Just 0.08 seconds after a user clicks on a URL, the publisher is already asking its ad server if an ad is available. If not, then the server asks an ad exchange.
0.02 seconds later, the ad exchange is reaching out to demand-side platforms (DSPs) for requests. At 0.12 seconds after a user goes to a URL, each DSP connected to the exchange is receiving a report including an anonymous profile of said user, Website category, and page ad safety information.
From there, it takes just 0.005 seconds for a DSP to overlay ad targeting and budgeting rules and apply third-party data. Another 0.005 seconds goes by and each DSP has come up with their own optimal bid price to reach the anonymous user. At 0.14 seconds — just 0.02 seconds after the profile information was received — the DSP responds to the ad exchange.
Over the next 0.05 seconds, the ad exchange is running its auction and selecting the winning bid. At 0.19 seconds the exchange sends the price and ad from the winning bid to the publisher's ad server. At 0.23 seconds the publisher's ad server is telling the browser which ad to display, and at 0.31 seconds the ad sever is sending the winning bid to the browser.
Finally, at 0.36 seconds, the ad is displayed (or at least ready to be displayed if the browser is still loading). So it takes 0.36 seconds for a browser to display the winning bidder's ad in an exchange-based environment starting from the time a user goes to a URL.
The data comes from Turn and their latest infographic: "The Life Of An Ad."
While 0.36 seconds is not a lot of time, here are just a few recent iconic Olympic moments that would have been wildly different had individuals been just 0.36 seconds slower.
Take a look below to see what 0.36 seconds looks like in real-time.
Just 10 seconds after a user starts reading this post, they are looking for the link to the infographic that you reference. After 20 seconds, still looking. Etc. 0.36 seconds is about the time taken to say each of the words in "What The F*k". Anyway, here is that link: http://www.turn.com/sites/default/files/Life%20of%20an%20Ad%20-%20Infographic.pdf