Rubicon announced today that it will begin to support RTB on its platform. This move was always coming despite its protestations against real-time bidding several months ago. The new feature is giving RTB access to a number of demand partners, including Invite Media, Infectious Media, ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ Ad Exchange, MediaMath and Triggit. Rubicon is also launching Permission Control 2.0, which aims to give publishers more granular control over pricing, transparency, yield management and sales channel monitoring when trading through RTB. There are now five automated platforms offering RTB access to ad traders in Europe, namely DoubleClick Exchange, Admeld, Improve Digital, OpenX (Orange Ad Market) and now Rubicon. The most notable aspect of this announcement is the amount of quality inventory that this opens upto European traders. Liquidity was always going to be an issue but given the size of the inventory available globally on the Rubicon platform and the number of DSPs who will have access massive price fluctuations should kept in check.

LOS ANGELES – April 14, 2010 – the Rubicon Project, the digital advertising technology and data company, has launched Permission Control 2.0, sales rights management and pricing control technology that delivers efficient and safe access to the most sources of advertising revenue for publishers. Permission Control 2.0, within the Rubicon Project’s REVV for publishers™ advertising technology platform, is the infrastructure that gives premium publishers complete visibility and control over which demand partners can sell their inventory, at what level of transparency and at what price. With Permission Control 2.0 now in place, the company is also launching its real-time bidding (RTB) beta program with a limited number of industry-leading partners, designed to ensure publishers will be able to safely capture all potential ad revenue, from all buying methods.

By leveraging the Permission Control 2.0 platform, publishers can view and manage sales rights and transparency across all demand sources (such as ad networks, exchanges, rep firms, other publishers, agency exchanges, DSPs) by geographic region, partner, site and most critically, price. By giving publishers complete control over how their inventory can be sold, and by whom, Permission Control 2.0 also empowers demand partners to gain transparent information about how they can access premium Web inventory on behalf of their advertisers.

By setting Permission Control 2.0 technology in place, publishers are assured they can safely capture money spent through all industry buying methods – including real-time bidding (RTB), cookies, audience segments, content/contextual segments and site buys – without putting their pricing and direct sales efforts at risk.

“The market currently lacks rules around transactions between publishers, demand partners and their advertisers. This lack of clarity around the rules of engagement has led to price erosion, data leakage and channel conflict within the market,” said Craig Roah, COO and Founder of the Rubicon Project. “As we work to create a fair marketplace, we are committed to providing publishers with transparent, efficient and safe access to all sources of demand to best monetize their ad inventory. Our team has dedicated thousands of hours developing the market’s first and only technology platform that ensures pricing protected by publisher-assigned sales rights, which gives publishers power and control over who’s allowed to sell their inventory, and how, around the world.”

Permission Control 2.0 delivers complete transparency, with features for publishers including:

- Global Rights Management: Control how inventory is sold all over the world by assigning sales rights, in addition to protecting pricing by country and region (for domestic and international territories);
- Transparency Settings: Manage the level of transparency at which each demand partner can sell inventory, by geography, site and ad size;
- Pricing Controls: Unlock revenue potential and control the price at which demand partners can sell inventory, by geography, site and ad size;
- Command Central Dashboard: View and manage permissions for all global sales partners and all the ways they can buy in a single dashboard.

Demand-side platforms (DSPs), ad network and exchange partners who have agreed to the unique rules that protect publishers in the Rubicon Project’s RTB beta program include AppNexus, Brandscreen Inc., ContextWeb’s ADSDAQ Ad Exchange, CPX Interactive, DataXu, Invite Media, Infectious Media, LucidMedia, MediaMath, Triggit. In concert with Permission Control 2.0, the RTB beta program makes REVV the only technology solution on that market that facilitates connection with such a large number of partners while ensuring the highest level of publisher protections, driven both by strict business rules and unparalleled technology.