Direct SSP deals vs mediation waterfalls vs in-app bidding

Direct SSP deals vs mediation waterfalls vs in-app bidding

Three ways to fill an impression. Most publishers leave money on one of them.

Mediation waterfall
— ✓ Predictable, easy to reason about priority order
— ✗ Latency stacks with each tier, stale floor prices leak revenue

In-app header bidding (unified auction)
— ✓ Real-time competition lifts eCPM 10-30% over waterfalls in practice
— ✓ Kills the "first-look" bias of fixed priorities
— ✗ Heavier SDK weight, more buyers to vet for fraud

Direct SSP / PMP deals
— ✓ Best CPMs for premium placements, brand-safe demand
— ✗ Manual ops, only worth it at real scale

Run in-app bidding as your default auction, layer direct PMPs on top for your best inventory, and retire pure waterfalls once bidding is stable.

Verdict: bidding as the engine, direct deals as the premium layer, waterfall only as legacy fallback.
Best for: publishers past the "one network" stage tuning fill and yield.