Design an ads data model

Q: Design an ads data model

This question evaluates a candidate's ability to design scalable data models and system architecture for an ads platform, including entity relationships, OLTP versus OLAP boundaries, event logging and deduplication, indexing and partitioning considerations, and analytics-ready schemas.

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System Design / Data Modeling: Ads Data Model

Design the data model (logical schema) for an ads platform that supports:

Advertisers creating campaigns with line items and creatives
Targeting (geo, device, content/genre, audience segments)
Budgeting and pacing
Serving and logging events: impression , click , and optionally conversion
Reporting and analytics: spend, delivery, frequency, reach, and performance breakdowns

What to produce

Key entities and relationships (ER-style description).
Which parts belong to:
- an OLTP store (serving/control plane)
- an event log / OLAP store (analytics)
Primary keys, important indexes, and partitioning/sharding considerations.
How you would model:
- creative rotation and experiments
- deduplication/idempotency for events
- slowly changing dimensions (e.g., targeting changes)

Assume large scale (global traffic) and that reporting must be available with low delay (minutes).

Design an ads data model

Quick Overview

System Design / Data Modeling: Ads Data Model

What to produce

Solution

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