Your heart races while your finger hovers over the mouse.
The eBay auction for the item that you’ve been stalking ends in five minutes. You obsessively refresh the page, hoping that you can outbid everyone at the last minute and claim your prize.
Five … four … three … two … one …
It’s yours!
No doubt about it, auctions are exciting. They incite competition and drive up the price of everything from concert tickets to electronics.
And now, auctions might boost your digital ad operations revenue.
Header vs Exchange Bidding
Google is currently testing exchange bidding in DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP). It will allow a publisher’s exchange partners to make real-time bids for impressions.
Google is testing this feature in response to the limitations of header bidding and the ad industry’s shift to mobile. While header bidding for mobile has been around for some time, most publishers aren’t taking full advantage of it to reach a growing mobile audience. One problem is that header bidding has heavy, client-side code that doesn’t translate well into mobile devices – causing ads to load slowly and advertisers to lose revenue.
Could exchange bidding eliminate this delay in ad serving on mobile?
There’s months of testing to be done, but no doubt – this could be a huge opportunity for publishers’ digital ad operations.
Mobile Ads to Account for 50% of All Digital Ads by 2018
Image Source: Smart Insights
Since 2014, U.S. adults have spent more time each day on their mobile devices than on their desktops. The average adult now spends 2.8 hours per day on mobile devices and 2.4 hours on desktops.
Mobile usage is even greater for millennials, as they spend an average of 90.6 hours per month on smartphone apps and 34.7 hours per month on tablet apps.
With global mobile device usage on the rise, today’s advertisers are realizing that it’s essential to connect with customers via this channel.
According to eMarketer, global mobile ad spending will top $100 billion this year. By 2018, mobile advertising budgets will hit nearly $159 billion, accounting for more than 50% of all worldwide digital advertising.
Meanwhile, there’s no avoiding another fast growing industry trend that directly impacts mobile’s opportunity for publishers: ad-blockers. This is a critical turning point in the industry, for publishers to establish their mobile presence – gaining rather than losing audiences.
Loading Time Is a Differentiator for Revenue Success
Image Source: Soasta
Research from Soasta shows that if the ad takes just one extra second to load on mobile, it can lead to a 58% increase in bounce rates. It also shows that if you can increase your mobile page loading time by that one second, you can see a 27% jump in your conversion rates.
According to Google, real-time bidding and server-side connections provide faster loading times – eliminating that one extra second. The faster the bids, the more opportunities publishers have to drive revenue.
No doubt, this is a move in the right direction. And while experts agree, Google’s latest move will not replace header bidding – this is a larger industry shift towards improved processes for mobile ad serving and end user experiences.
Are you taking advantage of mobile opportunities? Contact us today to learn how to maximize your reach across mobile and other platforms.
