Exclusivity can often be associated with trustworthiness, prestige and a sense of premium. And it’s no different in programmatic advertising. In this piece, PubMatic ad solutions manager Australia & New Zealand Brittany Lefave explains how PMPs help both the buyside and supply side through exclusivity.

Private MarketPlaces (PMP) are on the rise.

In short, PMPs are an auction run by a single or small group of publishers that is only open to a select group of buyers – it’s all about exclusivity.

eMarketer earlier this year projected advertiser investment in PMPs to surge past open exchanges (public RTB auctions) next year and attract the majority of programmatic spend.

Behind the hype

So what’s behind this growth?

Firstly, PMPs are a way for buyers and publishers to bypass some of the typical – and sometimes troublesome – processes involved with traditional media buying and negotiate terms in an effective way.

PMPs have gained popularity through their ability to give a sense of control to everyone involved in the programmatic process.

The increased popularity of PMPs has been driven by both buyers and sellers.

Buyers see PMPs as a way to gain better access to premium inventory (sometimes at a higher priority) while also providing more relevant impressions.

Similarly, for publishers, it is a way to offer more control over what ads run on their website and who can access their premium audiences.

One of the major factors contributing to PMP growth globally is inventory exclusivity and scarcity across broadcast video, OTT and CTV.

The majority of premium video inventory is bought via PMP and cannot be accessed via the open marketplace. The ability to negotiate a fixed price and implement it via PMP means buyers can guarantee exactly how much they are paying for inventory and access supply they cannot obtain via OMP.

In turn, PMP gives publishers the control that they have with a direct IO, from both a fill and pricing perspective, with the benefits of automation.”

Another factor contributing to the rise of PMPs is the increased privacy concerns among users.

A survey conducted in the wake of the EU introducing its GDPR legislation found 55 per cent of marketers agreed the data protection laws made them more inclined to move their ad spend towards PMPs.

And this is a trend that has continued over the past 18 months. In some instances, publishers have even shut down their open marketplaces to minimise the risk of being fined under new legislation.

With Google Chrome having recently introduced tools to mitigate third-party cookies, first and second-party data is now a crucial commodity for digital advertisers.

By using a PMP, brands and advertisers can access this higher value data in a curated environment, which in turn boosts overall campaign efficiency.

PMPs were originally crafted as a way to reduce risk around ad fraud and to increase overall transparency.

And while this is still the case, the role of a PMP now is to help buyers and publishers build stronger relationships to help better monetise audiences.

Not all PMPs are the same

Like anything, not all PMPs have been made equally. At PubMatic, we recommend you work with multiple PMP partners to ensure you are always getting the best access to quality demand.

PMPs vary in their ability to scale, their difficulty to setup and the quality of the technology being used.

At PubMatic, we provide a best-in-class PMP solution that gives publishers improved monetisation of their audiences by offering higher value impressions while also giving advertisers more control over their ads.

To learn more about our PMP solutions, click here.