SSP Performance Analysis: Bid Distribution & Win Rate Across CPM Ranges
- This month’s theme focuses on analyzing bidding behavior, competition dynamics, and SSP performance across different CPM levels. The goal is to identify which platforms dominate at lower or higher CPM ranges, assess their bid win efficiency, and determine opportunities for optimizing bid strategies to enhance revenue potential.
- CPM Levels/CPM Ranges: The CPM ranges in the graph represent a percentage of the industry benchmark CPM, rather than absolute values. This approach ensures the encryption of the absolute CPM data for each SSP while maintaining meaningful insights
Observations:
- The data shows high bid density in lower CPM ranges, but bids above 50% CPM drop to around 35%–40%. SSPs are not bidding aggressively at higher CPMs, with win rates as low as 1%. This may be due to DSPs starting with lower bids, poor CPM transfer to the demand side, or inefficient demand allocation. Additionally, SSPs may not be optimizing their bidding strategies, leading to suboptimal monetization.
Amazon has high bid density but low win rates at low CPMs, dominating at higher CPMs. Rubicon wins well at lower CPMs, while Kargo is focusing on enhancing its performance despite high bids; Index Exchange is similar to Rubicon but needs improvement at mid-to-high CPMs. Amazon is strongest overall; Kargo needs better bidding.
- Index Exchange follows a pattern similar to Rubicon but could improve its competitiveness in mid-to-high CPM ranges.
- Kargo may need to adjust its bidding strategy to enhance its win rate, particularly in the lower CPM ranges.
- Rubicon is highly effective at winning lower CPM bids.
- Amazon is a strong performer across all CPM ranges, particularly in premium inventory.
Suggestions for Publishers and SSPs:
- Publishers: Disable low-rate GAM line items or set floor prices in the wrapper (both Pub Wrapper and TAM server) to encourage higher SSP bids.
- SSPs: (Same as above – this section seems redundant) Encourage publishers to disable low-rate GAM line items or set floor prices in the wrapper (both Pub Wrapper and TAM server) to drive up bids.
Report Overview:
The DataBeat Programmatic Trends Report for January 2025 analyzes anonymized data from industry partners within the DataBeat network, focusing on programmatic advertising trends in the U.S. This report provides a detailed comparison of January 2025’s performance against both December 2024 and January 2024, offering insights into month-over-month and year-over-year changes.
Key Highlights:
MoM, Display CPMs declined by 42%, Video CPMs decreased by 26%, resulting in an overall CPM drop of 40%.
YoY, Display CPMs declined by 33% and Video CPMs dropped by 39.2%, leading to an overall CPM decrease of 35%.
This decline is expected post-holiday season as advertiser demand slows. To mitigate the impact and drive recovery, publishers should focus on diversifying demand sources, optimizing floor prices, and leveraging header bidding to increase competition. Additionally, exploring high-performing ad formats and strengthening direct deals can help stabilize revenue in the coming months.
Here’s a look at industry trends, broken down by inventory and demand.
1. Display Trend
- Display CPMs dropped by 42% month-over-month and experienced a 33.1% decline year-over-year.
- Almost all SSPs saw a month-over-month CPM drop, indicating that this trend is consistent across most SSPs. However, when looking at year-over-year performance, some SSPs like Medianet and Criteo demonstrated a significant increase in CPMs.
2. Video Trend
- Video CPMs dropped by 26% month-over-month and experienced a 39% decline year-over-year.
- Almost all SSPs saw a month-over-month CPM drop, with the exception of TripleLift , indicating that this trend is consistent across most SSPs. However, when looking at year-over-year performance, some SSPs like Telaria demonstrated a significant increase in CPMs.
3. Device Trends
- Both Mobile and Desktop CPMs saw a month-over-month decrease, with Mobile dropping by 37% and Desktop by 45%. Year-over-year declines were also observed, with Mobile falling by 36% and Desktop by 37%.
- CTV CPMs decreased both month-over-month and year-over-year by 23% and 45%, respectively. Ad Exchange claimed the top rank in terms of volume.
4. Programmatic Integrations
- Prebid leads the market with a 37% share, closely followed by AdX at 31%, TAM at 24%, and EBDA at 8%. While CPMs for all integrations declined month-over-month and year-over-year.
5. AdX Advertisers
- Among advertisers, TEMU surged 372 ranks to claim the top position, with a CPM of $1.14, despite a 26% MoM decline.
- Amazon and Adobe also saw notable rank increases, both maintaining CPMs above $0.50, with Amazon experiencing a 28% CPM drop and Adobe seeing a 50% decline.
6. AdX Bidders
- Google Ads and DV360 showed a slight increase in ranking among bidders, while other bidder rankings remained relatively stable.
- Most AdX bidders experienced decrease in CPMs month-over-month, with the exception of Beeswax which showed decrease in their CPMs.
For a detailed overview, please download the full report.
