The rtbcrid blog
Long-form, no-nonsense technical writing on programmatic advertising and the developer tooling that surrounds it.
This blog exists because most of what is written about ad-tech online is either marketing copy or surface-level explainers that stop right when things get interesting. We write the opposite. If you have ever stared at a confusing BidRequest JSON, wondered why your nurl is firing twice, or tried to walk a VAST wrapper chain by hand at three in the morning, you are the reader we are writing for.
Articles fall into two loose buckets. The first is programmatic advertising — OpenRTB, VAST, header bidding, impression tracking, creative debugging, and the long tail of things that go wrong on the path from a bid request to a paid impression. The second is the developer tooling that ad-tech work tends to bring up — JSON formatting, URL encoding, diffing payloads, escaping strings — the small, sharp tools you reach for many times a day. Every article cross-links to the free tools on this site so you can apply ideas immediately.
All articles
What is OpenRTB? A complete guide for ad-tech developers
The full real-time bidding protocol explained — history, BidRequest and BidResponse objects, auction types, version differences, and common pitfalls.
VASTUnderstanding VAST tags: structure, wrapper resolution, and debugging
How video ad tags actually work — XML structure, wrapper chains, VAST 2 vs 3 vs 4, VPAID, and a practical debugging workflow.
Header BiddingHeader bidding 101: how publishers maximize revenue
Waterfall versus parallel auctions, client-side versus server-side, first-price dynamics, latency tradeoffs and when header bidding pays off.
TrackingHow ad-tech impression tracking works (nurl, burl, ext.imptrackers)
The four ways an impression gets counted, when each fires, macro substitution, and why DSPs and SSPs disagree about the answer.
DebuggingCreative debugging in programmatic advertising — common issues
Mixed content, broken click macros, sandboxed iframes, blocked third-party cookies — a field guide to the problems creatives hit in production.
JSONJSON formatting and validation: tools and best practices
Indentation, key ordering, large payload handling, schema validation, and why some JSON tools mangle your data without telling you.
WebURL encoding explained: when you need it and how it works
Percent-encoding, reserved characters, query string semantics, double-encoding bugs and how to test encoders quickly.
ReferenceAd-tech glossary: 50 terms every developer should know
From ADX to VPAID — clear, accurate definitions for the acronyms and jargon you will hit on day one of any ad-tech project.
About the writing
Articles are written and reviewed by engineers who work with these protocols daily. We aim for accuracy over brevity: examples use real field names from the published IAB specs, code samples are valid, and where two sources disagree we say so. Found a mistake? The contact address is on the about page.