Advertisers want more transparency into and control over open marketplace quality. But curation is not the answer.
Solutions that fundamentally address the issues curation attempts to solve already exist. The IAB Tech Lab has rolled out Seller Defined Audiences and the Data Transparency Standard. Countless data providers have emerged to address transparency and control for buyers.
The problem is that none of these solutions have been adopted by the buy side.
As a result, the sell-side curation trend has picked up steam, introducing more tech layers in an already heavily taxed and overcrowded supply chain.
Does curation really benefit publishers?
SSPs have every right to bring curation to market. They’re attempting to add value by addressing the perceived poor quality of open marketplace inventory.
But is curation beneficial for premium publishers that are already earning high CPMs through premium content, direct ads.txt paths, strong viewability and high-quality audiences?
Publishers likely won’t see increased revenue from SSP curation.
In theory, curation could boost premium publishers by filtering out low-quality inventory (such as made-for-advertising content) and funneling demand to higher-quality publishers, thereby raising prices through limited supply.
However, in reality, programmatic scale is so vast that any supply constraints from curation are unlikely to drive up CPMs for premium publishers. Even when quality improves, DSPs still prioritize cheaper inventory within curated deals. If restricting supply doesn’t increase pricing, there’s no clear financial gain.
Moreover, SSPs are charging publishers higher fees for curated deals and likely charging buyers more as well. Without significant new demand, these additional fees mean publisher revenues will be unchanged at best.
How should publishers respond to curation?
Curation is here to stay, whether publishers embrace it or not. As curation grows, publishers should focus on quality and adjust their strategies. Here are some tips:
- Prioritize quality content and audiences.
- Shift efforts to direct sales and demand higher prices from brands by selling inventory directly.
- Optimize remnant inventory for curation deals; if inventory can’t sell directly, being part of a curated package is better than being left in the open market.
For smaller publishers lacking direct sales teams or those that get overlooked when buyers build their inclusion lists, curation could be an opportunity. Focus on quality benchmarks and request dialogue with SSPs to access greater demand.
To be sure you’re getting a return on these curation deals, publishers should ask their SSPs for:
- Performance reporting by curation package (with inventory breakdowns)
- The ability to set minimum prices for inventory
- Transparency around fees
How can SSPs and DSPs promote higher quality and transparency?
Originally, programmatic open real-time bidding allowed publishers to sell inventory while the market set prices. But curation adds layers that manipulate bid requests (such as traffic shaping). Unlike traffic shaping, though, curation can fundamentally change how inventory is presented in the marketplace.
The ideal approach would involve Seller Defined Audiences audited by SSP curators. However, we’re moving toward a model where SSPs drive curation with limited publisher involvement.
Curation reduces publisher control and transparency, adding complexity to performance analysis. SSPs now encourage publishers to hand over everything to enable curation.
This shift isn’t entirely negative, provided publishers are able to see how specific ad slots or inventory are curated. SSPs should offer the same level of transparency, reporting and collaboration to publishers as they do to buyers. Better yet, they should let publishers have a seat at the table in creating curated deals.
Meanwhile, DSPs and buyers should adopt the IAB Tech Lab’s Seller Defined Audiences and Data Transparency Standards and take the initiative on buying quality inventory.
Buyers, sellers and publishers must collaborate to eliminate MFA and build trust and transparency. Curation is a palliative solution that introduces yet another toll booth in the supply chain. We already have publisher-side tools to enhance quality and transparency, which marketers should use. However, if the buy side prefers to rely on ad tech vendors for curation over publishers, the publishers, as always, will have to adapt.
“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community.
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