What’s tougher—choosing from two or three wrapper options or sifting through a dozen? Having more choices sounds empowering, but in reality, it often leads to decision fatigue. The more you compare, the more overwhelming it becomes—so many features, so many benefits, so many integration paths. It starts to feel like a never-ending process. But no one wants to make the wrong decision, especially when it can cost valuable resources, time, and money.
So, what should you look for when choosing a Prebid wrapper?
Based on our experience working with 100+ publishers worldwide, here are some key insights. While these may not apply to every situation, we hope they help make your wrapper selection process a little easier.
1. Cost Efficiency and ROI
A Prebid wrapper is not your primary revenue generator—it’s an infrastructure tool that helps you monetise effectively. Your team and their expertise are what truly drive revenue.
Keep this in mind when discussing pricing models with a wrapper provider. The cost of your wrapper should not scale with your traffic quality. For instance, if your skilled yield specialists optimise ad units and successfully drive up CPMs, should your wrapper cost more simply because you’re earning more?
Another pricing model many large and profitable publishers avoid is revenue-sharing. While it may seem like an easy, low-risk option at first, it often becomes a significant financial burden as revenue grows. The challenge with revenue-sharing is that it “penalises” success—when a publisher’s earnings increase, so do the fees paid to the wrapper provider. This creates a misalignment of incentives, where the more effort a publisher puts into optimising yield, the more they end up paying out.
Imagine you run a weather forecast site. One week, due to erratic weather patterns, your traffic spikes as users check for updates, significantly increasing your ad revenue. You’re thrilled—until you realise your wrapper provider is taking a 20% cut of that unexpected windfall. What was typically a €1,000 monthly cost has now jumped to €2,000, cutting into your profits.
The alternative? A predictable pricing structure that allows for better financial planning.
Every business is different, so it’s essential to know your numbers and understand your expected costs before committing to a wrapper provider.
2. Server-side Integration
As we move into 2025, server-side support isn’t just relevant—it’s critical. Some assume that with third-party cookies sticking around, server-side technology is less important. WRONG! This isn’t just about cookies; it’s about reducing latency, enabling faster auctions, allowing seamless SSP experimentation, and most importantly, unlocking monetisation opportunities across multiple channels. (Worried about getting started with Prebid Server? We got you!)
Whether it’s in-app header bidding, AMP, DOOH, audio, or other emerging environments, your wrapper must be able to handle it. At Relevant Digital, we’ve worked on some unique Prebid Server use cases—supporting non-traditional ad formats, handling high-frequency bidding scenarios, and integrating with niche platforms that require custom configurations. We had the opportunity to introduce our Prebid wrapper’s server-side support to a VR game publisher. This was a fantastic learning experience for both sides, demonstrating how Prebid Server can be adapted to interactive, immersive environments. It reinforced our belief in the diverse and evolving capabilities of Prebid Server, proving that the technology can extend far beyond traditional display and video ads.
Monetisation isn’t always as straightforward as serving an ad on a website. If your wrapper lacks strong server-side capabilities, you’re leaving revenue and performance gains on the table.
3. Freedom to Experiment
Flexibility is one of the biggest advantages in programmatic advertising. A good wrapper should allow you to configure your own setup quickly and efficiently—without waiting on approvals or dealing with unnecessary technical roadblocks.
Ask yourself: Do you need to call or email someone every time you want to make a change? How long do you have to wait? And if you can make adjustments yourself, is the process straightforward or unnecessarily complicated?
These are critical questions when evaluating how user-friendly a wrapper really is—and how much control you truly have over your own stack and revenue.
If your wrapper makes it difficult to implement changes or restricts your ability to experiment, you could be missing out on valuable revenue opportunities and insights from testing different demand sources.
4. Neutrality
Independence is key when selecting a wrapper. Some solutions lock users into specific technologies or require the use of proprietary add-ons, limiting their ability to adapt and innovate. This can create unnecessary dependencies that slow down your ability to optimise and evolve your monetisation strategy. A truly neutral wrapper should offer:
- The ability to integrate with any SSP you choose, without hidden restrictions or preference for certain demand partners.
- Freedom to use third-party tools and analytics solutions rather than forcing you into an ecosystem with limited visibility.
- Transparent and customisable auction mechanics that let you configure bid strategies according to your specific needs.
No forced bundling of additional services, ensuring you pay only for what you need.
Choosing a wrapper that prioritises neutrality means keeping control over your tech stack and maintaining the flexibility to experiment and, therefore, evolve. Transparency and flexibility should be top priorities.
5. Quality of Customer Support
A great product means little if it doesn’t come with great support. One of the most frustrating things we hear from publishers is that their level of support is directly tied to their spend. Unfortunately, smaller customers often find themselves at the bottom of the priority list, receiving slower response times and limited assistance simply because they don’t meet a provider’s revenue threshold.
Good support should be available to all customers, regardless of their size. Implementing a Prebid wrapper shouldn’t take months, and no publisher should feel left in the dark during the process. At Relevant Digital, our onboarding team aims to have implementations completed in just a few weeks, with minimal effort required from the publisher. A prolonged onboarding process not only causes frustration but can also lead to delays in revenue generation.
A wrapper provider should not only offer technical support but also function as a strategic partner who helps you optimise and troubleshoot challenges before they impact revenue.
When evaluating a provider, pay attention to:
- Responsiveness – How quickly do they respond to your requests? Do they communicate with you during the process?
- Expertise – Do their support teams understand the nuances of programmatic advertising, or are you getting generic responses? How much do they understand your use case?
- Proactiveness – Are they providing updates, recommendations, and optimisations before you ask for them?
Exceptional support should be a given, not a privilege reserved for the highest-paying customers. If a provider fails to offer clear, helpful, and timely support, it could cost you valuable revenue and time spent chasing answers.
Conclusion
Selecting the right Prebid wrapper is crucial for maximising programmatic revenue and maintaining operational efficiency. By focusing on cost efficiency, server-side capabilities, flexibility, neutrality, and customer support, publishers and ad networks can make informed decisions that benefit their bottom line.
If you’re looking for a wrapper that meets all these criteria, explore the Relevant Yield wrapper HB Manager—it checks all the boxes. Happy wrapper shopping!