SPO Blows

At the tail end of the IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting, GroupM’s global head of investment, Andrew Meaden, discussed the giant media buyer's global preferred relationship with another sell-side platform, PubMatic. 

More conversations are swirling around supply path optimization, a process where buyers winnow the number of tech intermediaries they work with to get optimum rates and more transparent pricing on opaque ad trading.     

But the words "global preferred relationships" don't appeal to everyone, especially some publishers. A couple of big players do not make for a vibrant ecosystem, (take the U.K.'s competition watchdog's investigation into Google). Not to mention, more of these deals could see the sell-side vendors acting in the interest of the buy-side over publishers. 

“We have steadily seen ad tech generally move from the publisher to the buy-side as more tech is activated at the DSP and agency level,” one global publishing exec told me recently. “That’s led to the commoditization of publishers. SSPs have been the last hold out, too much emphasis on those trading deals might see them move the other way.” 

I’d love to hear where you sit on this topic, since there are more of these deals to come. 

And with that, please consider supporting our journalism with an Adweek+ Subscription and gain full access to all of Adweek's essential coverage and resources.

Thanks for reading, have a great week!

Lucinda

Lucinda.southern@adweek.com

The social network teamed up with Boston Children’s Hospital on a tool to help U.S. users learn where they can do it.

Keep up with the rapid transformation of media and learn how to build a future-forward marketing strategy at Adweek’s Mediaweek, April 14-16.

This live virtual summit will bring together expert speakers, including Karla Davis, VP of Integrated Marketing and Media at Ulta Beauty, Professor Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU’s Stern School of Business, Marla Kaplowitz, President and CEO of 4A’s, Bill Tucker, Group EVP at ANA and many more, to share insights on the Main Stage, lead Workshops and lead Masterclasses.

Register by March 17 to save 40% on your pass.

Havas Lisbon turned real news pages into infographics to illustrate the imbalance.

Debuting in June, it's already secured $80 million in upfront commitments.

HBO Max uses young adult series and films to broaden its subscriber base.