With advertisers set to spend more than $9 billion on programmatic buying by 2017, we all know the future is coming. However, confusion still exists about how ad exchanges and data driven buying really work.

In this latest in our series on the new Digital advertising ecosystem we look at the incredibly short but complex life cycle of a programmatic RTB ad.

Watch as a digital ad is bid on, bought, sold, delivered, and seen. It begins the moment your browser loads, and in the blink of an eye, an ad is served.

Thanks to MediaCrossing for the video and takeaway infographic below.