AdtechData & AnalyticsReference Blueprint

Real-Time Ad Measurement Data Pipeline Blueprint

A scalable ingestion and stream-processing pattern for billions of daily ad events with sub-minute attribution lag.

Real-Time Ad Measurement Data Pipeline Blueprint
Billions/day
events per day, horizontally scaled
< 1 min
attribution latency
Lower
warehouse cost than batch-only designs

Design targets, not measured client results.

The Problem

Why teams need this pattern

Exploding impression and conversion telemetry overwhelms batch pipelines, causing hours of lag, ballooning warehouse bills, and inaccurate campaign pacing.

Ideal for

  • Ad networks and measurement startups
  • Teams moving from batch to streaming analytics

Our Approach

Architectural approach

Rust telemetry collectors, Apache Flink for stream aggregation, and Apache Iceberg on S3 queried through ClickHouse for low-cost, fast analytics.

Illustration for Real-Time Ad Measurement Data Pipeline Blueprint

System Design

Architectural layers & components

How data and control flow from the edge of the system to the people who use it.

  1. 01

    Rust Event Collector

    Low-latency HTTP pixel collector built for very high request rates per node.

  2. 02

    Stream Aggregation

    Apache Flink computing real-time impression and click counts.

  3. 03

    Data Lake Storage

    Apache Iceberg on S3 with automated partition compaction.

  4. 04

    Analytical Engine

    ClickHouse cluster powering real-time advertiser dashboards.

Design Targets

What this architecture is built to achieve

Targets we design toward. We confirm them against your own data and workload before you commit to a build.

Billions/day
events per day, horizontally scaled
Target
< 1 min
attribution latency
Target
Lower
warehouse cost than batch-only designs
Target
At-least-once
ingestion with dedup
Target
Assumptions & limits
  • Cost savings depend on current warehouse pricing and query patterns.
  • Capacity targets are validated with load tests on your traffic shape.

What You Get

Artifacts tailored to your environment

The blueprint is a starting point. These are the working documents and code we adapt for you.

Learn about our Data & Analytics services
  • Rust collector template
  • Flink streaming SQL
  • ClickHouse table schemas
  • S3 partitioning strategy

How We Work

From first call to working prototype

  1. 130–45 min

    Discovery call

    We review your constraints, existing systems, and success criteria, and tell you honestly whether this blueprint fits.

  2. 21–2 weeks

    Fit & feasibility workshop

    We adapt the reference architecture to your stack, validate the design targets against your real data, and produce a scoped plan.

  3. 3Scoped per project

    Prototype, then build

    We ship a working slice first so you can judge the approach before committing to a full build.

Technology Stack

Default tools & infrastructure

We swap components to fit your stack.

  • Rust
  • Apache Flink
  • ClickHouse
  • Apache Iceberg
  • AWS S3
  • Kafka
  • Grafana

FAQ

Common questions

Want an architecture like this?

Book a call and we'll tell you honestly whether this blueprint fits, and how we'd adapt it to your stack and constraints.