GroupM debuts Premium Marketplace after deals with Magnite and PubMatic as SPO intensifies

By Ronan Shields

Supply path optimization, or SPO, has been one of the defining narratives of the notoriously opaque programmatic landscape in recent years, as buy-side players seek further simplicity, not to mention burnish their margins.

It’s almost like the difference between the group purchasing of cars, and then actually being involved in the car production process, it’s a quite different level of engagement in that sense.

Anthony Meaden, global head of investment, GroupM

And it is in this respect, that WPP’s media investment arm has proven an enterprising actor with Thursday’s announcement of GroupM Premium Marketplace the result of licensing deals with supply-side platforms Magnite and PubMatic.

GroupM Premium Marketplace is a “unified programmatic marketplace” and the result of global partnership agreements with Magnite in North America and PubMatic in EMEA. It follows an RFP that asked prospects to prove their wares in the fast-emerging CTV sector, as well as demonstrate strength in high-growth markets.

It also builds on its earlier SPO efforts, dubbed Premium Supply, which saw it consolidate programmatic spending to a handful of SSPs including Magnite, PubMatic, and Index Exchange, tactics that have been used elsewhere on Madison Avenue.

Tellingly, it also comes at a time when other tiers of the ad tech and ecosystem form alliances of their own, overtures that increasingly blur the distinction between the traditional lines of demarcation in the online media ecosystem.

What is it, and how does it work?

GroupM Premium Marketplace “will provide clients with direct and advantaged access to high-quality publisher inventory” according to a press release that also makes assurances over supply chain transparency.

Speaking with Digiday, Andrew Meaden, GroupM’s global head of investment, described the launch of Premium Marketplace as the continuation of its earlier SPO efforts which asked for better transparency including lower take-rates from SSPs. “That was a very 1.0 approach,” he said adding that those deals still meant that GroupM was a “third-party buying from them as exchanges.”

Meaden explained further, “Magnite and PubMatic are [now] licensing that to us and we are actually controlling that ourselves… that means that we have full transparency now across everything that’s being done.”

Transparency assurances

While media agencies’ SPO efforts have gone some way to assuaging marketers’ concerns about entrusting their media budgets to programmatic trading headlines regarding issues such as the “unknown delta” of ad tech mean concerns linger.

The fact that GroupM can control the deals taking place within its Premium Marketplace should further induce clients to spend more programmatically, as well as open their minds to investing their budgets outside of the walled gardens of Facebook and Google, according to Meaden.

“We know exactly what clients are getting and how much they’re paying, we can also leverage our own deals across that tech,” he added. “It’s almost like the difference between the group purchasing cars, and then actually being involved in the …read more

Source:: Digiday