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On the optimal number of advertising slots in a generalized second-price auction

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  • Alex Kim
  • Subramanian Balachander
  • Karthik Kannan

Abstract

In search advertising, a search engine uses a generalized second-price auction to sell advertising slots adjacent to search results on its webpage. In this paper, we study an interesting question related to the design of the generalized second-price auction: how should a search engine strategically decide on the number of advertising slots? To answer this question, we analyze the implication of varying the number of slots in a base model in which the click-through rates are assumed to be independent of the number of slots. When deciding the number of slots, we find that a search engine’s profit is based on two counteracting factors: the incremental clicks from an extra slot and the influence of the extra slot on advertisers’ payments per click. Our analysis characterizes the conditions for optimality of the number of slots and the implications of different distributions for advertiser valuations. We also extend the base model to allow for attraction and cannibalization of clicks from existing slots by new ad slots and show how such effects affect the optimal number of slots. Our overall results show that search engines need to optimize the number of ad slots offered for auction in order to maximize profit. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Kim & Subramanian Balachander & Karthik Kannan, 2012. "On the optimal number of advertising slots in a generalized second-price auction," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 851-868, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:23:y:2012:i:3:p:851-868
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-012-9193-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sameer Mehta & Milind Dawande & Ganesh Janakiraman & Vijay Mookerjee, 2020. "Sustaining a Good Impression: Mechanisms for Selling Partitioned Impressions at Ad Exchanges," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(1), pages 126-147, March.
    2. Kim, Alex Jiyoung & Jang, Sungha & Shin, Hyun S., 2021. "How should retail advertisers manage multiple keywords in paid search advertising?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 539-551.
    3. Alex Jiyoung Kim & Subramanian Balachander, 2023. "Coordinating traditional media advertising and online advertising in brand marketing," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1865-1879, June.

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