Introduction
Inlay is a publisher monetisation platform that generates native ad templates from your site's own design and fills them with programmatic demand — served via real-time header bidding across a curated network of premium native SSPs.
What is Inlay?
Traditional ad networks give you a fixed-size slot and fill it with whatever creative they have available. The result is visually disruptive, off-brand, and largely ignored. Inlay works differently: instead of reserving a banner slot, you define where on your pages ads are allowed to appear, and the AI generates an HTML component that blends naturally with your surrounding content.
When a real visitor loads your page for the first time, Inlay's embed script captures a DOM snapshot of the area around your target selector and sends it to Inlay's AI engine, which generates a custom ad component — matching your typography, spacing, and visual language. You review and approve this template directly on your live site before any ads are shown. Once approved, a real-time SSP auction fills it with native creatives on every subsequent impression.
How it works
The flow from signup to live revenue has five steps:
- Add your site — enter your URL and receive a lightweight embed script tag to install once, site-wide.
- Create a placement — define where ads may appear using a CSS selector and URL patterns, and set an optional floor CPM.
- First visitor triggers generation— the embed script sends a DOM snapshot to Inlay's serve endpoint, which generates a native template with AI. The page shows nothing yet — ads are held back until you approve.
- You preview and approve — the dashboard shows the generated template rendered with sample copy. Approve it, or regenerate with written feedback and test it live on your actual site before committing.
- Ads go live— once approved, every matching page load triggers a real-time auction across Inlay's SSP partners. The winning creative is rendered server-side into your template. Revenue is recorded immediately and paid out monthly via Stripe Connect.
The demand layer
Inlay does not sell advertising directly. Demand flows entirely from a curated set of programmatic supply-side platforms (SSPs) connected via OpenRTB header bidding. On every approved impression, Inlay sends parallel bid requests to its SSP network and runs a first-price auction — the highest bid above your placement's floor CPM wins.
SSP network
Inlay connects to premium native demand sources including Taboola, Outbrain, TripleLift, Sharethrough, Teads, GumGum, Sovrn, Index Exchange, and 33Across. All bid requests comply with IAB OpenRTB 2.6 and the Native Ad Specification 1.2, and always carry the real publisher domain so that SSPs can verify the supply chain against your ads.txt file.
Publisher revenue
Publishers receive 70% of the winning bid CPM on every SSP-won impression. The remaining 30% covers infrastructure, AI generation, and the platform fee. Revenue accumulates daily and is paid out at the end of each calendar month. If no SSP bid clears the floor, a house ad is shown — no revenue is recorded and the impression slot is never left blank.
Key concepts
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Site | A website you own. Associated with one embed script tag and one siteScriptId. |
| Placement | A rule defining where on a site ads may appear, which URL patterns apply, and what floor CPM to enforce. |
| Template | The AI-generated HTML component rendered around each native creative. Generated once per lifecycle from a DOM snapshot of your page. |
| Creative | The ad content supplied by the winning SSP: headline, body copy, image, sponsored label, and click URL — structured per IAB Native Ad Specification 1.2. |
| Impression | One page load where an approved template was served and a creative rendered. Only SSP-won impressions generate revenue. |
| SSP | Supply-side platform. An advertising exchange that sources advertiser demand via real-time bidding. Inlay sends parallel bid requests to multiple SSPs on every impression. |
| Auction | A first-price sealed-bid auction run server-side on every impression. All enabled SSPs bid in parallel; the highest bid above the floor CPM wins. |
| Floor CPM | Minimum price (per 1,000 impressions) below which bids are rejected. Set per placement. Bids below the floor result in a house ad, not a blank slot. |
| Payout | Monthly bank transfer of accumulated publisher revenue (70% of winning CPMs) via Stripe Connect. |
| previewToken | A secret token scoped to one placement, used to authenticate preview mode without a dashboard session. |
No tracking pixels, no third-party cookies
Next steps
Ready to integrate? Start here:
- Quickstart — Publisher — add your first site, install the embed script, and approve your first template.
- How Demand Works — a deeper look at the SSP auction, ads.txt requirements, and floor CPM strategy.