Key Takeaways

  • Open Bidding is Google's answer to header bidding.
  • Although it is not a requirement for a top-tier revenue strategy, many publishers are using Open Bidding to increase their ad revenue exponentially.
  • Before you dive into Open Bidding, you may have some questions. We've answered those in this post.

If you haven't discovered this by now, you are going to eventually: When Google builds technology in the ad space, publishers have to pay attention. Why? Because Google is a dominating force in the digital advertising industry, and its tools are typically top of the line.

That's certainly the case for Google Open Bidding. Built as an answer to header bidding but marketed as something better, Open Bidding can be an incredibly helpful tool for publishers who are looking to maximize their ad revenue.

But what is Open Bidding, exactly, and how does it work? We get into all of that and more in this post. Keep reading.

Playwire has built a platform that incorporates demand from Open Bidding alongside demand from dozens of other sources. The result is the ultimate ad revenue machine for publishers. Want in? Let's talk.

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About Google Open Bidding

When you're talking about a tool like Open Bidding, it's often helpful to begin with a definition:

What Is Google Open Bidding?

Google Open Bidding is a unified auction for ad inventory that takes place on Google ad servers as a feature of Google Ad Manager. It allows publishers to incorporate demand from third parties to compete with Google demand inside Google Ad Manager in order to increase CPMs.

That's Open Bidding in a nutshell, but there's much more to it. We'll get into that in the FAQs below.

Google Open Bidding FAQs

Have questions about Google Open Bidding? Get the answers you need below:

Is Open Bidding the same as header bidding?

Open Bidding isn't the same thing as header bidding, but it accomplishes the similar goal of increasing your total demand and the number of sources of demand to increase CPMs. And both processes do so through a unified auction.

However, Google marketed Open Bidding as an easier alternative to header bidding. And when you're talking about doing header bidding yourself, Open Bidding truly is easier. That's because you don't have to worry with JavaScript, wrappers, and complex integrations every time you integrate a new source of demand into your setup.

Instead, you just change your settings in Ad Manager to add new demand sources. 

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Does Open Bidding work for mobile apps?

Yes, Open Bidding does work for mobile apps. However, the setup is somewhat different.

First, instead of using tagging as you would to implement Open Bidding for a website, you would simply integrate the Open Bidding software development kit (SDK) for your app. That process is likely to be familiar to any app publisher - the key is making sure the Open Bidding SDK plays nicely with the other SDKs you've already integrated.

The other key difference between Open Bidding for desktop and Open Bidding for mobile is that Open Bidding can be a single part of a more complex mediation process facilitated by Google Ad Manager. This process, in which you can integrate Open Bidding, is not a unified ad auction by default. It's a classic waterfall in which third-party yield partners are called one by one.

That's a long-winded way of saying that Open Bidding does work for mobile apps, but the setup process and exact way in which it works are somewhat different.

Do I have to have a lot of technical knowledge to use Open Bidding?

How technically proficient an ad tech tool requires you to be is probably in the eye of the beholder. Still, it's true that Open Bidding - like most Google tools - was designed for the less technically proficient among us.

Particularly as an alternative to traditional header bidding, Open Bidding may appeal to those who have lower technical knowledge. That's because Open Bidding bypasses many of the complexities of building header bidding wrappers and tweaking code to integrate new bidders, opting instead for familiar controls within the Ad Manager settings.

One caveat, of course, is that using Open Bidding may not require a ton of technical knowledge, but incorporating it into a larger strategy and making sure it is operating at maximum capacity will inevitably require the technical prowess of an ad tech expert.

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Get Open Bidding Demand and Much More

At the end of the day, Open Bidding has one purpose for publishers: incorporating more demand - even demand outside of Google's sphere of influence - to increase CPMs. That's a goal everyone in this space can stand behind. In fact, it's a goal Playwire shares with Google.

Because it's our goal to maximize revenue, we've built a revenue amplification platform that actually incorporates Open Bidding as a tool. But it does more - much more. With Playwire, you get demand from dozens of the most important sources available today, including Google. 

Add that to a proprietary data management platform (DMP), a leading consent management platform (CMP) and service led by the best minds in ad tech, and you get the best revenue-increasing platform ever built for publishers.

Want to try it? You can. Reach out to Playwire.

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