Ad Scoring · Adverse user guide

Adverse will choose the top scoring Ads to display within a Zone. Adverse assigns a score to each Ad based on that Ad's past performance within the Zone.

By default, the score of each Ad is scoped to the Zone. In other words, the score of Ad A in Zone X is not affected by Ad A's performance in Zone Y.

The score of an Ad is proportional to that Ad's eCPM and inversely proportional to that Ad's impression count. This means that the higher an Ad's historical eCPM, the higher the score, and the more impressions an Ad receives, the lower the score.

Let's pretend we have a Zone with a single Ad slot and we have two Ads, A and B:

Ad A
Impressions: 1000
Revenue: $10

Ad B
Impressions: 2000
Revenue: $20

They both have the same eCPM ($10), but Ad A has fewer impressions. This means that Ad A will have a higher score. Assuming the eCPM of both Ads stays constant, Ad A will continue to have a higher score than B until they have both received a similar number of impressions.

Ads with zero or very few impressions will temporarily have a very high score. However, if the Ad does not maintain a correspondingly high eCPM, that score will fall quickly.

Pretend we have a new Ad, C that has just been added to the system with no historical impressions or eCPM. However, we can estimate that it should eventually have an eCPM of $5. What can we expect to happen?

For the next set of visitors, we would expect Ad C to have the highest score. However, once Ad C has received enough impressions, its lower eCPM of $5 won't be enough to maintain the top spot.

Ad A will receive the lion's share of impressions until it has more than B. At that point they will split the traffic. Periodically, their impressions will outstrip Ad C far enough that it will get an impression.

This of course is a simplified simulation of a single-slot Zone with constant eCPM values. When the zone has multiple Ad slots, lower-scoring Ads can also receive impressions. Additionally, if an Ad's eCPM increases or decreases over time, its score will similarly rise and fall.