RTB Basics

The following figure illustrates the OpenRTB interactions between an exchange and its bidders. Ad requests originate at publisher sites. For each inbound ad request, bid requests are broadcast to bidders, responses are evaluated under prevailing auction rules, the winner is notified, and ad markup is returned.

The win notice URL and ad markup can contain any of several standard macros that enable the exchange to communicate critical data to the bidder (e.g., clearing price)