Study: 53% of Ad Networks Pay Late And 33% Underpay

OAREX funds businesses that earn money from digital advertising. We fund them by purchasing their advertising invoices payable by ad partners. OAREX then deals with collecting payment — in 30, 60 or 90+ days — from the ad networks.

We fund publishers, smart phone apps, supply-side platforms, demand side platforms, and advertising networks, exchanges and agencies. Established in 2013, we’ve purchased thousands of media invoices over the years, and 2 major things about getting paid have become very obvious.

The first thing is that payment didn’t always occur on the expected payment date. Sometimes it paid early, sometimes it paid late. The second was that the payment wasn’t always the same amount as reported in each dashboard. As a participant in the digital media you can attest to the frustration and potential cash flow issues this can cause.

So let’s break down each factor one by one, but first, a little bit about our methodology:

We Studied Thousands of Digital Media Invoices

We studied thousands of invoices purchased from our digital media clients. The invoices were payable by the top 20 desktop / mobile ad networks in our portfolio. The nature of the study was to focus on the supply side, where payments usually hit last. The invoices were purchased primarily from publishers and smart phone apps, with appx. 20% from publisher networks and SSPs. Below are our findings:

We Found That 54% Of Invoices Paid Late

Of the invoices studied, here is a breakdown of key findings:

• 54% of all invoices were paid later than the expected payment date
• Payments were, on average, 5.3 days late
• 80% of all ad networks paid late at least once
• 32% of all invoices were paid early
• Only 3% paid exactly per terms

Here are some highlights:

• Matomy paid early 63% of the time
• Google paid early 72% of the time
• Conversant paid early 67% of the time
• Glispa paid early 67% of the time
• Criteo, Rubicon, Pulsepoint and OpenX paid early 50% of the time

We Also Found That 33% of Ad Networks Underpaid

As for the amount of payment, here is the breakdown:

• 33% of all invoices were underpaid (lower then reported)
• The average under payment was 3%
• 67% of all ad networks under paid at least once
• 30% of all invoices were overpaid (higher than reported)
• 17% paid the exact number they said they would
• Advertise.com, Connatix, and Sovrn overpaid about 60% of the time, with Advertise.com leading the pack by paying early 67% of the time.

FIND OUT WHO PAYS LATE OR UNDERPAYS BY DOWNLOADING THE FULL REPORT:

OAREX Payments Study, May 2018.pdf