Commentary

The Reality Of Real Time Bidding

by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, July 19, 2010

As big as it is – and mind you, it is big (6 billion impressions in the U.S. and maybe 15 billion globally at any point in time) – it's still a small piece of what's actually on the Internet, says Michael Rubenstein, president of AppNexus and a panelist on the closing "Grill The Vendors" panel at OMMA Ad Nets.

"One of the problems with RTB [real time bidding] today, is that despite the fact that the volume of inventory has grown rapidly, there is still so much of the inventory that is not RTB-enabled. The largest sources on the Internet are not RTB enabled today."

Those sources, needless to say, are the biggest, best and most coveted impressions on publishers' sites that have yet to become available in the real time bidding marketplace. That will change, predicted Rubenstein, as more and more publishers discover the value of selling their wares in a real time marketplace. And when it "tips," he predicted, "It's just going to take this whole thing to another level."