On the face of issues, request duplication, or “bid duplication” as some would possibly time period it, is fairly self-explanatory for these accustomed to the quirks of advert tech, though, as with most issues in advert tech, it comes with nuance.
And so, for these keen to remain knowledgeable about how their firm’s or purchasers’ cash is being spent within the internet marketing bidstream, it’s price taking a step again to higher perceive the dynamics at play, particularly given the fast price of change in advert tech.
For the reason that daybreak of monetizing internet marketing, the sector has been thought to be synonymous with complexity, with the business’s “Mad Males” seemingly content material to let the “Math Males” do their factor.
Nevertheless, as programmatic media buying and selling gained scale, the once-trivial advert tech tax hit scale, and since then, consumers have been desperate to see how public sale dynamics unfold. And that’s the place a lot of the controversy is available in. For some, it may be seen as the most expensive quirk in programmatic media buying and selling, however sell-side advocates can argue it’s a professional monetization tactic.
OK, so, what’s ‘request duplication?’
Request duplication refers back to the apply of sending the identical advert alternative — a single advert slot on a writer’s web site or app — to demand-side platforms a number of instances. Relatively than a one-to-one correspondence between an advert impression and a bid request, request duplication turns one advert slot into many bid requests. These can originate by way of completely different pipes — assume Amazon’s Clear Advert Market, Google’s Open Bing, Amazon TAM, OpenRTB, or Prebid — and thru a number of resellers, or by manually triggering a number of outbound requests from the identical supply-side platform.
Critics of such a tactic will argue that sending impressions to DSPs at completely different value factors confuses a DSP’s algorithms, with the influence being that advertisers find yourself overpaying for his or her programmatic media buys.
Nevertheless, some degree of duplication may be justified for technical or industrial causes (e.g., reaching consumers who use solely particular shopping for paths), a lot of it’s carried out to inflate scale and win extra programmatic funds artificially. The apply is most prevalent amongst supply-side platforms (SSPs) that depend on excessive request volumes to draw spend from companies and holding corporations.
How is that this executed inside the bid stream?
One critique is that request duplication is a traditional case of multi-hop reselling, public enemy primary throughout the heyday of supply-path optimization.
Nevertheless, for a extra nuanced take, it’s price analyzing additional, with Digiday sources asserting three core methods request duplication is operationalized:
A writer makes use of a number of SSP integrations, with every integration triggering a separate bid request for a similar advert slot. Whereas this type of duplication could also be legitimate — particularly if sure DSPs or consumers solely transact by way of particular pipes — it nonetheless inflates bid visitors.
Also referred to as multi-impression, or multi-request instruments, sure SSPs provide publisher-facing management switches inside their platforms that enable them to specify what number of instances a single request ought to be despatched out to DSPs. These are sometimes marketed as a way to spice up monetization.
SSPs can manipulate bid requests to sport DSP algorithms, in accordance with some sources, telling Digiday, as a single request can cross by way of as much as 70 intermediaries earlier than reaching an SSP, with a lot of them sending parallel requests to the identical DSPs. That’s quite a bit from any POV.
Techniques embrace:
• Breaking down a multi-size advert request into a number of single-size requests.
• Modifying bid request attributes (e.g., value flooring, metadata) throughout a number of iterations of the identical request.
• Sending the identical request at completely different value factors to stimulate greater bids.
• Stripping deal IDs to create “clear” open trade bids which will enchantment extra to DSPs.
What’s the case for request duplication?
In programmatic promoting, SSPs are sometimes judged by the variety of bid requests they generate. Larger numbers can suggest extra attain, protection, and monetization alternatives. This makes inflated request volumes commercially enticing in no less than 3 ways:
They use excessive request counts to display market share to companies and holding corporations throughout RFP processes, in hopes of successful bigger SPO offers.
Some SSPs encourage publishers to allow multi-tap instruments, implying this may drive up yield, even when the ensuing requests add no actual worth.
DSPs are sometimes designed to optimize for marketing campaign KPIs on the lowest value. Duplicated requests at completely different costs enhance the chances of a win, even when it means overpaying.
And what’s the Influence on value?
Request duplication has a number of downstream monetary and operational impacts (see under).
By receiving the identical alternative a number of instances — usually at various value factors — DSPs might find yourself bidding greater than they’d in a single, clear request state of affairs. In keeping with sources, some SSPs ship out 4 variations of every request: three with completely different value factors and one stripped for open market bidding. This technique can mislead DSPs into overvaluing the stock.
Most DSPs function beneath QPS limits, and duplicated requests flood these restricted pipes, leading to DSPs spending compute energy evaluating the identical alternative a number of instances. This reduces the variety of distinctive impressions DSPs can entry and diminishes marketing campaign efficiency.
When DSPs spend extra to win impressions which might be duplicated within the public sale, consumers successfully pay a “duplication tax.” This might vary wherever from marginal will increase to a number of instances the true value of the media, notably when requests are despatched 5, 10, and even 20 instances for a single impression.
Is request duplication good or dangerous for the market?
It will depend on the context, and opinions nonetheless range wildly, however extensively accepted legitimate use circumstances embrace:
• Multi-integration to accommodate DSP preferences, for instance, Google’s DV 360 prefers Open Bidding paths.
• Publishers ship duplicated advert requests the place one model is stripped of metadata (for a decrease CPM) and one other model contains full metadata (for a premium CPM).
Extensively regarded abusive practices embrace:
• Reseller loops: Multi-hop chains that obfuscate origination and permit SSPs to extract high-margin income from intermediaries.
• Value level flooding: Manipulating the identical request at completely different costs to extract greater bids is a direct breach of public sale equity and effectivity.
Who’s accountable for addressing this?
Once more, opinions range, however the consensus is that accountability is shared throughout the ecosystem:
• Publishers are suggested to evaluate whether or not yield good points from duplicative requests justify the reputational and efficiency danger.
• SSPs are inspired to evaluate if scale inflation, like multi-impression toggles, and so forth., advantages both aspect of the market.
• DSPs want extra visibility into bid request provenance, as most are extensively believed to be blind to the problem.
• Advert consumers should implement accountability through contract phrases and audit rights by prioritizing clear, environment friendly provide paths.
