1. ‘TAGLESS(?)’ OPTION THE
Note: Requires Tags
Thanks for coming – Introduce yourself and what you do
My background with ‘Tagless’ – 4 solutions, 16% lift in 2015
Audience background: Who’s familiar with this tech? | Who has absolutely no idea what this is? | Who is actively working with this enabled on their site right now?
Discussion vs. lecture

2. WHAT IS A ‘TAGLESS’ SOLUTION?
Javascript that’s placed in the header of a website, giving partner(s) the ability to evaluate impressions and dynamically compete for them at price ‘buckets’ and priorities enabled by the publisher.
The javascript is placed directly onto the page
There is both a page and ad server element to this technology

3. WEBPAGE LOAD PROCESS WITH ‘TAGLESS’ ENABLED : STEP 1
Web browser reads the webpage
Web browser downloads the page resources
One of those resources is your ad server code
Webpage registers ad units with ad server code
To better understand exactly what’s going on here, let’s take a general look at the page load process with tagless enabled
These specific steps are standard to the page load process with or without tagless

4. WEBPAGE LOAD PROCESS WITH ‘TAGLESS’ ENABLED : STEP 2
‘Tagless’ enabled partner(s) register a bid with ad ser ver
Using key-value pairs, bid value is then passed to ad server
These steps are ‘tagless’ specific
Evaluating the specific impression

5. WEBPAGE LOAD PROCESS WITH ‘TAGLESS’ ENABLED : STEP 3
Ad server code hits the ad server
Ad server determines which ad to serve based on setup priority
Ad serves on the page
Ad server still functions normally, only serving the ‘Tagless’ bid if it’s of the highest value

6. THINGS TO CONSIDER ABOUT THIS TECHNOLOGY:
A direct response to Google’s market dominance (DFP/AdX)
Provides ’Tagless’ partners the ability to bid on inventory they can’t currently compete for
Requires implementation and resources outside of the ad server (header/source code)
Relationships are typically non-exclusive
Doesn’t necessarily replace an existing tagged solution with demand partner

7. WHAT’S REQUIRED TO MAKE THIS WORK?
Partner-specific changes to the publisher's head tag and invocation code
Partner-supplied key-value pairs added within the ad server and applied to line items
Line items that enable price-specific bidding on eligible inventory
Each partner setup is slightly different (Your dev team will be thrilled)
KVP process also varies between partners
Line item build out can often be automated but be careful it’s done correctly

8. WHY IS THIS BENEFICIAL FOR THE ’TAGLESS’ PARTNER?
Enables their ability to compete for available ‘first look’ inventory
No longer restricts the ‘Tagless’ partner to a fixed position within an ad stack (as with standard tags)
Harder for AdX dynamic allocation to cherry pick mispriced impressions
Can evaluate 100% of a publisher's impressions

9. (POTENTIAL) PUBLISHER BENEFITS:
Increase dynamic inventory competition
Forces AdX buyers to bid higher through more competive pricing of impressions
Incremental revenue: Even if AdX ends up wining the impression, the 2nd price auction was more competitive
Long tail publishers: Less inventory lost via passbacks
Multiple partners bidding on multiple price levels

10. (POTENTIAL) PUBLISHER DRAWBACKS:
Runs outside the ad server (thus requires a deploy/testing)
May increase page load latency
More opportunity for line item setup errors
Time investment: vetting, learning, teaching and building
Partners have full insight into your inventory as they see 100% of impressions
No way to guarantee peformance/lift

11. PLAYERS IN THE SPACE INCLUDE…
Amazon (A9)
Casale Index*
Criteo
Conversant
OpenX*
PubMatic*
Rubicon Project*
Sonobi
YieldBot*
Anyone I’m missing?
*Conference sponsors

12. STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
‘Tagless’ price buckets can be set at premium or remnant price levels
Line item pricing strategy should be controlled by the publisher
Solutions available for mobile and desktop inventory
Performance varies widely between publishers

13. Why? SHOULD WE REBRAND THIS? For your consideration:
‘Tagless’ is a flawed moniker because this tech requires tags. Lots of tags!
For your consideration:
Browser bidding | Header implementation | Header bidding

14. QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
How many tagless partners is too many?
How real are the page latency concerns?
Which partners have yielded the best results?
Pricing strategies?
Where is this technology headed next?
How will Google respond to this disruptor?
Are we OK with these partners seeing 100% of our incoming impressions?