Win rate

In advertising, win rate is a percentage metric in programmatic media marketing that measures the number of impressions won over the number of impressions bid.^[1] Win rates are used to gauge competition in programmatic buys in a second-payer Vickrey auction. High win rates indicate either low competition, aggressive bids in comparison to competitors, or selective inventory.^[2]

Impacting Win Rates

Win rates can vary based on Demand-side platform, as each can generate different numbers in the numerator and the denominator based on how many queries per second the technology can handle and filters out before the auction.

To increase win rate:

• Increase bids to win more impressions and increase the numerator
• Bid in fewer auctions to decrease denominator
• Use a pre-bid solution to be more selective in impressions that are bid on
• Blacklisting or whitelisting select inventory can decrease the denominator
• Reducing frequency caps would cause fewer of bids on the number of impressions seen and reduce the denominator

Increasing the numerator will increase Win Rate = Number of Impressions Won/Number of Impressions Bid

References