The Programmatic Glossary
A practical glossary designed to help marketers, advertisers and ad-tech professionals understand the terminology that powers programmatic advertising
Programmatic
Bid Response
The reply sent by a buyer's DSP (Demand Side Platform) back to the auction system after receiving a bid request. It contains the buyer's price offer and the creative (the actual ad) they want to serve if they win.
HOW IT WORKS
After receiving a bid request, a DSP's algorithms evaluate whether the impression matches active campaigns, calculate the maximum price they're willing to pay, and send back a bid response. This contains the price, the winning creative, and tracking URLs. The exchange collects all bid responses, selects the highest bid above the floor, and notifies the winner.
EXAMPLE
Three DSPs (Demand Side Platforms) receive the same bid request. DSP A responds with $1.80 and a car ad. DSP B responds with $2.40 and a travel ad. DSP C passes (no bid). DSP B wins the auction. The travel ad is delivered, and DSP B's tracking pixels fire to record the impression.
RELATED TERMS
Bid Request | OpenRTB | Real-Time Bidding (RTB) | First-Price Auction | DSP
