"The open internet didn't grow opaque because of a single bad actor or decision. Marketers chased cheap scale, and the ecosystem expanded around that demand. New intermediaries, auction layers and resellers piled on, creating complexity that no one fully intended. Even earnest transparency pushes on the demand side were diluted as the sell side sprawled into a maze of MFA inventory and supply routes no one could reliably audit."
"In fact, one exec at the summit's town hall recounted seeing a 65% gap between the bid their team submitted and what the publisher ultimately received, with no explanation of how much the SSP was responsible for. They ended up piecing it together themselves. The publisher's closing bid was visible, the DSP fee was disclosed, the add-ons were simple to isolate and there was no other intermediaries in the path. The source of the missing dollars wasn't hard to pinpoint."
The programmatic advertising ecosystem became opaque as marketers chased cheap scale and intermediaries multiplied around that demand. New auction layers, resellers and added supply routes increased complexity and diluted transparency efforts. Operational pressure and economic incentives are driving a renewed industry push for transparency. SSPs remain especially opaque because they take their cut before bids reach publishers, leaving buyers without clear visibility into deductions. Instances surfaced of large gaps between buyer bids and publisher receipts, which teams sometimes had to reconstruct themselves. SSP margin pressure helps explain, though not excuse, these opaque practices.
Read at Digiday
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