adtechdocs

Playground

Models you can break. Each one runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is logged and you can leave it open while you read.

Auction mechanics

Switch between first and second price with the same set of bidders. Watch what shading does to each: under second price it only loses you auctions, under first price it is the difference between paying $7.40 and paying $5.92 for the identical impression.

Auction simulator

Move the controls and watch who wins and what the publisher keeps.

  • DSP A
    $7.40
    won
  • DSP B
    $5.90
  • DSP C
    $4.20
  • DSP D
    $2.80
Floor
$1.00
Winner
DSP A
Advertiser pays
$7.40
Intermediary fees
$1.48
Publisher keeps
$5.92
$1.00

Raise it past the top bid to see a no-fill.

0%

Buyers discounting their true value under first price.

20%

Combined cut of every intermediary in the path.

Under first price the winner pays its own bid, so bidding true value overpays — which is why shading exists.

The supply chain

Click any hop to see what it does and what it charges. The compounding at the end is why supply path optimisation became a buyer priority.

Where the money goes

~32% taken before the publisher

Advertiser

Sets the budget, the target audience and the KPI. Everything downstream is an attempt to turn that budget into impressions that move the KPI.