{"page":"/blog/ad-tech-tax-explained","modified":"2026-10-18","license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","columns":["Hop","What is charged","Sourced range","Notes"],"rows":[["1. Agency or trading desk","Fee for planning and buying; commission, fixed fee or aggregated agency-plus-tech fee","7% of advertiser spend (ISBA, May 2020)","Excluded from the ANA waterfall: \"Agency fees, ad serving fees, managed service fees, and brand safety metrics are not part of the Cost Waterfall\" (ANA Benchmark, Q1 2025). Rebates and undisclosed margins are a separate problem; see Executive actions on rebates and kickbacks"],["2. Advertiser ad server and verification","CPM fees for serving, viewability, fraud and brand-safety measurement","Inside demand-side technology fees of 10% (with data) (ISBA, May 2020)","Vendor rate cards are not public (n/d). The CMA's analysis \"does not cover fees charged directly by trading desks or by third-party providers of data or advertising verification services\" (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020)"],["3. DSP platform fee","Percentage of gross spend, or a spread inside the media price","8% (ISBA, May 2020); weighted 14%, self-service 4% to 16%, managed 20% to 42% (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020); 6.0% average in the Q3 2025 waterfall (ANA Benchmark, Q3 2025); 21.6% implied at The Trade Desk in 2025 (10-K FY2025)","The spread between the ANA's 6.0% and The Trade Desk's 21.6% reflects mix: the benchmark is dominated by private-marketplace and CTV buys with negotiated fees. Per-platform detail in DSP Pricing Explained 2026"],["4. Data","Third-party audience segments, CPM or percent of media; DSP \"additional\" charges","DSP data 2.7% and DSP additional charges in the Q3 2025 waterfall (ANA Benchmark, Q3 2025); medians of 1.0% data and 4.5% additional in Q1 2025 (ANA Benchmark, Q1 2025); 6.0% data in the 2023 study (ANA Benchmark, Q1 2025); $0.50 to more than $2 CPM list prices (Google DV360 Help, accessed 17 October 2026); \"nearly 20%\" of media for heavy users (company claim) (PPC Land, 29 September 2025)","The ANA's 2017 study put data at about 9% of spend (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020); the benchmark's decline reflects the shift to first-party and deal-based buying"],["5. Unknown delta","Spend the DSP recorded as paid that no SSP recorded as received","15% in 2020, 3% in 2022 (ISBA, May 2020; ISBA, 18 January 2023)","ISBA's candidates: \"DSP or SSP fees that aren't visible in the study data; post-auction bid shading; post-auction financing arrangements or other trading deals; foreign exchange translations; inventory reselling between tech vendors\" (ISBA, May 2020)"],["6. Exchange or SSP","Revenue share deducted from the publisher's clearing price; higher on open auction than PMP","8% of advertiser spend, about 14% of publisher revenue (ISBA, May 2020); weighted 16%, range 8% to 25%, AdX 10% to 20% (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020); median about 20%, one SSP 7% to 42%, outliers near 99% (Adalytics, April 2022); 12.8% of spend in the Q3 2025 waterfall, down from 14.7% in Q2 (ANA Benchmark, Q3 2025)","The one hop where the same counterparty charges different rates for the same impression type. The DSP vs SSP explainer covers who pays whom"],["7. Supply-side services","Open Bidding or exchange bidding, curation, supply-side data","About 1% of advertiser spend (exchange bidding at 5% of publisher revenue) (ISBA, May 2020); Open Bidding \"typically 5% of the SSP's bid\" (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020)","Curation fees sit here and are not yet broken out by any public study (n/d)"],["8. Publisher ad server","CPM fee to the publisher","Approximately 0% to 5% of total media spend; one vendor estimates 1% to 2% (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020)","Paid by the publisher, so invisible to the advertiser but still a deduction from the same dollar"],["9. Publisher (seller revenue)","What is left after hops 1 to 8","51% (ISBA, May 2020); about 65% (CMA, Appendix R, 1 July 2020); 62p per £ (Plum via CMA, January 2019); 71% in 2023, 76.2% in Q3 2025 (ANA Benchmark, Q3 2025)","ANA and CMA exclude agency fees; ISBA includes them, which is one reason its publisher share is lowest"],["10. Quality impression (TrueAdSpend)","Seller revenue minus spend on non-viewable, non-measurable, invalid and MFA impressions","36% in 2023; 43.9% Q4 2024; 41.0% Q1 2025; 37.0% Q2 2025; 39.0% Q3 2025; 43.3% Q1 2026; 45.1% Q2 2026 (ANA Benchmark, Q1 2025; ANA Benchmark, Q3 2025; ANA, 27 May 2026; ANA via Fiducia, 6 August 2026)","Q3 2025 waterfall losses: IVT 0.4%, non-measurable 21.5%, non-viewable 14.8%, MFA 0.5% (ANA Benchmark, Q3 2025)"]],"sourceUrls":[["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/ANAQ12025Programmatic.pdf"],["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf"],["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf","https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/Q32025ProgrammaticTransparencyBenchmark.pdf","https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1671933/000167193326000014/ttd-20251231.htm"],["https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/Q32025ProgrammaticTransparencyBenchmark.pdf","https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/ANAQ12025Programmatic.pdf","https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/6212219?hl=en","https://ppc.land/the-trade-desk-launches-data-marketplace-overhaul-with-ai-scoring/","https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf"],["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://www.isba.org.uk/knowledge/second-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study"],["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf","https://adalytics.io/blog/adtech-supply-fees","https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/Q32025ProgrammaticTransparencyBenchmark.pdf"],["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf"],["https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf"],["https://www.isba.org.uk/system/files/media/documents/2020-12/executive-summary-programmatic-supply-chain-transparency-study.pdf","https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe49625e90e071207e10eff/Appendix_R_-_fees_in_the_adtech_stack_WEB.pdf","https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/Q32025ProgrammaticTransparencyBenchmark.pdf"],["https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/ANAQ12025Programmatic.pdf","https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.mediapost.com/uploads/Q32025ProgrammaticTransparencyBenchmark.pdf","https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/pr-2026-05-programmatic","https://www.fiducia.eco/post/ana-programmatic-transparency-benchmark-q2-2026-working-media-efficiency-reaches-a-record-45"]]}