russia, as in the rest of the world, only large Internet services and social networks own personal data. Access to this data for other market players is extremely limited. Large online stores also have their database, on the basis of which they can segment the audience and conduct targeting. Other players use the services of suppliers to obtain this data, which are divided into two groups. The first category includes companies that have data and make it available for targeted advertising, and companies that aggregate supplier data to create aggregated profiles based on various sources.

In 2014, the RTB market is predicted to develop in several directions. The programmatic direct concept will be implemented to implement premium inventory sales through programmatic infrastructure. Brand safety technologies will continue to develop, which will help protect advertisers from the appearance of their banners on unwanted sites. In addition, the number of large platforms that will begin to auction their advertising inventory will increase, the data market will develop and new suppliers will appear.

It is also expected that Russian traffic will be integrated into Western DSPs (advertising systems that provide the interests of advertisers), and new competent specialists will appear on the market to work with data and technologies. According to preliminary forecasts, in 2014 the share of RTB in the total media advertising market will reach 10%.

Market difficulties

For effective RTB operation, the key issue is creating an adequate knowledge base about users so that advertising is shown to the target audience, says Mail.ru Group commercial director Alexey Katkov. In May 2013, Katkov criticized the Data Mining RTB platform from Tinkoff Digital, which used user data from the social network without permission.

• Personal managerYour project will be supervised by a personal account manager. He controls the actions of employees and is always ready to answer questions and advise on the strategy for developing a web resource.
• Media planner Compiles a list of keywords for an advertising campaign using special software developments and personal experience. No streaming solutions: you get a personalized strategy for achieving goals for your advertising campaign.
• RTB advertising specialistLaunches an advertising campaign, evaluates the effectiveness of media advertising and attracting customers through impressions to target users on online auctions (RTB) and in mobile networks.
• Copywriter Writes texts for your advertising campaign that help increase sales. He understands more than 100 topics and masterfully plays with words.
• Designer Responsible for the implementation of creative ideas and creation of graphic content. Knows how your ads should look to attract as much attention as possible from loyal users.
• Targetologist Participates in the targeted targeting of ads to the target audience, and is also involved in the case of complex solutions, when interacting with contextual advertising and SMM.
• Project ManagerMonitors the work of all specialists to obtain maximum returns from the advertising campaign. Has a unique ability to see the complete picture of the project in as much detail as possible.
• Quality Control SpecialistAssess risks and constantly monitor compliance with quality requirements for work performed.

RTB, also known as Real Time Bidding, is a technology for purchasing online media advertising, which is an auction in real time. To put it very simply, a person visits the site, and while his web page is loading, advertisers place their bids on the lot, which includes information about the advertising platform and its current user. In total, bidding takes a fraction of a second: whoever wins, the advertisement is shown to this visitor.

The main difference between RTB and classic banners and teasers is that we do not buy a certain number of impressions or clicks, but specific personalized messages to specific people, using cookies, social network accounts, pixel tags, accumulated statistics, self-learning codes, etc. d. Similarly, RTB allows you to pay not only for standard display clicks, but also for audience actions, be it registering on the site or placing an order.

Nowadays, when people talk about RTB, they most often remember:

• audience retargeting, when retargeting cookies are used to catch up and return already interested traffic - hence the famous joke about Yarovaya’s panties from Lamoda, reminders of abandoned carts with a buy button, lists of viewed products, recommendations, etc. Retargeting campaigns are effective when there are 50k unique hits per day and work best for consumer goods and FMCG;
• targeting target audience segments that are most likely to generate good conversions. For example, DMPs, as data providers, collect segments from multiple sources and may have information down to credit card purchases. But the users of certain sites and applications, their orientation towards the resources they visit and their current interests have not been canceled either.

Some people believe that RTB is as important an area of ​​business as CPA. But the trick is that many RTB tools can be really useful in arbitration. Another thing is that at one time they expected a lot from RTB and thought that, they say, this is the next big thing. But it never became something serious in our circles, it didn’t make a revolution, and it remained just another source of traffic. And this raises the question...

ReallyIs RTB not suitable for arbitrage?

The internal arbitrage departments of various ActionPays have their own RTB technologies and use/have used them extensively for their clients. So why is anything stopping you? If you have direct hands and invest some effort, this source can give you a high-quality audience that is well monetized, or bring already lukewarm users to purchase.

Today, arbitrage traders need data. Where can I get them? Those who work directly with clients do not have such problems, but the rest have to assemble themselves, recruit a team, and turn to the same partner networks and data sellers. In addition, as usual, you will need an understanding of your target audience, knowledge of targeting, the ability to work with black lists and cut off unnecessary traffic.

However, as you know, in arbitration everything is decided by practice and experience. So just try to take one RTB platform, allocate a certain budget and study it inside and out. Soon you will find what you need and dial in the first whites and blacks. It’s even more convenient that you no longer have to deal with a million ad networks separately, so the time spent now will result in savings in the near future.

And if you have your own website and don’t want to bother, there is another interesting topic - dynamic advertising units a la LeadSale, which, at the same time as the page loads, automatically select which of the connected offers is best shown to this particular user, and which advertiser is more likely to convert in this case. Of course, not RTB in the full sense of the word, but it deserves attention.

RTB is not that expensive

Let's start with the fact that the concept of “expensive” in itself is relative, so let’s say this: adequate RTB campaigns start on average from 200k rubles. But if you understand your goals, set a strategy and set everything up correctly, then in the future the system itself determines how best to achieve the required indicators and dances based on the budgets you set. Thus, it is possible to practically automate most of the arbitration routine.
In addition, you need to understand that RTB does not bring to the site all people who are more or less similar to the target audience. Here you can also enable targeting by geo, ip, gender, age, marital status, education, connect your databases and data pixels, set events for retargeting, etc. Google, Yandex, Mail.ru Group, even the same Avito have their own RTB systems and each of them has a wealth of information about their users, what they do, what they are interested in, where they go, etc.

Another advantage of RTB is that you have every chance to get on large, highly rated sites with huge traffic at a relatively affordable price. Of course, someone will remember the inveterate statistics that in the USA, normal portals sell ~60% of places directly and/or through private auctions, throwing out the remaining places for auction below market value. But the topic is quite developed, so you can launch good campaigns at 40%. Moreover, you can see where you are located, and no one has canceled manual checks.

In general, in the case of RTB, some are afraid that they will receive low-quality traffic from second-rate sites, while others, on the contrary, are sure that there will be no bots or other evil spirits. But in fact, a huge variety of resources are connected to RTB, so the same bots are and will be everywhere. This means that we come back to the same point: when working, it is very important to know exactly what resources you need. If you don’t know, take the geo tests and find out. Whites and highlights are our everything.

INRTB there is no magic

There is no need to look at RTB as magic and a distant miraculous technology that is available only to large brands, is incredibly expensive, but gives cosmic results. Despite the fact that this tool is very complicated, from the advertiser’s point of view, everything is very, very simple. Despite the fact that in itself it has enormous potential, to achieve great results, you will have to work a lot. And of course, they didn’t put in the magic loot button again.

Another thing is that many still do not understand what RTB is, so there are terrible myths around it that have nothing to do with reality, and, accordingly, there are a lot of shady people with black RTB and low-quality traffic who came to make money -fast. Therefore, here is the simplest advice for you: choose your partners carefully, because this is the basis of the basics. See what the platform is, how long it has been on the market, what technology it offers, study IAB ratings and Google listings.