At the core of Yandex Ads are two key products:

Yandex Advertising Network — our supply-side platform (SSP), distributing ads across owned services and 20,000+ mobile app partners.

Yandex Direct — our demand-side platform (DSP) powering campaigns for over 600,000 advertisers.

Let’s take a closer look at how they work — and why Yandex Ads does it differently.

But first, what makes Yandex Ads different?

Unlike classic ad exchanges, Yandex Ads does not act as an intermediary supplying partners’ SSPs with ads from third-party DSPs. Instead, Yandex Ads operates as a closed, direct ecosystem. For SSP partners, demand is generated exclusively by Yandex Direct — a platform used by more than 600,000 advertisers across industries such as gaming, travel, automotive, FMCG, and mobile apps, enabling them to run digital campaigns efficiently.

For SSP partners, demand is generated exclusively by Yandex Direct — a platform used by more than 600,000 advertisers across industries such as gaming, travel, automotive, FMCG, and mobile apps, enabling them to run digital campaigns efficiently.

For DSP partners, the available inventory is sourced directly from the Yandex Advertising Network, which serves ads across Yandex’s own services and over 20,000 partner mobile apps via our SDK. This model ensures direct, transparent relationships with publishers and guarantees first-party, premium inventory.

This setup creates a unique, closed-loop system powered by first-party data and direct relationships on both sides — leading to more transparency, better control, and stronger performance, without the interference of third-party networks.

Real-time Open Bidding with no intermediaries

At Yandex Ads, every ad impression opportunity triggers a real-time auction — a process called bidding.

When a user opens an app with our SDK, for example after completing a game level, the SDK instantly sends an ad request. This request contains details about the device, available ad formats, app context, and user identifiers. Our backend then enriches it with additional context such as user demographics or behavior signals.

This data is sent simultaneously to all eligible bidders — including Yandex Direct and external DSP partners — allowing them to compete in a first-price auction. The highest bid wins, and the creative is served instantly.

This model replaces the Waterfall method, which processed bids sequentially and often resulted in latency, lost impressions, or inefficient monetization. By contrast, our unified bidding system ensures real-time competition, lower latency, and higher yield for publishers.

Dynamic creative rendering at scale

Once a bid wins, our internal banner engine handles the rendering process. This engine selects the appropriate creative and adapts it to the user’s device and app environment in real time.

For third-party supply via SSP integrations, ad creatives are matched to predefined templates to ensure consistent display. On Yandex-owned surfaces and within our Advertising Network, the system applies dynamic design rules that customize elements such as layout, headlines, visuals, and call-to-actions based on context. The engine supports everything from static banners to native ads, all assembled in real-time.

The result is a more engaging, better-fitting ad experience. Whether it’s a traditional banner or a modular native unit assembled on the fly, our rendering system ensures ads look sharp and feel relevant.

System performance you can rely on

Yandex Ads is continuously evolving under the hood. Our engineering team regularly ships performance updates across the entire stack, from SDK and script optimization to improvements in backend logic and auction efficiency.

In one recent update, we reduced the SDK payload from 1 MB to just 100 KB. That single change led to faster load times, more impressions served, and better monetization metrics across the board. In another case, an updated script rollout increased click-through rates by 220% in selected ad networks.

These improvements happen automatically — with no action required from our partners — and are part of our long-term commitment to high performance and low operational overhead.

Built-in advanced fraud prevention

Fraud prevention at Yandex Ads begins before an auction even starts. All traffic is scanned in real time using over 200 proprietary rules and behavioral signals. Our anti-fraud system analyzes everything from viewability metrics and click geometry to suspicious patterns and known exploits.

The goal is simple: keep bots, fake impressions, and modified SDKs out of the system. Fraud detection is built into the auction logic, so malicious activity is blocked before it ever reaches reporting or payment.

And because most of our rules are confidential and constantly updated, fraudsters have a harder time adapting their tactics. This ensures advertisers get real users, and publishers maintain the integrity of their inventory.