Introduction to Open Bidding

Invite trusted third-party exchanges to compete for your inventory

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Open Bidding allows you to invite third-party SSPs (supply-side platforms) to compete for your inventory in a single auction in real time. You can leverage the existing Google tag without any additional technical integration with the SSP. Open Bidding in Ad Manager provides simplified trafficking, reporting, and billing.

Should I use Open Bidding or header bidding?

Open Bidding is easier to implement than header bidding. You can use your existing tagging on website or apps, or you can opt for an SDK implementation. Open Bidding in Ad Manager also reduces the latency historically associated with header bidding.

Ad Manager communicates directly with third-party demand partners in a server-to-server connection. Under header bidding, complex custom header bidding code is usually required to facilitate this communication. This causes latency for your websites or apps and is a suboptimal user experience.

Eligible inventory trafficked in Ad Manager can take advantage of Open Bidding with no additional technical development required.

Mediation for mobile apps

Ad Manager mediation for mobile apps uses a list of yield partners called individually, in sequence, from your mobile app after dynamic allocation. Open Bidding, on the other hand, is handled by the Ad Manager ad server, which calls all yield partners at once so they can compete in real time during the dynamic allocation process.

Open Bidding and mediation yield partners can be included in the same yield group and compete in the same auction. Learn more about how Open Bidding works.

Pricing and protections

Pricing rules, including advertiser floor prices, apply to all remnant line items and to Open Bidding.

Protections, including blocking rules, do not apply to Open Bidding partners by default. However, with bidder creative restrictions, you can choose to enable the "Filter creatives based on your protections" setting for one or more Open Bidding partners.

Reporting

Google’s relationship to publishers and exchanges

Through the Ad Manager ad server, Google facilitates real-time bidding between exchanges and publisher ad requests. Google has contracts related to Open Bidding with both publishers and exchanges, but before a publisher can connect with an Open Bidding yield partner, the publisher must have an established contractual relationship with that partner. Google is not involved in the required contracts between publishers and exchanges.