(Part 2 of a 5 part series on Holistic Yield Management) Introduction to Holistic Yield Management Article
Unification of impression mechanics
On the programmatic side, implementing a stack that combines all available demand for each single impression and puts that demand into competition will create optimal revenue. Needless to say, the topic du jour, header bidding, is a great example of how to increase demand competition.
As long as latency remains under control, you should try to connect to as many unique demand platforms as possible. This will maximize access to buyers and increase competition. You can also connect directly to demand, which will minimize the take rate of middlemen (and increase your CPM as a result) and increase the ability of demand to bid on all impressions (with a lower number of impressions lost due to cookie sync issues)…
Note: In this scenario, make sure that the risk of data leakage is properly assessed and mitigated.
Technically speaking, the flexibility and control that you will gain with a wrapper is a no- brainer. When it comes to latency, demand partner competition or data control, this is the de facto solution. We recommend you always keep on eye on latency: due to some browser limitations, connecting to more the 7 or 8 partners with a wrapper can have a strong negative impact on the user experience. As you implement your header bidding wrapper, another recommendation is to limit use of waterfalls that are less efficient, require more maintenance than header bidding and create latency issues. When you think of holistic yield management, a waterfall actually makes it more complicated to manage your revenue and always creates opportunity costs.
Last but not least, there is no holistic playing field if you do not ensure that your direct business is also competing with your programmatic business. Most full-stack solutions now offer dynamic allocation features for that purpose. It makes it possible to consider both programmatic and direct demand for each impression. Again there will be some “localized” decisions and actions to take to make sure that the overall revenue is maximized… but if each channel, programmatic and direct, lives without fully interacting with the other, incremental revenue will be “stuck” in one channel and probably create opportunity costs on the other. Holistic management requires the publisher to create a unified impression management platform to maximize the ability to extract the best CPM for every impression.
Further reading — Check out Part 3: Holistic Yield Management in Practice: Unification of Sales Channels
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