Do not hate the players the digital advertising ecosystem and its actors

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review of the literature of 29 research articles, which used a visualization of the digital advertising ecosystem with a focus on online real-time advertising. This review aims to address a gap in the literature by identifying a standardization of digital advertising ecosystem visualization and explanation. Achieving this aim will bring together fragmented literature to serve as a foundation for research into digital advertising ecosystems and other related research. There are discrepancies, which imply different understandings of how the advertising ecosystem elements work and communicate. This work should minimize the risk of wrong conclusions in literature as well as in practice. The author therefore recommends a visualization; future researchers should challenge.