DNPA adopts Magnite Access for publisher data infrastructure

Digital News Publishers Association implements Magnite Access on October 8, 2025, enabling 22 Indian news publishers to streamline audience data sharing across premium inventory through self-service audience activation tools.

The Digital News Publishers Association announced the adoption of Magnite Access by several member organizations. Magnite (NASDAQ:MGNI), the largest independent sell-side advertising company, confirmed the partnership on October 8, 2025. The implementation provides DNPA publishers with self-service capabilities for discovering and activating first- and third-party audience segments.

Twenty-two news media publishers participate in DNPA. Member organizations include Lokmat, Free Press Journal, Indian Express, Zee Media, Dainik Jagran, Eenadu, ABP Group, Indian TV, Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, India Today, The Hindu, Dainik Bhaskar, Network 18, Times Internet, HT Digital, NDTV, The New Indian Express, The Mysore Printers, Amar Ujala, and Times Group. All members represent digital arms of leading print and television entities.

Technical infrastructure and capabilities

Magnite Access enables publishers to implement a shared data infrastructure. Publishers can create and deploy high-value audience segments across premium inventory. The unified ecosystem supports private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals.

"This tie-up represents a forward-looking approach to solving long-standing industry challenges, and underscores our commitment to innovation and collaboration," said Sujata Gupta, Secretary General, DNPA.

Publishers gained the ability to create cross-publisher audience packages through the platform. The system allows curated segments, such as collections of travel enthusiasts. These capabilities deliver additional value beyond individual publisher offerings.

"Working with Magnite allows us to harness advanced technology to deliver better value to advertisers while maintaining more control over our audiences and premium inventory," Gupta added.

Gavin Buxton, Managing Director, Asia at Magnite, described the collaboration as first-of-its-kind. "By enabling DNPA publishers to unify and activate their audiences through our technology, we're helping to elevate the value of independent journalism and provide scalable and sustainable solutions to benefit both the buy and sell sides," said Buxton.

Organizational structure and objectives

DNPA operates as an umbrella organization dedicated to promoting, supporting, and protecting digital news publishers' growth. The association represents member interests before government, regulatory authorities, industry bodies, and other organizations affecting the digital news industry.

Six primary objectives guide DNPA operations. The association promotes, aids, helps, encourages, develops, protects and secures digital news publisher interests. DNPA promotes publisher interests to government, regulatory authorities, industry bodies and organizations affecting the digital news industry. The organization serves shared interests of digital news publishers and protects general member interests across political, legal and regulatory matters. DNPA also functions as a self-regulatory body for recognized and verified news publishers.

The association promotes awareness about digital industry developments related to news and content. DNPA disseminates knowledge among members and the general public regarding these developments. The organization promotes friendly relations among members and persons engaged in creation and distribution of digital news content. DNPA encourages cooperation among members to maximize mutual benefits.

Protection from unfair practices represents another core objective. DNPA shields members from persons or entities conducting unfair or unethical practices that discredit the digital news industry. The association works toward industry-wide solutions. These efforts include controlling fake news dissemination, fact-checking solutions, and standards for viewability and brand safety.

Programmatic infrastructure context

The Trade Desk launched Deal Desk on June 9, 2025, introducing AI-powered platform features designed to transform advertiser and publisher strategic partnerships management. The platform addresses persistent inefficiencies in programmatic advertising deals between advertisers and publishers, providing unprecedented transparency into deal performance, quality metrics, and pacing analysis.

Supply chain complexity remains a fundamental challenge in digital advertising. Magnite and Playwire established a strategic partnership on January 7, 2025, integrating Playwire's Flex Suite formats into Magnite's programmatic infrastructure. This partnership addressed the complexity between advertisers and publishers by establishing standardized delivery mechanisms for high-impact creative formats.

Publishers implemented bid throttling strategies throughout 2025 to combat duplicate bid requests emerging from header bidding adoption. Major publishers including Chegg and Daily Mail deployed these techniques to regain control over programmatic ad inventory while reducing page latency and improving monetization efficiency.

Revenue sharing models faced scrutiny in October 2024 when Sovrn eliminated SSP revenue sharing, allowing publishers to retain more revenue from programmatic advertising. Publishers typically received only 36 cents of every media dollar spent through demand-side platforms before Sovrn's pricing model change.

Transaction identifier standards controversies emerged in August 2025 as demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms disputed fundamental architecture of bid request transparency. Publishers using Prebid Server integration faced particular challenges as technical documentation indicated implementation requirements limited cross-exchange visibility.

Market implications for publishers

The DNPA-Magnite partnership provides news publishers with enhanced capabilities for audience monetization. Publishers can leverage self-service tools without requiring extensive technical resources. The shared data infrastructure enables smaller publishers to access sophisticated audience segmentation capabilities typically available only to larger organizations.

Private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals receive direct support through the platform. These deal structures typically command higher CPMs than open exchange transactions. Publishers maintaining premium inventory positions can justify premium pricing through verified audience quality metrics.

Cross-publisher audience packages create new revenue opportunities. Publishers can collaborate on specialized audience segments that individual publishers could not deliver at scale. Travel-focused content across multiple publications, for example, can aggregate into comprehensive travel enthusiast segments spanning news, lifestyle, and business contexts.

Industry observers note the partnership addresses concerns about programmatic advertising fundamentals. VCCP UK's Group Chief Strategy Officer Richard Armstrong described programmatic buying as "very broken" in September 2025, pointing to collapsed value exchanges between advertisers, publishers, and consumers. Digital spending accounts for approximately 65% of total advertising budgets, with roughly 70% flowing to Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Meta.

Streaming partnerships demonstrate Magnite's platform capabilities across formats. Paramount Australia partnered with Magnite in July 2025 for programmatic streaming advertisements. The integration utilized Magnite's SpringServe technology platform, merged with supply-side platform capabilities earlier in 2025. Magnite maintains 99% coverage of the connected television supply market.

Privacy and transparency considerations

Publishers expressed concerns about transaction identifier implementations potentially exposing identifier connections across different sellers. Publishers drove Prebid transaction ID changes on August 27, 2025, following intense industry debate about publisher motivations and buyer transparency demands. Prebid.org implemented bidder-specific transaction identifiers, ensuring each bidder receives different transaction identifiers even when participating in identical auction opportunities.

The Digital News Publishers Association represents a collective of India's leading digital news media organizations committed to promoting high standards of journalism. DNPA safeguards publisher interests and drives digital innovation. The association represents trusted news brands with deep editorial legacy and mass digital reach. DNPA works to shape policy, foster best practices, and build sustainable business models for digital journalism's future.

Magnite operates with offices across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC. The company's technology enables content monetization across all screens and formats including CTV, online video, display, and audio. Leading agencies and brands trust the platform to access brand-safe, high-quality ad inventory and execute billions of advertising transactions monthly.

Timeline

• October 8, 2025 — Digital News Publishers Association and Magnite announce partnership adoption
• August 27, 2025 — Publishers drive Prebid transaction ID changes amid yield protection concerns
• July 15, 2025 — Paramount Australia partners with Magnite for programmatic streaming ads
• June 9, 2025 — The Trade Desk launches Deal Desk to manage advertising deals
• January 7, 2025 — Magnite and Playwire forge programmatic alliance for premium ad formats
• October 14, 2024 — Sovrn eliminates SSP revenue share, publishers save 48% on ad tech fees

Summary

Who: Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), representing 22 Indian news media publishers including Lokmat, Free Press Journal, Indian Express, Zee Media, Dainik Jagran, and others, partnered with Magnite (NASDAQ:MGNI), the largest independent sell-side advertising company.

What: DNPA adopted Magnite Access, a self-service platform for discovering and activating first- and third-party audience segments. The implementation enables publishers to create shared data infrastructure, deploy high-value audience segments across premium inventory, and support private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals.

When: Magnite and DNPA announced the partnership on October 8, 2025.

Where: The implementation affects DNPA member publishers operating across India, representing both print and television digital arms. Magnite maintains global operations across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC regions, with specific presence in Mumbai serving Asian markets.

Why: The partnership addresses long-standing industry challenges around audience data activation and programmatic infrastructure access. Publishers gained capabilities to maintain control over audiences and premium inventory while delivering enhanced value to advertisers. The implementation provides smaller publishers access to sophisticated audience segmentation tools, enables cross-publisher audience packages, and supports premium deal structures commanding higher CPMs than open exchange transactions.