Rules & questions
How the hourly advertising auction works, what it costs, what happens when you are outbid, and how long a winning brand stays on the board.
What is BidSurvivor?
BidSurvivor is an advertising auction with a clock on it. The board is 24 tiles, one for each hour of the UTC day. Whoever holds a tile owns the front of the page for that hour — their logo, name, one-line description and a direct link to their own site. Then the hour ends and the tile belongs to somebody else.
How much does it cost to advertise on BidSurvivor?
The first brand into an empty hour pays nothing at all. To take an hour somebody already holds you must beat their bid, and the floor is $1.00 USD. Every verified account also starts with $10 of credit. There is no subscription, no minimum spend and no contract.
What happens if someone outbids me on BidSurvivor?
You lose the slot and the money. There is no refund, because you paid for the hours you held and you held them. This is the rule people are most often surprised by, so it is stated on the front page of the site rather than in a terms document.
What happens if my bid fails to beat the standing bid?
You are charged nothing. The card is authorised before the race and the authorisation is released the moment the bid loses, so no charge is ever captured. Failing to outbid somebody and being outbid later are different events with different costs.
How long does a winning brand stay on BidSurvivor?
The hour itself is 60 minutes, and whoever holds it when it ends keeps it permanently. Winning also places the brand on the Hall of Survivors, which is three rolling boards showing the biggest bids of the last 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days, with seven places on each. The size of the bid decides which of those boards a brand is large enough to hold.
Can I book an advertising slot in advance on BidSurvivor?
Yes. Hours can be bought up to seven days ahead, so a launch or an announcement can have its hour reserved early. Anyone can still outbid that reservation right up until the hour begins.
Does BidSurvivor publish its traffic numbers?
Yes. Visitor counts, per-brand click counts and click-through rates are public at bidsurvivor.space/stats and update continuously. Card opens and actual visits to a brand's own site are counted separately, because only the second delivers anything to an advertiser.
What do I need to place a bid on BidSurvivor?
A URL. The brand name, logo and description are read from the site automatically, and an empty hour requires no card at all. There is no signup wall on the board itself.
Is there a ranking algorithm on BidSurvivor?
No. Position on the board is simply the hour that was bought. Nothing is boosted or throttled, and spending more money moves a brand into a different hour rather than a better position.
How is BidSurvivor different from Google Ads?
Google Ads sells clicks against search intent and, on 2026 all-industry averages, costs about $5.42 per click. BidSurvivor sells a fixed hour of a single page, starting at nothing, and publishes what that hour delivered. Google Ads is the better choice for a product with proven high-intent search demand; BidSurvivor is for finding out cheaply whether anything happens at all.
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