REAL-TIME BIDDING for display advertising is set to take a bigger slice of the online market over the next couple of years, according to a new company that uses this system to match online publishers’ inventory with advertisers who want to chase specific audiences.

“The conventional way of buying digital display advertising is in a state of flux,” says Ignite Digital founder John Dunne.

Real-time bidding is an automated technology that allows buyers and sellers to trade display advertising inventory on an ad exchange platform. It is used alongside user data and so can help advertisers target their ads with greater efficiency.

Though the Irish market has been “relatively conservative and slow to embrace change”, Dunne estimates that real-time bidding sales in Ireland will reach €6.4 million by 2015.

Premium publishers – the major media sites – stand to gain the most from real-time bidding, he adds.

Around three-quarters of advertising campaigns currently appear beside “undesirable content”, says Conor Mullen, commercial director for RTÉ Digital.