Why we do not run an auction for your inventory

Real-time auctions are the default in programmatic advertising. Applied to an
individual creator, they produce a specific harm, and it is worth explaining why we went the
other way.

Variance that does not average out

A large publisher with millions of impressions and an analytics team can absorb a rate that
moves. It averages out across inventory, and somebody is employed to model it.

You have one channel and a number of streams per week. A rate that moves for reasons you
cannot see, that you learn about after the month closes, is not income you can plan around.

An offer instead

We send an offer. You see the brand, the work and the rate, and you accept or decline. If you
deliver, you are paid that amount. The direction matters: an offer travels from us to you and you
hold the decision.

What it costs us

An auction extracts the highest available price at every moment. A stated rate does not, and we
carry the risk of having priced it wrong.

We think that is where the risk belongs. We have the modelling and the diversification to
absorb a bad month. You have rent.

Rates still move

They change with demand and with what a particular audience is worth. The difference is that
they change before the work, in an offer you can decline, rather than afterwards in a
statement you can only read.