eMarketer: Real-time bidding for online ads will continue in 2011

According to eMarketer, real-time bidding on the display ad market will continue to gain share in 2011 and become an increasingly significant force for advertisers, publishers and ad networks.

Real-time bidding sees marketers bid on impressions based on the site, location of the ad, number of impressions desired and any potential cookie data they can use for retargeting or other segmentation. This kind of procedure helps advertisers to  buy audience instead of inventory, while the publishers get from this procedure the possibility to get for their remaining inventory bigger prices.

Currently, more than four in five US ad agencies buy online ads through networks, while fewer than half buy direct from publishers. Also, eMarketer projects a growth of display advertising market in US of 14%.