Programmatic advertising revolutionised the digital ad landscape, shifting from fixed placements to audience-specific targeting. This year, it's projected to make up 91% of digital display ad spend in the US, a sum of $109.4 billion, marking a 10.5% increase from last year.

Previously, second-price auctions dominated, with the highest bidder paying slightly more than the runner-up. However, the industry transitioned to first-price auctions, where the highest bidder pays their exact amount. This change, combined with bid shading, aimed to enhance transparency and balance between advertisers and publishers. Yet, it's costing advertisers around $6.6 billion annually due to inefficiencies.

Despite bid shading's introduction to aid advertisers in this first-price auction setting, it persists, often unbeknownst to buyers. This paper recommends 'Intelligent Bidding' as a solution, optimising the bidding process in our publisher-centric world.