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Simon Halstead is Director, Microsoft Advertising Exchange and Scale Display, EMEA, Microsoft Advertising

Disclosure – I have worked for agencies, sales house, networks and now work for one of the world’s leading publishers and exchanges. Microsoft have a valued partnership with AppNexus in Real Time Bidding (RTB). All views expressed are my personal opinions, and don’t necessarily reflect Microsoft strategy.

Microsoft Advertising have been in the real time bidding arena in Europe for 16 months. It has been an awesome experience, and continues to surpass expectations. Yet constantly, there are murmurings that RTB can decline cpm ‘s and that it doesn’t work for publishers. It doesn’t have to be this way…

One literal definition of an exchange is “to part with in return for some equivalent; transfer for a recompense; barter: to exchange goods with foreign countries”*. It is essential that RTB ad exchanges observe these principles, and ensure an equivalent return for publishers who list their premium inventory. To do so, the publisher must get involved and engaged.

Whilst the automation of the decision and delivery is empowered by RTB, the decisions about what price, what source and how it appears are taken on both sides within strategy setting. There are many good companies on the supply side, and make sure you work closely to set up inventory in the right manner.

Firstly, for a publisher RTB Exchanges aren’t passive environments. It isn’t good enough to ship your inventory to a partner without you setting the rules and governance that suits you goals. Utilise the available tools and invest time in monetization. If you are working with a partner to list your inventory, bench and frequently review your deal parameters, through detailed reviews. Publisher should also be focusing on the consumer experience, and providing quality display opportunities and experiences within strategy setting.

Implement restrictions to who can buy your inventory

Manage your potential sales channel conflict, and decide who you are prepared to enable at what price point. Enable the auction to make good decisions, but don’t submit purely to the auction. One buyer’s premium will be another brands remnant inventory.

Define your strategy

Are you yield optimizing? Are you clearing all your unsold inventory? Remember there are other ways to clear inventory details, without the ability of pre selection, and utilising a partner in multiple buy modes can drive value. Flag inventory appropriately, and understand that each placement will have a distinct value.

Continue to sell, and continue to listen

Talk to buyers around your value and opportunities, and explain the best way to approach. Differentiate within your inventory, and decide h. Listen to feedback around what will make your inventory more attractive. It is free consultancy, which you can always filter. If you aren’t directly into the sales management conversation, ask for feedback from your representative, and from buyers where do interact

Add value

Over the coming years, anything that is digital in delivery could be traded. Enhance your offering by offering expandable opportunities, or unique spots to key partners. If it makes sense for you, use data and impressions together

Consider scarcity

Defined and targetable packages drive a greater understanding of value and competition. You may have a more positive yield experience enable some volume for internal campaigns, or alternative distribution. Scandalously, it may even be worth removing ads from a page, to drive scarcity and value on what remains.
Extend your audience

Audience extension has been talked about on the publisher side for a number of years, and we are seeing the some companies make great strides by launching RTB campaigns utilizing unique data assets or publisher intelligence

Some recommended areas to explore:

- Invest in your monetization resources, or partner with someone to do so
- Experiment with the tools, and change course if it isn’t working for you. Don’t be afraid to fail fast.
- Never let a sales person be manager of these controls and settings!!
- Decide who you sell to, and at what price
- Understand the role of RTB in your overall monetization of inventory, rather than as the only solution
- If you are partnering externally to sell inventory in an exchange, spend real time getting that decision right, and review regularly.
- Test, learn, refine, test learn, refine.

The principles of successful deal making in RTB rely on the same principles as in any sales channel. The channel and further programmatic offers are likely to grow in complexity and adoption over the next 18 months. As such it involves much more than simply setting a price if you are to succeed.

It is key that you apply the same levels of thought and rigor within the exchange as you do to the rest of your business.

Agree a strategy and your goals, implement policy and be prepared to evolve your business as the opportunity grows. Never treat any decision as a finished execution, and as buyers are now doing, continuously optimize to your outcome.

If you would like to speak to Microsoft about partnering in the RTB world, then please get in touch.

*Dictionary.com