Evolution of Spotify's ad architecture over the years to keep up with changing business needs, build new products and leverage improvement in cloud and infrastructure capabilities.

1. Evolution of Spotify’s Ads Architecture
A case study on evolving complex systems
Email : kinshuk@spotify.com
Twitter : @_kinshukmishra

4. Ad

9. Why did Spotify evolve Ads
architecture?

10. Our new needs
●
● Change in scale
● Emergence of new client platforms
● Cheap computing
● New ways to create demand
● New features to meet business objectives

11. Context of Spotify’s Ads scale
and challenges
● 70+ million MAU free users
● 60 countries
● 10+ billion ad impressions per month
● 10 ad formats over 3 media types (audio, video, display)
● Multi-platform (mobile, desktop, TVs, web)

12. 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Ad server replacement
Targeting & User
Modeling
DMP audience
augmentation
Self-serve & Creative
generation
Ad optimizationsMove to GCPAd ExchangesMulti platform client
Evolution timeline

13. Circa 2013
Proxy
Service
Desktop
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Batch
Basic Ad Server
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting

14. Ad server design flaws
Proxy Service
Desktop Router
hash(userid)
Ad server ring with
partitions
Ad server instance

15. During the ad server transition
Proxy
Service
Desktop
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Batch
Smart Ad
Server
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting
Ad Server
Proxy
(routing) Basic Ad
Server
Gradual transition from basic to smart ad
serving

16. After the ad server transition
Proxy
Service
Desktop
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Batch
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting
Smart Ad Server

17. Division of responsibilities
Desktop iOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Rendering
Ad trigger
decisioning
Ads
Ranking
Ads
Caching
Ad batching & fetch communication
Ad
decisioning
Ad fetch
orchestration
Client context
Ad Trigger & Render
Before After

18. Multi platform client design
iOS
Proxy
Service
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Batch
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting
Smart Ad Server

19. Targeting & User Modeling
iOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Proxy
Service
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
Stream Batch
Smart Ad Server
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting

20. Ad Exchange Integration
iOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Proxy
Service
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
Stream Batch
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad Server
Ad
Exchanges

21. DMP audience augmentation
Modeling
DMPiOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Proxy
Service
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
Stream Batch
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad Server
Ad
Exchanges

22. Move to Google Cloud Platform
Modeling
DMPiOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Proxy
Service
Log
Delivery
GCS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
Stream Batch
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad Server
Ad
Exchanges

23. Self-serve and Creative generation
iOS
Proxy
Service
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Chromecast/
Playstation/
FireTV
Ad
Aggregation
Service
Log
Delivery
GCS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
DMP
Stream Batch
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad
Exchanges
Campaign
Management
Modeling Self-Serve Service
Creative
Generation
Payments
Billing/
Reporting

24. Client got even thinner
iOS
Proxy
Service
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Chromecast/
Playstation/
FireTV
Ad
Aggregation
Service
Log
Delivery
GCS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
DMP
Stream Batch
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad
Exchanges
Campaign
Management
Modeling
Self-Serve Service
Creative
Generation
Payments
Billing/
Reporting

25. Ad Optimizations
iOS
Proxy
Service
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Chromecast/
Playstation/
FireTV
Ad
Aggregation
Service
Log
Delivery
GCS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
DMP
Stream Batch
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad
Exchanges
Campaign
Management
Optimization
Modeling
Self-Serve Service
Creative
Generation
Payments
Billing/
Reporting

26. Connecting all the dots ...

27. Then
Proxy
Service
Desktop
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Batch
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting

28. Now
iOS
Proxy
Service
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Chromecast/
Playstation/
FireTV
Ad
Aggregation
Service
Log
Delivery
GCS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
DMP
Stream Batch
Ad Server
Decision Delivery
Ad
Exchanges
Campaign
Management
Optimization
Modeling
Self-Serve Service
Creative
Generation
Payments
Billing/
Reporting

29. War stories and lessons learnt

30. Design your systems to be
master of one thing

31. Remember division of responsibilities?
Desktop iOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Rendering
Ad trigger
decisioning
Ads
Ranking
Ads
Caching
Ad batching & fetch communication
Ad
decisioning
Ad fetch
orchestration
Client context
Ad Trigger & Render
BAD GOOD

32. Appends are easier than updates

33. Remember that time?
iOS
Android
Ads SDK
Desktop
Web
Proxy
Service
Log
Delivery
HDFS
User
Profile
Targeting
Service
Stream Batch
Smart Ad Server
Campaign
Management
Billing/
Reporting

34. The 100:10:1 rule

35. Agile is your friend

36. Test with minimal blast radius

37. Things will always go wrong!

38. Thank You!
Email : kinshuk@spotify.com
Twitter : @_kinshukmishra