What is RTB?
RTB (Real-Time Bidding) is a technology that automates the buying and selling of advertising in real time. Two of the pioneering companies in the development and adoption of this technology were Right Media and AppNexus, both connected by a common denominator: Brian O’Kelley, CTO at the former and co-founder of the latter.
Under O’Kelley’s leadership, AppNexus became one of the most influential companies in the programmatic advertising market and helped drive the growth and adoption of RTB.
How does RTB work?
RTB is a very fast process that is typically completed in milliseconds. Let’s take a look at how it works step by step:
When a publisher has available ad inventory, every time a user loads the page or app, the system sends an ad request.
The ad request is then sent to multiple demand-side platforms (DSPs), requesting a bid (Bid Request). Each DSP submits a bid (Bid Response) that includes the amount it is willing to pay for the impression.
The bids are compared in real time and the winning bid is selected. The advertiser with the highest bid wins the opportunity to display its ad.
Once the winning bid has been determined, an ad response (Ad Response) is sent and the ad is rendered in the advertising space.
To conduct the real-time auction, RTB uses a combination of technologies such as big data and machine learning algorithms. DSPs, for example, use machine learning algorithms to determine the value of an ad impression for a particular advertiser and submit a bid accordingly.
What is OpenRTB?
On the other hand, although it may sound similar, ORTB (OpenRTB) is a communication protocol created in 2010 with the goal of standardizing integration and communication between Real-Time Bidding (RTB) systems.
The goal of ORTB is to standardize communication between systems and facilitate the integration of new technologies and platforms in the future, allowing advertisers and platforms to exchange information about real-time auctions more efficiently and effectively.
It is important to note that ORTB was not created by a single company. Instead, it was the result of an industry-wide effort led by companies and organizations across the Ad Tech ecosystem, under the leadership of the IAB.
RTB vs. Header Bidding: What’s the difference?
We could say that Header Bidding is one of the many ways RTB can be used. RTB can also be used in a Waterfall setup or for direct programmatic deals.
For a clearer explanation, we recommend reading the article “Header Bidding: A Practical Introduction” here 👈
