The TV term du jour is supply-path optimization (SPO).
As more TV inventory goes programmatic, advertisers are demanding better transparency and doing whatever they can to reduce the much-despised ad tech tax.
Sell-side platforms in particular are under intense pressure to prove their worth or be swept aside.
But there are two ways that SSPs can use supply-path optimization to their advantage: offering advertisers more automation and enabling direct connections to TV ad demand.
Flirtation with automation
Automating ad transactions is at the top of SSP to-do lists.
Comcast-owned FreeWheel, for example, just promoted David Dworin to chief product officer this week, and one of his top priorities is to make more video inventory biddable. Dworin told me FreeWheel’s plan is to sell more linear supply programmatically, starting with one-to-one addressable spots before eventually moving on to nonaddressable inventory, such as data-driven linear.
Smaller SSPs are taking a similar approach. Beachfront is also focused on automating the workflow of linear TV buying, including bringing real-time bidding to more set-top box inventory.
The fewer hops it takes advertisers to get in front of an addressable household, the lower take rate they have to pay to intermediaries. At this point, minimizing fees and increasing take-rate transparency should be table stakes for SSPs that want to maintain market competitiveness, Beachfront CEO Chris Maccaro told me recently.
FreeWheel and Beachfront also each have their own integrated SSP and ad server. Both claim that this integrated package deal setup is a competitive advantage.
Meeting demand
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Automating ad sales can also create more direct inroads to demand.
FreeWheel, for example, is using its programmatic chops to formalize more direct relationships with media agencies, most recently Havas. And last month, SSP OpenX inked a deal with Horizon Media to integrate with the agency’s identity graph and route unique demand to publisher clients.
The influx of demand is driving ad tech consolidation, too.
Although Tremor International already had both a sell-side platform (Unruly) and a demand-side platform (Tremor Video), it acquired DSP Amobee in July to help bring more linear and connected TV demand to its publisher clients.
FreeWheel is also leaning further into the end-to-end trend after closing its acquisition of the DSP Beeswax about a year ago, according to Dworin, who pointed to unique video demand as a main motivator behind the deal.
And speaking of DSPs, The Trade Desk also claims that SPO is helping the company secure a better path to connected TV supply for its advertiser clients.
What I’m wondering is: Will SPO create more winners and losers in the TV and video space? And will streamlining access to supply be enough to address advertiser demands for transparency?
Let me know what you think. Hit me up at alyssa@adexchanger.com.
