About private auctions and preferred deals

Private auctions and preferred deals are agreements between publishers and buyers that are set up on the supply side (Equativ) and the demand side (DSP) and are identified through a unique identifier. 

Private auctions are for a limited set of buyers where eligible impressions are purchased via first-price auction with a set floor price. Preferred deals (previously called “Direct deals”) are fixed-price agreements with one or more buyers. The buyer(s) get(s) priority access to eligible impressions at the agreed price. 

Read the Deal types compared article to learn more about the deal types. 

About the new workflow

The new workflow, described in this article is enabled as the default workflow in compatible customer networks. While the targeting criteria Creative size, Impression type and Environment are exclusive to the new workflow, multiple features from the legacy workflow are not yet available in the new workflow.  

Create private auctions and preferred deals

Access

Click here to access the new workflow to create private auctions and preferred deals.

General settings

Fill in the General settings:

• Deal type (more details in Deal types compared)
  • Private auction - a deal for a limited set of buyers where eligible impressions are purchased via first-price auction with a set floor price.
  • Preferred deal - a fixed-price agreement with one or more buyers. The buyer(s) get(s) priority access to eligible impressions at the agreed price.
• Name - a meaningful name for the private auction/preferred deal.
• Auto-generated deal Id - the Id of the private auction/preferred deal. If enabled, a deal Id is generated automatically when the deal is saved. The buyer must use or select this Id in the DSP to bid on the deal.
• Start date / End date
• Start immediately - if enabled, the deal is activated immediately, instead of at the Start date
• Always ON - if enabled, the deal is activated permanently (no end date)
• Currency - an optional custom currency for this specific deal, different from the currency set in the network. Default value: the network’s currency. The currency cannot be changed after the deal was saved. Note that the custom currency is meant to provide a convenient way to manage prices without the need of manual currency conversion. The revenue shown in reports remains in the network’s default currency and bid requests to demand partners are done in the partner’s preferred currency.
• Price - the bid floor (private auctions) or the fixed price (preferred deals), in your network’s currency
• Enforced delivery rules - defines how delivery rules are applied when this Private auction/Preferred deal is eligible; for more information, see Set delivery rules. Settings made here do not affect the blocking at creative level using the Video creative review tool: here, the manual or automatic blocking of a creative is always enforced: 
  • Override floor rules, but enforce blocking rules - the Private auction/Preferred deal overrides the floor price defined in delivery rules and the floor prices calculated by the yield algorithm. Delivery rules with a blocking effect are applied.
  • Override floor and blocking rules - the Private auction/Preferred deal overrides the floor price defined in delivery rules and the floor prices calculated by the yield algorithm. The Private auction/Preferred deal overrides delivery rules with a blocking effect.
  • Enforce floor and blocking rules - for Private auctions only. The floor price defined in delivery rules and the floor prices calculated by the yield algorithm are applied. Delivery rules with a blocking effect are applied.

Demand

Buyer seat

Under Demand, filter a DSP (optional) and select the desired Buyer seat the Private auction or Preferred deal corresponds to.

Maestro companies

Maestro companies are accounts in Equativ's Maestro platform, where curators can create and manage deals that target Auction packages, Private auctions, or Preferred deals and resell them to buyers. Usually, curators will add additional targeting criteria and thus maximize publisher revenues. Buyers can also act as curators, bundling multiple preferred deals into a single deal to ease operational trafficking in their DSP.

Combine buyer seat and Maestro company targeting

Buyer seats are accounts in DSPs while Maestro companies are accounts in Equativ’s demand platform Maestro. In Maestro, curators can create packages they resell under a new deal with its own deal Id. Such packages are referred to as “meta deals” which consist of a combination of the following:

• One or multiple private auction deals or preferred deals you created in your network in Monetization.
• Potentially, one or multiple private auctions or preferred deals from other publishers using Monetization.
• Usually, additional targeting criteria, such as first party data or semantic contextual targeting.

By targeting buyer seats and Maestro companies, you can exert different levels of control over how a curator can resell your private auction or preferred deal.

• Target buyer seat only: if you target only a buyer seat, the deal is sent directly to the buyer seat in the DSP. In this case, no curator is involved.
• Target Maestro company only: if you target only a Maestro company, the deal goes to the curator’s account in Maestro. Here, the curator can repackage your deal under a new deal id (“meta deal”), as explained above. As a result, you are delegating the reselling of your deal entirely to a curator who can send it to a buyer seat of their own choice.
• Target both buyer seat and Maestro company: if you target both a buyer seat and a Maestro company, the deal goes to the curator's account in Maestro. Here, the curator can repackage your deal under a new deal id (“meta deal”), as explained above but may send it only to the buyer seat you are targeting. As a result, you are delegating the sale of the deal to the curator, but still keep control over the buyer seat. Your private auction or preferred deal can still be sold directly, by bidding on the deal Id of your private auction or preferred deal — or by bidding on the meta deal’s Id, which itself is targeting your private auction or preferred deal. 

Inventory

Specify the inventory on which the deal is to be delivered, selecting the Impression type (Display, In-stream video etc.) and the Environment (Web or App).

Targeting

You can target the deal to the following targeting criteria: 

• Geography - Country, Region, State, DMA or City. Only one type can be targeted (e. g., only Countries). Combinations (e. g., a Country and a State) are not supported 
• Device type - the type of device, such as Desktop, Table, Smartphone etc.; previously called Platform targeting. 
• Creative size - the size of the creative. Available with the impression type Display only. This targeting is enforced after the bid request: it rejects any bids containing a deal Id not matching at least one of the deal’s creative sizes