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Archon Cortex · test design

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.

For yield and ad ops teamsDesign and setupOctober 2026
Request a Cortex test →Jump to setup ↓
Two ways in

The test at a glance

Pick your route above. The diagram shows what moves where, and what you get back.

  1. Your Ad Manager 360

    Data Transfer files

    Every auction, lost bids included.

  2. loaded intoYour Google Cloud

    BigQuery dataset

    At least a week of rows.

  3. read-only accessCortex

    Cortex platform

    Reads it automatically. The data stays in BigQuery.

  4. new floorsYour Ad Manager 360

    Your GAM experiment

    Your split. Floors updated once or twice a week.

  5. the result, in your reportingThe gate

    10–20% net

    The test runs a month. Clear the threshold and you onboard.

No GAM loginNo Manage Account accessNo spreadsheets or summary reports
  1. Your site

    A few select ad units

    Chosen with you.

  2. Manage InventoryAPH network

    Our Ad Manager 360

    The units serve through our network.

  3. bid data, automaticallyCortex

    Cortex platform

    Reads their bid data from our Data Transfer files.

  4. new floorsAPH network

    Ad Manager experiment

    We run it. Floors updated once or twice a week.

  5. Experiments results, shared with youThe gate

    10–20% net

    The test runs a month. Clear the threshold and you onboard.

Totally free of chargeNo Data Transfer feeNo BigQuery setup
The details

Everything the test involves, item by item

These follow the route you picked above.

Access

Read access to the BigQuery dataset that holds your Ad Manager Data Transfer files. No GAM login, no Manage Account access.

Data

Every row for at least a week: usually gigabytes, often terabytes. A complete export of the same files works too.

Scope

A few select ad units, chosen with you.

Split

Yours to set. Our tests ran 50/50.

Floors

Updated once or twice a week during the test.

Length

One month. Results usually show in the first week.

Measured

In your GAM experiment and your own reporting. We read the same data, so both sides see one set of numbers.

The gate

10–20% net of our share. We agree the exact threshold before the test starts.

Contract

Archon FZC, Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.

Access

A few select ad units, chosen with you, onboarded to our GAM 360 network via Manage Inventory (Google MCM).

Data

Nothing to switch on. Their bid data accumulates in our Data Transfer files automatically.

Cost

Totally free of charge. No Data Transfer fee, no BigQuery setup.

Measured

A Google Ad Manager experiment on those units. We share its results with you: revenue and eCPM against the control, day by day.

Your other inventory

Stays where it is. Only the test units join our network.

Floors

Updated once or twice a week during the test.

Length

One month. Results usually show in the first week.

The gate

10–20% net of our share. We agree the exact threshold before the test starts.

Contract

Archon FZC, Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.

Setup

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.

  1. Google

    Ad Manager 360

    Writes the Data Transfer files: every auction, including the bids you lost.

  2. files deliveredGoogle Cloud Storage

    gdfp-12345678 bucket

    Google delivers the files to a bucket named after your network code.

  3. loaded intoYour Google Cloud

    BigQuery dataset

    The BigQuery Data Transfer Service loads them every 8 hours by default.

  4. BigQuery Data ViewerCortex

    Cortex platform

    Reads the dataset with one read-only role. Nothing leaves BigQuery.

  5. 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

Google Ad Manager 360

Data Transfer files are a feature of Ad Manager 360.

Your network code

The number in your Ad Manager address once you are signed in, as in admanager.google.com/12345678.

A Google Cloud project

With BigQuery, where the files will be loaded.

Four steps, from switched off to shared read-only

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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

A login to your Ad ManagerManage Account accessSpreadsheets or summary reports
Ad Manager Data Transfer storage bucketsGoogle Ad Manager Help Load Google Ad Manager data into BigQueryGoogle Cloud documentation
Rather not pay for Data Transfer?

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.

Switch to that route ↑

  1. 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.

  2. Accept our MCM invitation You

    • You accept our Google MCM invitation for those units (Manage Inventory).

  3. 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.
Ground rules

Three things that hold on either route

The threshold comes first

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 Cortex reads the data

Only the Cortex platform reads your data, and it does so automatically. Nobody reads millions of rows by hand.

Platform access after signing

Access to the Cortex platform itself comes after the contract is signed.

After the test

Two ways to run Cortex

CORTEX ONLY

Cortex as SaaS

5%revenue share

The Cortex platform and training for your team. Your team runs the optimization and applies the floor updates.

APH NETWORK

Join the APH network

15%revenue share

All of our products and services: Cortex, our Google MCM partnership, Archon Unity and the rest. Our yield team runs the floors.

There is no setup fee. Contracts are signed with Archon FZC, our company in Dubai, a Google Certified Publishing Partner.

Where our numbers come from

GAM experiments on publishers in our network

80%of our floor experiments produced a measurable uplift
20+ad units tested, at three publishers in our network
5–50%range of the individual results
10–20%average net uplift from floors alone

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.

Ready to test Cortex?

Tell us your domain and pick a route. A person on our yield team replies within one business day.

Request a Cortex test →About Archon Cortex