Header bidding is considered a possible solution for the mobile web to offer the same rich experience as on the desktop. However, there are other ways to innovate and push mobile ad revenue up without changing your ad stack.
This article will highlight how getting a header bidding solution can help maximize profits from online ads.
Native Ads as An Alternative
Header bidding is often used as an alternative to mediation if no ad network offers a reasonable fill rate or high enough e-CPMs. However, using native advertising could be another way of increasing revenues across formats and devices if you can’t use header bidding (or don’t want to).
Native ads aren’t limited to social platforms like Facebook and Twitter: BuzzFeed also uses them, and they have been very successful. According to Forbes, viewers prefer native ads 53 percent more frequently than traditional ads.
So don’t hesitate – even if you’re an independent content publisher, native ads are definitely worth considering.
Try Out Extensions
Video advertising is among the most expensive forms of display advertising, but it’s also one of the most effective brand awareness and recall techniques.
Therefore, it is a good idea to give your advertisers the possibility to include a video advertisement right on their landing page. This way, you can potentially increase e-CPMs without having to change your ad stack, create a better user experience for visitors, lower the bounce rate, which will increase time-on-site, and, therefore, potentially improve SEO rankings.
Another type of extension that could prove successful is site widgets with social buttons or “like” icons in the header, allowing users to spread the word of your content on their social profiles.
A new study conducted by Shareaholic shows that pages with social sharing buttons increased global page views by an average of 10 percent. It’s definitely another header bidding solution to increase ad revenue without changing your ad stack.
Switch Up Your Demand Sources
If you want to maximize e-CPMs, there is no point in keeping all of your demand sources the same if they are not offering similar fill rates or monetization capabilities. Try out new providers or expand existing relationships.
It is worth the double-time and effort as you might see positive results on desktop too. Google AdX is one of the biggest platforms out there, and it can lead to increased ad revenue (using header bidding). And don’t forget about native advertising – if you’re not already using it, there’s no time like now.
Get Rid of The Pesky Roadblocks
Header bidding is often touted as a solution that will fix all of your monetization issues on the mobile web. However, in some cases, it might be better to consider going a step further and looking at how you set up your site to create a perfect user experience without getting in the way of ad logging.
A proper setup with a fast-loading page combined with an efficient tag management solution will make users want to come back for more.
Check Out the Viewability of Your Ads
Even if you get rid of all the ad blockers on your website, users might still have issues with downloading your mobile app or sitting through a full ad before they can read the article.
In such cases, it’s best to temporarily replace banners with interstitials (or full-screen ads) to improve e-CPMs and monetize the non-monetizable parts of content consumption. It is beneficial if you want to boost performance during peak traffic hours for important stories.
Try Using Bid Modifiers
This one is simple. You just adjust bids based on where, when, and how an impression has been served to maximize revenue across all channels.
Conclusion
Header bidding can be overwhelming, but if you follow the tips outlined above, you will mitigate some of the risks associated with it.
Even if you choose not to implement header bidding yourself, make sure you know what is going on in your ad stack. Don’t forget that it’s always easier to fix things sooner rather than later.