Advertising waterfall

Imagine you've got an overachieving kid at a lemonade stand, but instead of one spot, they've got three—one prime location, one decent, and one at the end of a deserted cul-de-sac. Advertising waterfall is just like this; you sip your budget through a series of placements, starting with the top-notch premium ad spots. If those fancy placements don't guzzle it all up, the leftovers trickle down to the next best, and so forth, until your budget is completely spent and you're wringing every last drop of value. Ta-da, your budget's doing the cha-cha from best to okay-ish spots!

Advertising waterfall is a strategic approach used in digital advertising where multiple ad networks or demand sources are arranged in a sequential order to maximize revenue and fill rates. This approach prioritizes higher-paying demand partners, but if they do not fill the inventory, the request cascades down to the next partner in line, much like water descending a series of steps. The method is traditionally employed by publishers to optimize yield by monetizing impressions that are left unsubscribed by prioritized demand sources. While effective in the past, the advertising waterfall model is being phased out in favor of more advanced solutions such as header bidding, which allows simultaneous bidding and greater competition amongst advertisers, leading to enhanced revenue potential for publishers.