Real-time bidding - how it works and how to use it

With real-time bidding (RTB), advertisers can decide to put a specific ad in front of a specific individual web user on a given site, bid for that impression and serve the ad, all in the time it takes for a page to load on the target consumer's computer.

Real-time bidding – how it works and how to use it

Jo Bowman

When so much of what consumers do on the internet is done in real time, it seems like it's about time for online advertising to move at a similar pace. With real-time bidding – a still-nascent method of buying display ad space online – there's a chance to move away from the wastage of bulk buys and the time-consuming efforts involved in negotiating directly with individual website publishers. Crucially, there's also the opportunity to put to work the wealth of data that marketers have on their customers...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands