In the Pontiac Platform, you have full control over bidding for all your campaigns. When setting up a Line Item, you can define a Basic Bid, Bid at Floor Price, and Advanced Bid Controls for your media. Closing bids reflect the total cost, including any applicable Audience fees or Foot Traffic fees. 

• Basic Bid: Standard bid price applied across all inventory. If the final clearing price is lower than the base bid, the system will adjust and bid one cent above the next highest bid to secure the impression efficiently.
• Bid at Floor Price: The maximum bid price and CPM floor allowed for an auction.
• Advanced Bid Controls: This feature allows you to set a Maximum Bid Price (overall cap) and customize Bid Prices by Deal. Access Bid Controls by selecting the arrow next to the Max Bid Price field.
  • Default Bid Price: This is the default bid price for deals where a bid price is not defined for a specific deal. This is usually used when a new deal is added to the line and the bid prices are not explicitly set.
  • Max Bid Price: This is the maximum bid price that this line will bid and overrides bids set on each deal. If a deal’s bid price is higher than the max bid price this line will not bid on that deal.
  • Deal-Specific Bids: For each Deal targeted at both the Campaign and Line level, you can set a unique Bid Price, giving you greater control over bid adjustments and spending limits.
  • If you target Deals at either the Campaign level or the Line level and you only use one level, all of those Deals will be visible in the Advance Bid Controls.
  • If you set Deals at both levels, only the overlap (intersection) of the Campaign Deals and Line Deals will appear in Advanced Bid Controls. This ensures you’re only adjusting bids for Deals that are active at both levels.
  • See screenshot below of the Advanced Bid Controls popup window.

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: Max Bid Price is higher than all Deal Bid Prices

• Default Bid Price = $10.00
• Max Bid Price = $20.00

All Deals being targeted in the above scenario have bid prices lower than the Max Bid Price. This means that the Line will be able to bid on all the deals. If a new deal is added to this list in the targeting section, then the default bid for the new deal will be $10.00 (until updated) and would automatically be eligible to bid on the inventory through the new deal since $10.00 < $20.00.

Scenario 2: Max Bid Price is higher than some Deal Bid Prices

• Default Bid Price: $10.00
• Max Bid Price: $13.00

Only Deal IDs: 15 and 23 being targeted in the above scenario have bid prices lower than the Max Bid Price. This means that the Line will only be able to bid on inventory through Deal IDs: 15 and 23 and will not bid on inventory through Deal IDs: 20, 21, and 22. If a new deal is added to this list in the targeting section, then the default bid for the new deal will be $10.00 (until updated) and would automatically be eligible to bid on the inventory through the new deal since $10.00 < $13.00.

Deal Floor Price Tooltip

In the Advance Bid Controls popup window, users can now hover over the question mark icon to reveal bid floor prices from the previous day’s sample request.

Here users can find the following bid insights:

• Min: The lowest observed floor price
• Max: The highest observed floor price
• Avg: The average floor price for the previous day
• Media: The median floor price for the previous day

This tooltip provides users with quick visibility into the range and distribution of floor prices for each deal. It helps buyers understand the competitiveness of the deal and adjust bidding strategies accordingly.

Bid Recommendations by Media Type

CTV

The typical prices for CTV placements range from $28-40, with premium inventory available at prices over $40. If you are targeting a CTV deal you will be given the CPM floor. We recommend setting your maximum bid at least $3-$5 above the minimum. CTV placements on the Open Exchange may sell at a lower CPM, but we recommend using PMP’s as they guarantee fraud-free inventory. 

OTT

 The PMPs are real-time bidding environments with a specified price floor as defined by the publisher. This is the minimum CPM bid required to enter the auction. These auctions can be very competitive and typically PMPs will clear somewhere between 40-80% higher than the Deal Price Floor. Closing CPMs are on average in the $20-40 range. However, this will vary greatly according to the caliber of publishers and inventory selected, where the PMP falls in the publisher waterfall, the level of competition, the format (Live, Short Form etc), the time of year and more. In general, we recommend using the price floors for guidance and adding an additional 40-50% to start the bidding. If you are not achieving the desired scale, continue to increase bids.

OLV

Bids vary for video inventory and deal, but we recommend a bid structure of at least an $6-$8 base bid. Run an Inventory Availability report to see average CPM based on your campaign targeting.

Audio

Audio can be bought either through the Open Exchange, or via PMPs. Bids on the Open Exchange typically clear between $10 and $13, whereas PMP Deals are often in the $18 – $25 range. Each PMP will have specific bid recommendations.

Display

Display Bid Prices vary with targeting and Audience data. The standard recommendation for display is a bid between $2-4, but this will increase as targeting becomes more granular.

Bid Recommendations with Audience Segments or Foot Traffic Attribution

All Audience segments have an additional cost CPM that should be added to your bid data. If your base bid is $2.43 and you are targeting an Audience segment with a cost of $2 CPM, you will actually be bidding $0.43 for media. If you are using an Audience segment, add the cost of the segment to the standard recommendation for the media type.  If you are using various Audiences, add the average of all of the Audience costs to the standard recommendation for the media type. Foot Traffic Attribution also has an additional cost of $1.50 CPM. All campaigns receiving Foot Traffic Studies should add $1.50 to the bid recommendation for the media type.

• LiveRamp CRM segment: Add $2.00 to the recommended bid for the media type
• Transunion CRM segment: Add associated CPM to the bid for the media type
• Geoframed Onspot segment: Add $2.00 to the recommended bid for the media type
• Job Title/Employer Bombora segment: Varies based on the segment, add the CPM shown in the ‘Onboarded’ section of the Audiences tab to the recommended bid for the media type
• Custom Contextual AI segment: Add $2.00-$4.00 to the recommended bid for the media type
• Other Third-Party Audiences: Add associated CPM to the recommended bid for the media type
• Foot Traffic Studies:
  • Banner, Native, Audio & Video add $1.50 to the recommended bid for the media type
  • CTV add $4.00 to the recommended bid for the media type