Bypassing Performance Optimizers of Real Time Bidding Systems in Display Ad Valuation

A vast majority of digital display advertisers rely on large digital ad platforms to run their ad campaigns. Although ad platforms managing real-time bidding systems offer state-of-the-art services to enhance the performance of ad campaigns, their inner workings are largely opaque to customers. As a result, advertisers who seek to value their campaigns in collaboration with third-party platforms must necessarily contend with the problem of estimation bias attributable to these algorithms in addition to the high cost of implementation. We propose an alternative approach to valuation for advertisers who choose to bypass automated performance optimizers of ad platforms. We show that external frequency caps that set upper limits on the number of ad impressions outside the purview of bidding algorithms can serve this purpose effectively. Eliminating performance optimizers allows the advertiser to value ads without relying on the support services of the DSP, with the added benefit of a broader customer reach and a markedly lower cost.