Whereas brands and DSPs are whittling down the number of supply paths they use to purchase ad inventory, publishers are financially incentivized to work with as many partners as possible. But there are changes afoot that could alter the economics for publishers.
In 2022, SPO solutions largely revolved around creating direct connections to so-called premium publishers. But machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) also took on a bigger role in SPO this year. And 2022 was the year the ad industry began touting SPO as the solution of choice for sustainability-focused marketers.
Dramatic shifts in consumer viewing habits during the pandemic have led, predictably, to an intense focus on the corresponding connected TV (CTV) advertising opportunity. CTV ad spend is growing leaps and bounds – and for good reason. But for continuation of that growth to be warranted, there are a number of enhancements that must be brought to bear.
SSPs had traditionally been among the first in the ad tech ecosystem to build profitable businesses. But their future in the programmatic tech stack is uncertain because they’ve evolved from publisher-centric technologies to demand aggregation businesses, often competing with their biggest customers: buy-side platforms or DSPs.
As part of a plan to consolidate its SSP partners, Horizon Media struck a deal with PubMatic Monday. Horizon’s clients who purchase open-auction inventory through its HX trade desk will be able to use PubMatic’s SPO products to automatically optimize their bidding depending on which KPIs they want to boost, whether the deal is open auction, programmatic guaranteed or a private marketplace.
PubMatic’s total Q3 revenue grew 11% to $64.5 million despite an industry-wide downturn, but the company doesn’t have high hopes for the rest of the year. It expects that ad spend will continue to trend down in Q4. But although spending is decelerating due to recession fears, PubMatic is planning to capitalize on the eventual rebound by focusing on video, retail media and particularly CTV, which continues to grow.
Supply-path optimization remains a hot industry topic. Increasingly, advertisers and publishers see the value in SPO to get closer to one another’s audiences. But identity is stoking the fire on the convergence of programmatic supply and demand, writes Lauren Fisher, GM of business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions.
You can’t have supply path optimization (SPO) without supply chain transparency. The ads.txt version 1.1 update released in April added OWNERDOMAIN and MANAGERDOMAIN variables that allow publishers to label a site’s parent company and the intermediary that is selling a site’s ad inventory. The IAB Tech Lab’s Jill Wittkopp spoke to AdExchanger about how these supply chain transparency tools relate to the industry’s pursuit of SPO.
As technology and industry self-regulation converge to make supply and demand path optimization more seamless and efficient, we need a better name to describe optimization across the advertising ecosystem, writes Stephen Johnston, CTO of PubWise. “I’d like to submit for your consideration a new term: advertising logistics.”
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. All Systems Ro’ Roku insiders are abuzz about a potential acquisition by Netflix, Insider reports. There’s no firm reporting of a deal, or even of negotiations. But two employees say Roku abruptly closed the trading window to sell vested stock. That kind of trading […]
It’s chilly out there, but PubMatic had a decent quarter. Organic revenue for Q1 totaled $54.6 million, up 25% year-over-year, representing PubMatic’s seventh consecutive quarter of 20% revenue growth or more. PubMatic’s stock was up a smidge, about .5%, in after-hours trading.
The complexity and lack of transparency in the programmatic ad buying ecosystem makes it hard to understand who you’re buying from and how big of a bite they’re taking out of a buyer’s ad spend. Hence the need for supply path optimization (SPO). Simply put, SPO is about buyers identifying the most efficient connections and using them to transact with sellers. The goal is to stop buying through inefficient or expensive paths to supply.
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The Trade Desk recently made waves with the rollout of OpenPath, its direct-to-publisher offering, and its plan to turn off Google Open Bidding, a one-two punch in supply path optimization (SPO). Both of these SPO moves could reshuffle the ad buying ecosystem, making publishers less reliant on SSPs and cutting off a revenue source for Google’s Open Bidding.
The Trade Desk’s OpenPath demonstrates supply path optimization (SPO) is moving from concept to reality. But what does it practically mean for publishers or yield teams tasked with driving business KPIs? The question is to whom SPO is important, writes Emry DowningHall, SVP of programmatic revenue and strategy at Unwind Media.
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. CTV Winning Google Ad Manager’s second annual Advanced TV Inventory Report is out, and surprise! Connected TV was a big winner during the pandemic last year. The report analyzed 35 global advanced TV partners. In Q2 2020 — at the height of the downturn […]
Programmatic advertising used to be an afterthought for The Associated Press. AP, the largest and oldest newswire service in the US, makes the majority of its revenue through a subscription fee that news organizations pay for to access vetted content. But there’s no reason why an entity founded in 1846 can’t also optimize its supply […]
GroupM wants to move from using 40 to 50 supply partners globally to five to six partners. As part of that push to consolidate its programmatic supply chain, it struck a global deal with the SSP PubMatic. “We want to use our scale effectively to help clients,” said Andrew Meaden, global head of investment at […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Marc Goldberg, CRO at Method Media Intelligence. Supply-path optimization (SPO) is yet another vague ad tech initialism, the definition of which changes depending on who is speaking. Most people think […]
District M and Sharethrough will merge to form a single exchange covering native, display, mobile, instream and video. Their combined scale serves a dual purpose. First, it puts them in a better position with buyers, who are working with fewer, but larger exchanges. Second, the two companies will double their revenue, putting them in a […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Chris Kane, founder at Jounce Media. Depending on when you start the clock, we’re now two to three years into the first wave of supply path optimization (SPO). Here’s what we’ve learned […]
“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Craig Aron, SVP of growth and strategic business development at Bidtellect. Never has it been clearer that the programmatic ecosystem is in need of reform. As Archimedes once articulated, the shortest path between two […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Kevin O’Sullivan, director of business development, EMEA at Amobee. Supply-path optimization is too often considered shorthand for a wrecking ball mentality that turns off SSPs and publishers in order to consolidate […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Todd Wooten, founder and president at VRTCAL. A good compromise, “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David once joked, is one where both parties are dissatisfied. Between ad tech’s buy side and sell side, […]
“The Sell Sider” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Wenda Zhou, publisher product lead at IPONWEB. The quest for cleaner supply has been high on the buyer agenda for some time, with much written about why routes through […]
“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Max Knight, VP of analytics services at Amobee. Ask connected TV (CTV) advertisers what supply-path optimization (SPO) means and you’ll hear a hodgepodge of answers that include selecting exchange partners, avoiding resellers and making […]
“The Sell Sider” is a column written for the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Michael Shaughnessy, senior vice president of operations and partnerships at Kargo. The economic downturn caused by COVID-19 has accelerated supply-path optimization (SPO) conversations and will force suppliers that don’t exceed buyer demands and expectations […]
Supply-path optimization (SPO) has become a selling point for agencies looking to bring value and savings to clients in programmatic. An SPO strategy allows buyers to cut out players in the programmatic supply chain that don’t add value, such as resellers or exchanges that sell only duplicative inventory, while simultaneously funneling more spend toward exchanges […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Michael Berkowitz, solutions architect at Jounce Media. In the age of supply-path optimization (SPO), marketers are more deeply evaluating how their bids reach publishers, and many brands and agencies are […]
A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…
