Real-time counterparty payment and budget allocation mechanisms for advertising with a mesh blockchain-based system

The influencer economy is a rapidly growing commercial sector; however, it remains inconsistent, volatile, and unsuitable for current advertising payment models. Real-time payment for online advertising services is particularly challenging for social media influencers. This study proposes a blockchain-based real-time counterparty payment system designed for both content owners and influencers. Relevant information—such as viewership and engagement metrics—is collected and stored on a blockchain. Smart contracts are utilized to determine engagement fees, allocate advertising budgets across platforms, and perform real-time payment reconciliation to influencers. This process generates a high volume of transactions; therefore, each child chain—corresponding to one or more platforms—executes advertising reach payment transactions concurrently and submits the aggregated results to the main blockchain. The proposed blockchain mesh architecture prevents congestion on the main chain, enabling the system to scale effectively. We also applied two budget allocation methods—Single Transaction Return Configuration (STRC) and Fixed-Time Return Configuration (FTRC)—to support budget distribution and real-time payments. Through simulations, these allocation algorithms were evaluated under various scenarios, with their effectiveness measured using a fairness index. A higher fairness index was observed when a child chain handled a larger number of influencers. While the results of FTRC meet practical requirements, they still exhibit a significant gap compared to the benchmark set by STRC. Overall, the proposed system presents an innovative and equitable instant payment mechanism that introduces a standardized pricing and compensation model for content owners and influencers.