The Cortex test, on one page
Cortex sets price floors from your own bid data. Before you onboard, it proves itself on a few of your ad units, and you onboard only if they gain 10–20% net.
The test at a glance
Pick your route above. The diagram shows what moves where, and what you get back.
- Your Ad Manager 360
Data Transfer files
Every auction, lost bids included.
- loaded intoYour Google Cloud
BigQuery dataset
At least a week of rows.
- read-only accessCortex
Cortex platform
Reads it automatically. The data stays in BigQuery.
- new floorsYour Ad Manager 360
Your GAM experiment
Your split. Floors updated once or twice a week.
- the result, in your reportingThe gate
10–20% net
The test runs a month. Clear the threshold and you onboard.
- Your site
A few select ad units
Chosen with you.
- Manage InventoryAPH network
Our Ad Manager 360
The units serve through our network.
- bid data, automaticallyCortex
Cortex platform
Reads their bid data from our Data Transfer files.
- new floorsAPH network
Ad Manager experiment
We run it. Floors updated once or twice a week.
- Experiments results, shared with youThe gate
10–20% net
The test runs a month. Clear the threshold and you onboard.
Everything the test involves, item by item
These follow the route you picked above.
Read access to the BigQuery dataset that holds your Ad Manager Data Transfer files, and nothing else: no role in your Ad Manager, no Manage Account access.
Every row for at least a week: usually gigabytes, often terabytes. A complete export of the same files works too.
A few select ad units, chosen with you.
50/50, run automatically by Google Ad Manager. Your current floor stays unchanged in the control.
Updated once or twice a week during the test.
One month. A change shows in 2–4 days, depending on volume, and the result is conclusive within a week.
In your GAM experiment and your own reporting. We read the same data, so both sides see one set of numbers.
10–20% net of the 5% Cortex share. We agree the exact threshold before the test starts. How it is calculated
Archon Programmatic House FZC, Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.
A few select ad units, chosen with you, onboarded to our GAM 360 network via Manage Inventory (Google MCM). We get no access to your own Ad Manager: you send us your current floors for those units.
Nothing to switch on. Their bid data accumulates in our Data Transfer files automatically.
Totally free of charge. No Data Transfer fee, no BigQuery setup.
A 50/50 Google Ad Manager experiment on those units, run automatically. We share its results with you: revenue and eCPM against the control, day by day.
Stays where it is. Only the test units join our network.
Updated once or twice a week during the test.
One month. A change shows in 2–4 days, depending on volume, and the result is conclusive within a week.
10–20% net of the 5% Cortex share. We agree the exact threshold before the test starts. How it is calculated
Archon Programmatic House FZC, Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.
Getting the test ready
This follows the route you picked above.
Where your data goes
From your Ad Manager to Cortex in four hops. Cortex only ever reads.
- Google
Ad Manager 360
Writes the Data Transfer files: every auction, including the bids you lost.
- files deliveredGoogle Cloud Storage
gdfp-12345678 bucket
Google delivers the files to a bucket named after your network code.
- loaded intoYour Google Cloud
BigQuery dataset
The BigQuery Data Transfer Service loads them every 8 hours by default.
- BigQuery Data ViewerCortex
Cortex platform
Reads the dataset with one read-only role. Your rows never leave BigQuery.
- new floorsResult
Floors for a few ad units
You run them as a GAM experiment in your own Ad Manager.
Three things to have ready
Data Transfer files are a feature of Ad Manager 360.
The number in your Ad Manager address once you are signed in, as in admanager.google.com/12345678.
With BigQuery, where the files will be loaded.
Four steps, from switched off to shared read-only
About 4–6 developer hours and 6–8 ad ops hours in all, plus 2–4 business days for Google to switch Data Transfer on. If it is already on, we only need read access to BigQuery.
Switch on Data Transfer You and Google
- Ask your Google account manager or Ad Manager support to switch on Data Transfer for your network.
- Google sets up a Cloud Storage bucket, named like
gdfp-12345678, and delivers the files there. - Google may charge for Data Transfer, so ask about it when you make the request.
- Before you ask, our yield team sends you the list of file types Cortex reads, so you request the right ones the first time.
Load the files into BigQuery You
- In your Google Cloud project, turn on the BigQuery Data Transfer Service and create a dataset for the files.
- Create a transfer with Google Ad Manager (formerly DFP) as the source, and enter the bucket name and your network code.
- The person who creates it needs the BigQuery Admin role on the project, API access on your Ad Manager network, and a user there that can read your entities. Google suggests the All Entities team.
- Transfers run every 8 hours by default, and as often as every 4 hours. A backfill loads earlier days, as far back as Ad Manager keeps the files.
Give Cortex read access You
- Give the Cortex platform’s Google Cloud account the BigQuery Data Viewer role on that one dataset. Our team sends you the account address.
- The role is read-only: it cannot change your data, and it covers nothing outside the dataset.
- Only the Cortex platform uses that access, automatically. You can remove the role at any time.
Let a full week build up Automatic
- Cortex needs every row for at least a week: usually gigabytes, often terabytes.
- There is nothing to export or summarise on your side.
- Rather not grant BigQuery access? A complete export of the same files for the same week works too.
What Cortex never needs
Onboard a few ad units to our GAM 360 network via Manage Inventory instead. There is nothing to switch on, and it is totally free of charge.
Pick a few ad units You and us
- We choose a few select ad units with you for the test.
- The rest of your inventory stays where it is.
Accept our MCM invitation You
- You accept our Google MCM invitation for those units (Manage Inventory) and add our seller IDs to your ads.txt.
- You send us your current floors for those units, so the control runs them unchanged.
- About an hour of ad ops in all.
Nothing else to set up Automatic
- Their bid data accumulates in our Data Transfer files automatically. No Data Transfer fee, no BigQuery setup.
- We run the Google Ad Manager experiment and share its Experiments results with you.
Three things that hold on either route
Before the test starts, we agree a threshold with you: a net uplift between 10% and 20% on the tested units, after our share. Clear it and you onboard. If not, you do not.
Only the Cortex platform reads your data, and it does so automatically. Nobody reads millions of rows by hand. The platform keeps only the results: a summary, the yield curves and the floor recommendations.
Access to the Cortex platform itself comes after the contract is signed.
Two ways to run Cortex
Cortex as SaaS
The Cortex platform and training for your team. Your team runs the optimization and applies the floor updates. A one-year first term, then monthly with 30 days’ notice.
Join the APH network
All of our products and services: Cortex, our Google MCM partnership, Archon Unity and the rest. Our yield team runs the floors. Monthly, with 30 days’ notice.
Both shares are taken from gross ad revenue on the Cortex-managed units. There is no setup fee and no termination fee. Contracts are signed with Archon Programmatic House FZC, our company in Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.
The test terms, in writing
What finance and legal usually ask before a test, on one page. These hold on either route.
- Cost of the test
- None. The test is free and limited to a few select ad units, chosen with you.
- The experiment
- A 50/50 Google Ad Manager experiment on those units, run automatically. The new floor goes to the experiment arm, and your current floor stays unchanged in the control. With Data Transfer, it runs in your Ad Manager: your own team creates the experiment and enters our floors. We get no role in your Ad Manager, so every change in your audit log is made by your own user. On our network, it runs in ours: you send us your current floors for the test units, the control keeps them unchanged, and we do everything else and share the Experiments results with you.
- Timing
- A change shows in 2–4 days, depending on ad-unit volume. The result is conclusive within a week. The test runs a month.
- The gate
- Before the test starts, we agree one threshold between 10% and 20% net. Net means after the 5% Cortex share:net uplift = (experiment-arm gross revenue × 0.95) ÷ control-arm gross revenue − 1Nothing is charged during the test: the 5% is subtracted only for the comparison. Clear the threshold and you choose how to run Cortex. If not, you do not onboard and you owe nothing.
- Stopping
- Your current floor never changes, so ending the test is a full rollback, on either route.
- Your team’s time
- With Data Transfer switched off: 4–6 developer hours and 6–8 ad ops hours, plus 2–4 business days for Google to switch it on. If it is already on, we only need read access to BigQuery. On our network: about an hour of ad ops, to accept our MCM invitation, add our seller IDs to your ads.txt and send us your current floors for the test units.
- After the test
- Your choice. Cortex as SaaS: a 5% revenue share, a one-year first term, then monthly with 30 days’ notice. The APH network: a 15% revenue share, monthly with 30 days’ notice. Both shares are taken from gross ad revenue on the Cortex-managed units. No setup fee and no termination fee.
- Your data
- Your Data Transfer rows never leave BigQuery. The Cortex platform reads them with one read-only role, which you can remove at any time, and keeps only the results: a summary, the yield curves and the floor recommendations. Access to the platform itself comes after the contract is signed.
- Paperwork
- Contracts are signed with Archon Programmatic House FZC, our company in Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.
The gate, worked through
| Control arm, gross revenue | $10,000 |
| Experiment arm, gross revenue | $12,000 |
| 5% Cortex share, on paper only | −$600 |
| Experiment arm, net | $11,400 |
| Net uplift | +14.0% |
+20% gross becomes +14% net. That clears a 10% gate and misses a 15% one.
| Control arm, gross revenue | $10,000 |
| Experiment arm, gross revenue | $9,800 |
| 5% Cortex share, on paper only | −$490 |
| Experiment arm, net | $9,310 |
| Net uplift | −6.9% |
You do not onboard, and nothing is owed.
To clear 10% net, the experiment arm needs about 15.8% more gross revenue than the control. 15% net needs about 21.1%, and 20% net about 26.3%.
GAM experiments on publishers in our network
The tests ran for a month, and the results showed within the first week. The spread is wide, which is why the test runs on your own ad units before anything else. We publish these results, so we keep the publishers’ names out of them. Their numbers are their business, as yours would be.
Tell us your domain and pick a route. A person on our yield team replies within one business day.