Where we buy
The auctions we buy in every day
Six places to spend money, each good at something different. Choosing wrong is the most expensive mistake in paid media, and it is usually made in the first week.
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Google
The biggest auction, and how to keep its automation honest.
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Microsoft
Where we started: cheaper clicks and an underrated audience.
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Meta
Demand creation on Facebook and Instagram, driven by creative testing.
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LinkedIn
Expensive clicks, unmatched targeting. When the trade pays off.
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DSPs and the open web
Open web inventory, the fee stack, and what to insist on.
At a glance
What each channel is genuinely for
Rough guidance, not gospel. Your unit economics override every row in this table.
| Platform | Best at | Typical click cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | Capturing existing demand at scale | Highest of the search engines | Automation spending into irrelevant queries |
| Microsoft Advertising | The same intent, cheaper | Often 30–50% below Google | Lower total volume; it supplements rather than replaces |
| Meta Ads | Creating appetite nobody has felt yet | Low per click, higher per conversion | Creative fatigue; the ad is the targeting now |
| LinkedIn Ads | Reaching a specific job title at a specific company size | The highest in mainstream paid media | Only viable above a certain deal value |
| Programmatic DSPs | Open web reach and inventory control | Low CPM, variable quality | Fee stacking and made for advertising sites |
| Native | Cheap top of funnel traffic for strong content | Very low per click | Traffic quality varies wildly by publisher |
Our bias, stated plainly
We start on search and earn the right to leave it
Search is where intent already exists, which makes it the fastest place to learn whether your offer converts and what one customer earns you. Once those two numbers are stable, everything else (display, programmatic, paid social) becomes a question of arithmetic rather than faith.
Viper Hold began as a Microsoft Advertising specialist in 2022, which is an unusual place to start and taught us an unusual lesson: the cheapest click is often on the platform nobody is fighting over.
Next step
Find out what your account is wasting
Send us access and we will come back with a written audit: where the budget is leaking, what it is costing you, and the three fixes worth doing first. No charge, no obligation.