Monitoring best practices for publishers choosing to migrate to a first price auction
(Part 5 of a 5 part series on Best Practices for First Price Auctions)
In a first-price environment, transparency is CRITICAL.
Our position is that even if pricing issues will be present, increased transparency with buyers will be key to make sure that both parties are reaching their KPIs and making the transition collaboratively. We recommend you use analytics tools that can easily deliver regular, intuitive internal and external reports.
The goal here is to have the data keep the publisher team and demand partners fully “in the loop” as the transition occurs. Both side will see changes and have questions, so the more data and insights are exposed openly, the more dialog there will be around this data to build trust and collaboration through the transition.
Here are some examples of reports we recommend using regularly:
Buyer Reporting:
- Regular sharing of bid recommendation with buyers (win rate forecast depending on the bid value): analytics like ours enable you to screen grab reports on the partner’s average bids and what bid increase it would take to win more impressions.
- Regular demonstration of header bid competitiveness versus peers: here you need to show your buyers why they are not competitive in terms of average bid value and CPM paid (and again, what they need to do to win more impressions).
- Latency reporting: most of the first price monetization partners will be in your header: as a result, as you dialog over the transition, keep your buyers mindful of how they are contributing to latency and user experience — particularly important if your partner is slowing down your pages.
Publisher Reporting:
- Regular open auction floor analyses (are bids located just below your floors?): here your internal team needs to understand where most bids are coming in and if your floors are disqualifying demand.
- Inventory analysis: make sure you know what inventory scopes are most in demand so you are pricing properly. Identify similar scopes that could back out to a demand partner’s KPIs while using first price.
- Open auction behavior analysis: here the goal is identifying buyers in the stack that are buying in Open Auction that could be moved to PMP to obtain higher pricing, build a direct relationship with a buyer, and solidify spend during the transition.
You can use the transition to first price as an opportunity to build more transparency internally and with buyers. If you do so, you’ll find that the open use of insights will create stronger relationships, and a culture of analysis that will serve your organization well in the future.
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