AdTech Simulation Lab

FOLLOW THE MONEY

confidential

Follow the Money

See the surveillance economy in action

November 30, 2025

Every time you visit a website, an invisible auction happens in milliseconds. Advertisers bid for your attention based on everything they know about you. These simulations expose how that system works—and what it knows.

THE MONEY TRAIL: The digital advertising industry generated $600+ billion in 2023. Your data is the product. These simulations show you exactly how.

Interactive Simulations

💰

RTB Auction Simulator

advanced

Watch your data get auctioned in real-time. See which advertisers bid for your attention and how much your profile is worth in the programmatic advertising marketplace.

$147B annuallyLaunch simulation →

🔗

Cookie Syncing Demo

intermediate

Discover how trackers share your identity across networks. Cookie syncing lets thousands of companies build profiles on you by exchanging IDs in milliseconds.

FoundationalLaunch simulation →

🎭

CNAME Cloaking Detection

advanced

Third-party trackers disguise themselves as first-party scripts using DNS tricks. See if your browser is being fooled by these sophisticated evasion techniques.

Evasion techLaunch simulation →

How Programmatic Advertising Works

YOU VISIT A WEBPAGE
        │
        ▼ (< 100ms)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              SUPPLY-SIDE PLATFORM (SSP)             │
│   Publisher's tool to sell ad inventory             │
│   "I have an ad slot. Who wants it?"                │
└───────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                        │
        ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
        ▼               ▼               ▼
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│   AD        │ │   AD        │ │   AD        │
│ EXCHANGE 1  │ │ EXCHANGE 2  │ │ EXCHANGE 3  │
│  (Google)   │ │  (OpenX)    │ │ (Rubicon)   │
└──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘
       │               │               │
       └───────────────┼───────────────┘
                       │
        ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
        ▼              ▼              ▼
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│    DSP 1    │ │    DSP 2    │ │    DSP 3    │
│  (Criteo)   │ │ (The Trade  │ │  (Amazon)   │
│             │ │    Desk)    │ │             │
│  Bid: $2.50 │ │  Bid: $1.80 │ │  Bid: $3.20 │
└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
        │              │              │
        │    YOUR DATA PROFILE        │
        │    ┌─────────────────┐      │
        └────│ Age: 25-34      │──────┘
             │ Income: $75-100k │
             │ Intent: Shopping │
             │ Device: iPhone   │
             │ Location: NYC    │
             │ Interests: Tech  │
             └─────────────────┘

WINNER: Amazon DSP ($3.20)
AD LOADS ON PAGE: < 200ms total

Key Players in the Ecosystem

SSP (Supply-Side Platform)

Helps publishers sell ad space. Connects to multiple ad exchanges to maximize revenue.

Examples: Google Ad Manager, Magnite, PubMatic

DSP (Demand-Side Platform)

Helps advertisers buy ad space. Uses targeting data to bid on impressions in real-time.

Examples: Google DV360, The Trade Desk, Amazon DSP

DMP (Data Management Platform)

Collects, organizes, and sells audience data. Builds profiles from browsing behavior across sites.

Examples: Oracle BlueKai, Lotame, LiveRamp

Data Broker

Aggregates and sells personal data from multiple sources—online and offline. The shadow players.

Examples: Acxiom, Experian, CoreLogic

Market Statistics

$600B+

Digital Ad Spend 2023

100ms

Average Auction Time

500B+

Daily RTB Bid Requests

$0.50

Avg CPM (Cost/1000)

AdTech Intel

Follow the $$$