Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
The automated auction that sells an ad slot in milliseconds as a page loads, broadcasting user data to many bidders in the process.
Full definition
Real-time bidding (RTB) is the backbone of programmatic advertising: when you open a page or app, an auction broadcasts a "bid request", often including your approximate location, device, MAID, and inferred interests, to dozens or hundreds of potential advertisers so they can bid to show you an ad. Privacy regulators and researchers have flagged RTB as a mass data-leakage channel, because every bidder receives the data even if they don't win. Several FTC location-data cases traced their data supply back to RTB feeds. RTB is why data can flow to brokers from apps you trust.
Related terms
Targeted Advertising
Displaying ads to a consumer based on personal data obtained from activity across other businesses, websites, or contexts.
Mobile Advertising ID (MAID)
A resettable identifier assigned to a phone (Apple IDFA or Google AAID) that links app activity and location to a single device.
Surveillance Advertising
Advertising that relies on pervasive tracking and profiling of individuals across sites, apps, and the physical world.
Exercise your rights across 500+ brokers
OfflistMe drafts CCPA/GDPR-compliant deletion emails you send from your own inbox, one flat fee, no subscription.
Request Removal NowOne-time from $7