Quick notes: Joe Barone, enjoy retirement! Friends down South: we’re here for you. For our friends in war-torn areas: you are in our hearts.
To my question in the subject line, the quick answer is no. Curation has not run its course. Not even close. I used that as my subject line because “Is Curation the New Synthetic Bond?” might not resonate as often with people who haven’t watched Margin Call or The Big Short as often as I have. Those movies explain how the housing crisis of ‘08 was the result of people packaging up shit and selling it as A+ rated investments. Boom.
See where I’m going with this?
Here’s the thing: curation could be exactly what publishers and buyers want/need right now. As discussed with Jake Abraham (Audigent) and Scott Messer (Messer Media) on a call with our publisher community, more revenue from the open marketplace is moving to Programmatic Direct sources. That’s good. No, that’s great. What’s the problem?
The problem is the same as everything else in our industry: lack of transparency. From a publisher perspective, I don’t know how my inventory is being represented. Is Golf “golf,” or is it “sports”? Am I getting paid less to create scale, or am I getting packaged up to be a special segment? I dunno. As a publisher, I should have some visibility, if only so I know the buyers’ value of my inventory. What I do know, either way, the take rates are higher.
The other twist to this: curation raises my programmatic CPMs. Yay! Curation puts pressure on my direct sold CPMs. No yay!
At Base.Camp Denver, we have sessions focused on the publisher relationship with SSPs, how publishers should work together on curation, measuring success, and what to focus on for 2025. I can’t wait to see how my quick take on curation turns into real conversations next week.
Time to name-drop recent registrants to the best publisher-focused event in Barcelona this Fall: The Independent, Prebid, Warner Bros. Discovery, LoveToKnow Media, Bloomberg Media, Alayans Media, AVForums, Publisher Collective, Infoplaza. Base.Camp Barcelona won’t settle for being demure and mindful. Base.Camp Barcelona is the definition of main character energy. Let us know you are interested!
If you’re not in Denver next week (hint: you should totally be in Denver next week), we suggest Sigma Software’s AdTech Poker Night on October 7. What we’ve been totally remiss in not promoting is Strangers No More on October 9! Prizes! Activities! Mr. Richter, you’ve outdone yourself with this one! Join the fun!
Other Fall events we recommend: Prebid Summit (October 15, NYC), and DanAds Annual Summit (October 22, NYC). Don’t forget our Friday Virtual Happy Hours are still going as well!
While you have a Q4 to contend with, it’s not too early to talk 2025:
- Base.Camp Red Rock, NV – March 2-5, 2025
- AdTech Economic Forum: NYC – March 19, 2025
- Navigator NYC – April 29, 2025
- Base.Camp Savannah, GA – October 5-8, 2025
Discussing Publisher Addressability with LiveIntent
Rob Beeler and Greg Capello, Vice President of Product Marketing at LiveIntent, dive into the concept of addressability in digital advertising and why it’s crucial for both big and small publishers.
When you’re done signing up for all of these events:
- Read our take on the top updates/news items from around the industry this past week.
- Consider OPE (Other People’s Events)
- Look for your next job on our job board. Better yet – sign up for our Jobs Newsletter (delivered every Thursday). Subscribe here.
- Fill your open positions by helping us help you: Submit a job and check out a job seeker like Job Seeker 59 is looking for a new role in yield or ad operations. I would love to find a mid to senior management position with an organization that has both growth and learning opportunities, prides themselves in having great company culture, and is in need of someone with extensive experience on both the buying and selling sides of the programmatic industry.
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End of Transmission – Team.Beeler