Business & finance · also called Ad spend financing, Media credit, Revolving credit
Credit line (ad spend financing)
A credit line is borrowed money, from a bank, card, lender or the ad platform itself, used to pay for traffic before the feed revenue arrives.
Because arbitrageurs pay for traffic weeks before they are paid for it, many borrow to fill the gap. The forms vary: business credit cards with a monthly statement, invoicing terms granted by an ad platform or an agency ad account provider, a revolving loan from a bank, or specialist lenders that advance money against expected revenue.
Credit lets a profitable operator grow faster than its own cash allows. If each dollar of ad spend returns $1.20 and the borrowing costs two cents, the maths looks easy.
The danger is that the debt is certain and the revenue is not. Ad spend is owed in full whatever happens next. Feed revenue can be reduced by invalid-traffic deductions, delayed, or stopped by an feed suspension. Borrowed money multiplies losses as efficiently as it multiplies gains, and personal guarantees are common for small companies.
Prudent practice is to borrow only against campaigns with a stable history, keep total credit well below a month of reliable revenue, and treat estimated revenue as unconfirmed until it is finalised. This is general education, not financial advice.
Think of it like this
It is a market trader buying stock on credit from the wholesaler. It works well in a good week, and in a week of rain the bill still comes.
Related terms
Working capital
Working capital is the cash a business needs to cover day-to-day costs between paying its suppliers and being paid by its customers.
Cash-flow float
Cash-flow float is the money an arbitrage business must fund between paying for traffic today and receiving the matching feed revenue weeks later.
Net payment terms (Net 30/60)
Net payment terms state how many days after a period ends a payment is due; Net 30 means payment about 30 days after month end.
Agency ad account
An agency ad account is an advertising account opened and billed through an agency or reseller that has a direct commercial relationship with the ad platform.
Scaling
Scaling is increasing a profitable campaign's ad spend to earn more total profit, ideally without eroding the return that made it worth growing.
Platform risk
Platform risk is the chance that a company you depend on, such as Google, Microsoft or Meta, changes its rules, prices or products in a way that damages your business.