Industry leaders clash over curation benefits

Industry executives engaged in heated debate over programmatic curation's role in simplifying digital advertising during IAB Europe's Virtual Programmatic Day on July 3, 2025. The panel, moderated by Marie-Clare Puffett from IAB Europe, featured five speakers representing major advertising technology companies who offered conflicting perspectives on whether curation represents genuine innovation or merely rebranded existing practices.

According to Filippo Gramigna, co-CEO of OneTag, curation encompasses "the intelligent selection of media and data with an optimization that happens in real time for better outcomes." However, he acknowledged the technology isn't entirely new, suggesting the industry may be relabeling established practices around private marketplace deals.

Summary

Who: Industry executives from OneTag, Magnite, Index Exchange, Microsoft Advertising, and Comcast Advertising participated in the debate, moderated by IAB Europe's Marie-Clare Puffett

What: Heated discussion over programmatic curation's impact on digital advertising, including disagreements about innovation claims, operational complexity, and market structure implications

When: July 3, 2025, during IAB Europe's Virtual Programmatic Day H1 2025 event

Where: Hybrid format broadcast from Rakuten Advertising's London offices with virtual participation from hundreds of industry professionals

Why: Rising demand for premium inventory and transparency amid signal loss acceleration has elevated curation as a potential solution, though executives remain divided on implementation approaches and market benefits

Frank Schofield, Director of Enterprise Sales and Commerce Media at Magnite, defended curation as genuinely transformative, arguing it gives buyers unprecedented control over supply chain decisioning. "What the buyer wants, it's still control, transparency, ROI, like that hasn't really changed through the whole like well my whole career in programmatic," Schofield stated during the discussion.

The debate intensified when Matthew Adams, Regional VP of Media AdTech at Microsoft Advertising, revealed Microsoft's strategic pivot. According to Adams, Microsoft announced the deprecation of its DSP Invest platform, focusing instead entirely on sell-side curation capabilities. "We think brands building marketplaces and buyers ultimately leaning into curation is going to be the real path forward," Adams explained.

However, tensions emerged over data scale and publisher control. Gramigna warned that staying in "siloed environments publisher by publisher" risks creating excessive granularity that reduces scale effectiveness. "There is a risk of getting too granular and therefore lacking scale," he argued, suggesting SSPs must package inventory across multiple publishers to maintain viability.

Sarah Botherway, Director of Marketplace Operations at Index Exchange, emphasized collaboration between supply-side platforms and buyers as essential for success. According to Botherway, the approach requires "working with partners who are transparent and are able to provide information on where all of the fees are going within the transaction."

Stephanie Briec, Senior Director of Demand Sales at Comcast Advertising, challenged the newness claims entirely. "Curation has been around and I think coming from a CTV world, free will being the broadcasters and streamers, we've always been doing curation," Briec stated. Her comments highlighted existing practices within connected television that predate current industry buzz.

The discussion revealed fundamental disagreements about curation's technical implementation. According to Gramigna, effective curation requires "infrastructure" and "algorithmical approach" rather than traditional linear packaging of domains and data. He emphasized real-time processing capabilities as distinguishing genuine curation from legacy practices.

Publishers expressed concerns about losing control to buyer-driven marketplaces, prompting defensive responses from supply-side representatives. According to Schofield, "It has to be control on both sides" with publishers maintaining authority over ad placement and buyer relationships. Publishers can "opt in or out of any marketplace that is being set up," he clarified.

Operational efficiency emerged as a key battleground. According to Adams, moving decisioning to the sell side reduces bid request volumes passed to demand-side platforms, enabling buyers to see only relevant users rather than having "a large part of their audience filtered out because of efficiency algorithms."

The sustainability angle generated additional debate. According to the panelists, curation demonstrably reduces carbon footprints through decreased computational requirements, though specific measurement methodologies weren't detailed during the session.

Data requirements sparked contentious exchanges about first-party data value. According to Gramigna, publishers can leverage curation platforms to "promote their inventory with first party data," but the competitive advantage remains unclear as multiple parties pursue similar strategies simultaneously.

Industry standardization questions dominated the session's final segments. An audience member representing an independent DSP challenged supply quality concerns, asking whether curation provides "an excuse to start culling suppliers" rather than genuinely improving inventory standards.

Performance metrics emerged as disputed territory. According to Gramigna, OneTag observed "an increase in bid density up to 40%" through curation implementation, translating to "roughly between 25 and 30% increase" in publisher revenue. However, other panelists didn't provide comparable data points for verification.

The complexity versus simplification debate remained unresolved. While Adams argued curation creates "more consolidated supply chains and more efficient buying," others suggested additional technical layers might complicate rather than streamline programmatic operations.

Brand-direct adoption patterns revealed market fragmentation. According to Schofield, brands approaching SSPs directly typically possess "quite a developed programmatic team already" and seek transparency and control rather than operational simplicity.

Future convergence possibilities generated speculation about platform consolidation. According to Gramigna, the industry may evolve toward unified platforms handling both buy-side and sell-side functions, potentially eliminating current DSP-SSP distinctions for certain campaign types.

The debate highlighted persistent transparency challenges despite technological advances. Multiple speakers emphasized ongoing needs for fee visibility and supply chain clarity, suggesting existing solutions haven't fully addressed buyer concerns about programmatic intermediation.

Connected television emerged as a key battleground for curation adoption. According to the discussion, CTV campaigns increasingly combine brand and performance objectives, requiring more sophisticated inventory packaging and optimization capabilities than traditional display advertising.

Innovation versus commoditization concerns permeated the conversation. According to Gramigna, both DSPs and SSPs face commoditization pressures across different activation types, potentially driving consolidation or specialization within specific use cases.

The session concluded without consensus on curation's ultimate impact on programmatic advertising's complexity. While all panelists agreed on transparency and control importance, their proposed solutions varied significantly in technical implementation and market structure implications.

Industry observers note the debate reflects broader tensions between efficiency demands and competitive differentiation needs within programmatic advertising. As signal loss accelerates throughout the industry, companies seek sustainable advantages through technological innovation rather than relying solely on user data abundance.

The timing coincides with major platform integrations of curation standards, including Google Ad Manager's November 2024 announcement and Microsoft's February 2025 partner program expansion to include curation technology providers.

Timeline

• December 16, 2024: IAB Tech Lab establishes formal curation standards following two years of framework development
• February 27, 2025: Microsoft Advertising Partner Program expands to include curation technology providers in pilot program
• July 3, 2025: IAB Europe Virtual Programmatic Day features contentious curation panel debate
• July 8, 2025: Complete event coverage reveals curation as major industry discussion topic
• July 9, 2025: StackAdapt launches AI assistant Ivy™ for programmatic decision-making