Lucrative as this can be, it can also have an adverse effect. Normally, a publisher like Vox puts their ads up for sale via multiple SSPs and in doing so ensures there is a lot of different exchange “paths” to bid and subsequently drive up the price for the same impression. The more this happens, the better it is for publishers. “Having a non-standard ad product that’s reliant on third-party technologies always puts our own product roadmap at risk.”Īutonomy like this is more vital than ever for larger publishers - many of whom are trying to capitalize on the fact that marketers want to streamline the number of intermediaries handling their bids. “Owning our technology allows us to be masters of our domain,” said AJ Frucci, svp of media revenue and head of Concert at Vox Media. And in doing so took a risk that few publishers have made since the advent of programmatic. Anything that isn’t standardized needs a bespoke SSP, which Vox is now taking advantage of.

Ad tech may be great for publishers selling inventory at scale but only if those formats are standardized. Successful as Concert has been since it launched in 2016, most of the dollars spent there have come via direct deals i.e.

The SSP is an extension of this marketplace. To do this, the publisher’s ad op execs use the tech to manage, sell and optimize available ad space for its Athena ad unit on its sites like SB Nation and The Verge as well as from the premium publishers that make up the national and local ad marketplace, Concert. It’s launching its own supply-side platform - that ad tech publishers use (but don’t tend to own) to maximize the worth of their impressions.

Vox media inc