Your SSP just pitched you on "curation." Here's what they're actually selling.

If you've been in ad tech for more than a few years, you've seen this pattern before. A new buzzword emerges. Vendors scramble to rebrand their offerings around it. Everyone claims to be a leader in something that didn't have a name six months ago.

Curation is the latest example. But unlike some ad tech trends, this one actually matters for your bottom line. Let me explain what's really going on and what you should do about it.

At its core, curation is simple: bundling your inventory with data to make it more valuable to advertisers.

That data can be audience segments, contextual signals, or supply chain verification (proving your inventory isn't resold garbage). The bundle gets packaged into a deal ID and sold through the open auction.

Think of it as creating a premium lane on top of your existing programmatic pipes. Same inventory, better targeting, higher CPMs. At least, that's the pitch.

Companies like Audigent, Infolinks, and Multilocal specialize in this. They sit between you and your SSP, enriching bid requests with data before they hit the DSP. Magnite, PubMatic, and other SSPs are also building their own curation capabilities.

1. Third-party cookies are dying. DSPs built their targeting on cookies. As that signal degrades, the sell-side—which has direct relationships with users—becomes more valuable for targeting.

2. Made-for-advertising sites poisoned the well. Advertisers got burned buying cheap inventory that turned out to be ad farms. Now they want verified, quality supply. Curation promises that.

3. SSPs need new revenue streams. The race to zero on take rates squeezed margins. Curation lets SSPs (and their partners) capture more value by adding data services on top of auction infrastructure.

Magnite's curation revenue grew over 100% year-over-year. Coca-Cola called curation a "key focus" for their programmatic strategy. The money is moving.

When done right, curation benefits publishers:

Higher CPMs. Inventory bundled with valuable data commands premium prices. Advertisers pay more when they can target precisely.

Access to demand you'd miss. Some advertisers only buy through curated deals. If you're not in those packages, you're invisible to that spend.

Reduced MFA exposure. Being in a curated marketplace signals quality. It separates you from the junk inventory that drags down programmatic pricing.

Data monetization. If you have strong first-party data, curation gives you a path to monetize it without building your own sales operation.

Curation isn't free money. There are real risks:

Another tax on your revenue. Curators take a cut. So does your SSP. Stack enough fees and your net CPM advantage disappears.

Loss of control. Someone else is packaging and selling your inventory. You may not know what data they're layering on or what deals they're cutting.

Opacity about performance. Is curation actually lifting your revenue? Or is it just relabeling demand that would have found you anyway? Hard to tell without good reporting.

Dependency on third parties. The more value gets created outside your walls, the less leverage you have.

Chris Kane from Jounce Media put it bluntly: "In their worst form, curators add another supply chain fee for simply loading a site list into an SSP."

Before you opt into curation deals, get answers:

Get names. Audigent? A trading desk? Your SSP's internal team? Know who's touching your supply.

Audience segments? Contextual categories? Attention metrics? Understand what's being layered on and whether it's accurate.

How much does the curator take? Is it a percentage of spend or a flat CPM? How does this stack with your existing SSP fees?

You need visibility into which curated deals are running, what CPMs they're generating, and how they compare to your non-curated inventory.

Not all curators add equal value. You should be able to block bad actors without losing access to good ones.

If your data is part of the value proposition, are you getting compensated for it? Or is someone else monetizing your audience?

Audit your current setup. Check your SSP dashboards. Are curated deals already running against your inventory? What's the performance?

Talk to your SSP rep. Ask specifically about their curation strategy. Who are their partners? What's opt-in vs. opt-out?

Run a test. Pick a segment of inventory and compare curated vs. non-curated performance over 30-60 days. Look at CPM lift, fill rate, and net revenue after fees.

Protect your first-party data. If you have valuable audience data, don't give it away for free. Negotiate data licensing terms or build your own curated deals.

Stay skeptical. Curation can add real value. It can also be a repackaging of services you're already paying for. Demand proof.

Curation is real, and it's reshaping how programmatic value flows between publishers, SSPs, and advertisers.

For publishers, it's an opportunity—if you're strategic. More revenue, better demand access, premium positioning.

But it's also a risk if you're passive. Another middleman taking a cut. Another layer of opacity in an already murky supply chain.

The publishers who win will be the ones who understand exactly what they're getting, negotiate hard on terms, and measure relentlessly.

Your SSP wants to talk curation? Good. Now you know what questions to ask.

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Need help navigating your programmatic strategy? I've spent years in ad tech building publisher-side systems. Let's talk.