I got you.
In truth, header bidding is already out of the box and there is no stopping it. Ad tech companies that built their business on controlling inventory access will need a different model as control moves back into the hands of the publisher. Many companies are scrambling to make sense of the new market dynamics and catch up, and the industry has taken some Wild West style responsive measures.
What does the proliferation of header bidding really mean for the ecosystem? For buyers, header tags democratize inventory (I’m intentionally staying away from the “commoditization” moniker), allowing them to gain access via the right tech to help ensure accurate auction dynamics. That’s good for buyers and is sure to bode well for digital spend, be it desktop, mobile or any other screen. For sellers, header bidding creates the opportunity for significant yield lift, with the caveat that the issue of tag management moves front and center, becoming critical to publishers’ success.
The next piece of the puzzle is wrapper/container technology. Basically, a portion of publisher-side ad serving has moved into the header of a page (even Google missed this trend), creating the new model for a programmatic world. If you follow the continuum along its natural path, the next wave will result in purposeful programmatic technology built to unify ad serving against all demand.
You think some tech providers are behind on header bidding? When you consider the need for a wrapper to do this right, that is likely a huge understatement.
To be truly valuable, wrapper technology needs to not only provide a container for all header tags, but also must provide easy-to-use and easily accessible management tools for publishers to be able to make sense of all their header demand. It should create a transparent environment based on the principles of access and fairness. Inventory controls should be back in the hands of the inventory owner. Sell-side tech companies should facilitate all of this, not limit it, and should therefore be completely open to integrating all demand in order to serve the best interests of the publisher.
For the record, PubMatic implemented our first header tag tech in 2012 and released our enterprise-level wrapper solution last year. We listened to the market and addressed the need early on, taking into account our customers’ needs above all else. Publishers are back in control and players (including Google) who have built businesses on their backs are officially being de-leveraged. Oh, did I mention that our wrapper features open-source tags AND publishers don’t have to pay a dime for it?
We are ahead of the game and putting our money where our mouth is. Ready to talk?
