+CASE STUDYOPENWRAP HEADER BIDDING

How Premium Publisher 9GAG Used A/B Testing To SelectA Header Bidding Wrapper Solution and Improve Monetisation

With a global audience of over 200 million users and followers, 9GAG is a Hong Kong basedsocial media platform, providing popular memes, breaking stories, GIFs and viral videos.
After robust A/B testing of leading header bidding wrapper solutions, the publisher has
moved their entire desktop and mobile web wrapper business over to PubMatic’s Prebidpowered OpenWrap.

THE STORY BEHIND THE SUCCESSAs an organisation used to testing and learning, when
it came to selecting a new wrapper solution to improve
programmatic monetisation, 9GAG opted to run A/B
tests to find the best partner.
9GAG constantly re-evaluates their stack and was keen
to understand whether other wrapper solutions might
drive better results for them compared to theirincumbent wrapper.

9GAG selected PubMatic’s Prebid-based OpenWrap
to test against their incumbent and one otherindustry leading wrapper.
Despite the obvious benefits of testing wrapper
solutions before implementing them, it is notstandard practice amongst digital publishers.

9GAG'S TAILORED APPROACH
9GAG deployed a robust and randomized A/B testing
methodology to compare header bidding wrapper
performance. To ensure the tests were unbiased, objective
and did not compromise ongoing monetisation, 9GAG
utilised a previously developed randomized dice roll script
to create test buckets and control the size of each bucket.
This dice-roll logic mechanism relies on two IDs—a Range
ID and a Bucket ID—implemented by 9GAG, to ensure that
all wrappers were given access to the same volume oftraffic. A randomly generated Range ID is assigned to eachuser that visits a page, with cookies being used todetermine repeat users.

A bucket ID is assigned to each wrapper withbucket range set as identical across all buckets.
This setup gives each bucket the same probabilityof being assigned a user. Each bucket gets a very
similar number of users assigned.
9GAG ensured the testing environments were fair
and transparent for all test participants. This meant
enforcing the same timeouts, bidders, andpercentage of randomized global traffic. They alsomigrated from their wrapper provided consent
manager platform to a neutral third-party provider.
The tests were conducted over several months.

THE RESULTS

PubMatic outperformed bothwrappers in driving net revenue,
net CPM and net RPM*
Based on these results, 9GAG
has migrated fully to PubMatic's
OpenWrap solution on desktop
and mobile web and has seen
immediate improvements inmonetisation.

+36% +36% +37%
Net Revenue

Net CPMNet RPM*Revenue per mille / thousand page views“ A/B testing is baked into our DNA at 9GAG. We believe in making data-informeddecisions based on real life results. Our process is to research, hypothesize, test,and decide. RFPs are great for initial research, but not enough to make an
informed decision. Our hypothesis assumed another wrapper solution woulddrive the best results. A/B testing informed us that we were wrong. Making adecision based on our RFP would have left money on the table. PubMatic’sOpenWrap setup was simple and streamlined. They let the numbers speak forthemselves. Their client service was responsive, informative, and always helpful.”— Vincent So, Global VP, Head of Programmatic, 9GAG

1ABOUT PUBMATIC
PubMatic delivers superior revenue to publishers by being an SSP ofchoice for agencies and advertisers. PubMatic’s cloud infrastructure
platform for digital advertising empowers independent app developers
and publishers to increase monetization while enabling media buyers
to drive return on investment by reaching and engaging their target
audiences in brand-safe, premium environments across ad formats

and devices. Since 2006, PubMatic has been expanding its owned
and operated global infrastructure and continues to cultivateprogrammatic innovation. Headquartered in Redwood City, California,
PubMatic operates 14 offices and eight data centers worldwide.
For more information, please contact us at info@pubmatic.com

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