The Programmatic Glossary
A practical glossary designed to help marketers, advertisers and ad-tech professionals understand the terminology that powers programmatic advertising
Technical Infrastructure
Server-Side header bidding
A version of header bidding where the auction logic runs on a remote server rather than in the user's web browser. This achieves the same competitive multi-partner auction as client-side header bidding, without slowing down the webpage.
HOW IT WORKS
Instead of Prebid.js running in the browser and sending multiple bid requests from the user's device, a single request is sent from the browser to a server. That server then reaches out to all demand partners simultaneously, collects bids and returns only the winner to the browser, much faster than running it all client-side.
EXAMPLE
A publisher runs client-side header bidding with 15 partners. Users on slow mobile connections experience a two-second delay in ad loading. Switching to server-side header bidding, the same 15-partner auction runs in 80 milliseconds on a fast server, dramatically improving page load speed without sacrificing demand competition.
RELATED TERMS
Header Bidding | Prebid | Prebid Adapter | QPS (Queries Per Second) | SSP (Supply-Side Platform)
★ LIMELIGHT INSIGHT: Limelight supports server-side header bidding integrations, enabling publisher partners to maintain demand competition without compromising page performance.
