Glossary

Real-time bidding

Buying ad impressions one at a time in an auction that runs while the page loads. A demand-side platform bids for each user based on data; the highest bid shows its ad. Most display and native traffic is sold this way.

Also called: RTB, programmatic.

When a page with an ad slot opens, the exchange sends the impression to bidders with what it knows about the user; each bidder answers with a price within milliseconds; the winner's ad is shown. The affiliate side of RTB is DSPs and networks that expose the auction as a bid setting.

For a media buyer the practical meaning is: you pay per impression, you can bid more for the users you want, and the same placement can cost different amounts at different hours.

Related terms: Bid, CPM, Ad network, Display advertising.