How the live auction works, step by step

Every time a page with an AdsWine placement loads, a complete auction runs in a fraction of a second. Here is the journey of one ad request.

1. The request

Our tag on your page asks the ad server for an ad, identifying the placement, its size and format, and the page context — never your reader's identity.

2. Eligibility

The server checks that your site and ad unit are approved, that bidding is open for the format, and that no traffic rule blocks the request. Requests from a site whose traffic quality has been paused stop here — they never reach demand partners.

3. The auction

Connected partners bid in parallel under a strict time budget. Each bid is normalised to a USD CPM, checked against your floor and the creative-safety rules (no popunders, no forced redirects, no fake system dialogs). Late bids — even by a millisecond — do not count.

4. The winner, and the waterfall

The highest eligible net bid wins. If the live auction produces no winner, backup demand and eligible tag partners are tried; if nothing qualifies, the placement returns a clean no-fill rather than a house ad pretending to be revenue. Prebid partners, where configured, compete against the server result and can still win the impression in the browser.

5. Delivery and measurement

The winning creative is delivered in a sandboxed frame. It becomes a counted impression only when it is genuinely viewable — 50% in view for one continuous second — and passes validation.

6. Earnings

A validated impression is credited at the winning CPM with your revenue share applied, enters the 30-day holding period, and then becomes payable. Every step of this journey is visible in your dashboard and traceable in your earnings.