Exchange bidding — Google’s answer to header bidding — is now in open beta

Google is opening up its header bidding alternative in DoubleClick for Publishers.

Exchange bidding is now in open beta and available to DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) customers globally. Google has been testing exchange bidding for several months. Hearst, MailOnline, Meredith Corporation and Zillow have been among the early participants.

Exchange bidding works with publishers’ existing DFP tags. “Relying on client side connections over mobile networks to manage yield can result in annoyed users, lower viewability and lost opportunities,” said Sam Cox, DoubleClick Ad Exchange group product manager in the announcement. Exchange Bidding’s setup on the server side cuts down on implementation time, reduces latency and enables unified reporting and billing across demand sources.

Google says publishers that participated in the closed beta saw faster bidding and an average double-digit lift in programmatic revenue with the solution.

The open beta includes more than 100 publishers. Google has partnered with seven exchanges, adding COMET, OpenX and Sovrn. The exchanges compete in a unified auction against direct sold campaigns in DFP and Adx.

Many publishers are testing exchange bidding alongside their existing header bidding configurations, according to AdExchanger. Google may be the giant, but it’s not the only one offering simplified implementation and unified auction and reporting capabilities. Earlier this week, Sharethrough unveiled its version of unified auction features in its SSP, which supports native, display and video demand.