Adnimation’s hybrid header bidding generated an 18.3% increase in revenue for its publishers.

Adnimation, an innovative Israeli SaaS-based monetization service and technology company, published a new study demonstrating the effectiveness of its proprietary hybrid header bidding technology.

Adnimation surveyed over 100 publishers for whom it implemented hybrid header bidding for a year. The extensive research showed that the hybrid model generated an 18.3% increase in revenue for its publishers.

Header bidding is a popular programmatic advertising techniques that initiates an early-stage auction and sends bid requests to demand partners in real time. This enables publishers to add more advertisers and leverage competition into higher prices.

Client-side header bidding, which occurs on the user’s web browser via a JavaScript code implemented on the publisher’s website, was the first header bidding solution introduced to the market. It is currently the solution used by most publishers.

Server-to-server (S2S) header bidding, which occurs on an external server, is growing in popularity. In contrast to client-side, it is more technically complicated and requires more sophisticated technology.

Client-side header bidding tends to yield higher CPMs (cost per mille), as advertisers can access user data and deliver more personalized ads. This process, however, often results in increased latency and slower page loads, and is limited in the number of demand partners and the amount of call requests.

In contrast, the S2S process is faster as the calls are made on an external server, resulting in faster page load speeds and higher fill rates. S2S can also support significantly more demand partners and call requests. However, S2S typically results in lower CPMs as it does not have access to user data.

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Adnimation developed a hybrid header bidding technology that combines the advantages of both client-side and S2S header bidding to optimize ad revenue and overall yield. The technology decides in real-time how to allocate requests between the two methods, and initiates parallel auctions to the client side and server side. The code is then optimized to get the best performing results.

This enables publishers to take advantage of the high CPMs of client-side and the speed and fill rates of S2S. The technology requires careful implementation and effective ongoing management.

Adnimation’s year-long study found that client-side header bidding yielded a 9% higher CPM than S2S header bidding; however, S2S header bidding still led to an 18.3% overall increase in revenue due to a significant increase in fill rate.

“Despite generating slightly lower CPMs than the client-side, S2S still boosted the bottom line by nearly 20% because it was able to capture bids that otherwise would have been missed with only client-side header bidding,” explained Tomer Treves, President and Co-Founder of Adnimation.

“Our hybrid technology provides our publishers with a dual advantage: it improves user experience by improving the speed of the header bidding process, and generates higher revenue.”

For example, one publisher surveyed in the study generated $181,846 in revenue from client-side header bidding over the course of the year. By incorporating hybrid header bidding, the publisher was able to generate an additional $45,821, or 20.1%, in revenue.

According to the research, the hybrid model requires an ongoing need for optimization as the profitably of demand partners vary according to client-side and S2S.

“The findings of our study demonstrate the effectiveness of hybrid header bidding technology,” said Maor Davidovich, Co-Founder and CEO of Adnimation. “However, determining how to effectively allocate queries and utilize the hybrid model requires a significant amount of expertise and effort. It’s a complex process, but when done correctly, it can significantly increase publishers’ revenue.”

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