Deals without bids” or “Buyer not bidding” is a common reason deals do not transact within the Ad
Exchange. This guide will help you better understand what buyers and sellers can do to resolve this issue.
Background
It is important to understand how deals are normally set up and the roles and responsibilities involved.
| Roles | Deal Related Tasks |
|---|---|
| Publisher: Owners of inventory | Initiate deals |
| Bidder: DSP or Ad Network |
Execute campaigns by bidding on buyer’s behalf |
| Buyer: Ad Network, Agency/Trading Desk (ATD), or Advertiser |
Discover and accept deals |
Common Bidder Workflows
Scenario A
DSP provides their clients (ATD: agency / trading desks) with a selfservice console to discover and accept AdX Deals (1). These DSPs integrate directly with the AdX Marketplace (2) to gather all related data included Deal IDs into their console. The DSP’s console then informs their bidder of Deal IDs (3) to identify and bid against on AdX (4, 5).
Scenario B
DSP allows their clients (ATD: agency / trading desks) to set up deals directly within the AdX console (1) using the clients’ own accounts (a.k.a.Child Seats). The AdX console generates Deal IDs (2), which are then manually communicated to the DSP (3a) and configured into the DSP’s console (3b). Alternatively, the DSP’s client may configure the Deal IDs directly into the DSP’s console (3c). The DSP’s console then informs their bidder of Deal IDs (4) to identify and bid against on AdX (5, 6).
Why would a deal have “no bids”?
| Reason | Why it Happens | How To Prevent |
|---|---|---|
| Intentionally not bidding on the deal |
Buyer has no matched campaign for the deal e.g. no current demand for an Always ,On deals, campaign is delayed or cancelled, campaign budget/terms has been changed |
Set clear expectations prior to striking deals Establish frequent communications and checkpoints |
| Campaign trafficking issues or limitations |
Campaign, line item, or creative not enabled within the buyer’s system (outside AdX) Campaign deliver dry is limited by frequency capping, pacing, or other optimization goals Insufficient budget (e.g. buyer used up budget from other inventory source faster than they expect) |
Set clear expectations prior to striking deals Ensure publisher has enough relevant inventory Establish frequent communications and checkpoints |
| Integration issue | Bidder is not aware of the deal / deal ID Bidder not looking at the Block Override signal in the Bid Request and current campaign bids are being filtered due to publisher blocks |
Buy side parties ensure deal IDs are being passed to the bidder Bidder updates program to inject block override signal Publisher enables block override feature |
| Publisher / Inventory issue |
Publisher has not verified its URLs, causing an empty URL field in bid requests Low inventory volume results in minimal matched users and related campaigns require targeting only to known users Publisher is blocking related campaign and does not have Block Override enabled |
Publisher ensures all URLs are verified by AdX Publisher allocates enough inventory for the deal and sets the right expectations with buyers Publisher enables block override |
How to resolve a “Deal with no bids” case
Since AdX has no visibility nor control over campaigns and inventory settings, “Deal with no bids” cases can only
be resolved directly by the bidder and buyer, and in some cases by the publishers. Direct communication
between the bidder, buyer, and publisher are critical in order to run a deal successfully. Below are some useful
guidelines for each party when it comes to resolving these issues.
Guidelines for Buyers
If applicable, confirm the Deal ID with your bidder (DSP/Ad Networks)
● Ensure your campaign is up and running
● Ensure you have enough budget for the deal
● Consult the publisher about the inventory
ensure it has enough volume and the
inventory matches with your targeting criteria
● Consider relaxing your frequency cap and/or
pacing restrictions
Guidelines for Publishers
Ensure you are sending ad requests and the buyer is receiving bid requests from you through AdX using Deal Check
● Consider turning block override on to remove
potential blocks. Note: some buyers will not
bid if their ads are part of the publisher blocks
● Ensure all of your domains are verified
● Reach out to your buyer contact and confirm
the following:
○ they have set up this deal on their side
(in their bidder’s UI) and are bidding
with the correct deal ID
○ their campaign is active and has
enough budget
○ flight dates are correct in the buyer and
bidder consoles (outside AdX)
○ their targeting criteria matches with
your inventory for this deal
Guidelines for Bidder
● Confirm the Deal ID with your buyer ensure
the Deal ID is in your bidding console
● Ensure the creative is active in your system
and is approved to serve in AdX
● Pull sample bid request for the deal from your
logs and compare the data with the
restrictions in your bidder (e.g. presence of
URL, publisher exclusions, ec.)
