Glossary/Programmatic/Unified auction
What is a unified auction in programmatic advertising?
How a unified auction differs from the old waterfall, and what it means for publisher revenue.
Written by Samhub with the help of AI·Updated 13 Oct 2026·3 min readA unified auction lets all demand sources, such as direct campaigns, header bidding and exchanges, compete for each impression at the same time, so the highest value wins.
Unified auction vs waterfall
| Waterfall | Unified auction | |
|---|---|---|
| Order | One source at a time, in fixed order | All sources at once |
| Result | A higher bid further down can be missed | The best bid wins |
| Speed | Slower, many calls | Faster |
How it works
Bids come in
From header bidding and exchanges.
Direct campaigns get a value
Based on price and priority.
The ad server compares
And picks the highest value.
16 pages for publishers, with a checklist for data, programmatic and direct sales.
Data still decides the price
A unified auction makes sure the best bid wins. Audience data is what makes the best bid higher.
CPM uplift at Stampen Media after activating first-party audiences with Samhub.
Frequently asked questions
Header bidding is one way to bring demand into a unified auction.
Yes, it runs one across its demand sources.
Yes, they compete based on their value and priority.
Usually, because no higher bid is skipped.
Related terms
Lets many buyers bid at once before the ad server decides.
Google’s ad server and exchange for publishers.
The winner pays exactly what it bid.
Decides which ad to show and counts the results.
Manages many ad networks in an app.
Offering an impression to demand sources one at a time.
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