For the ninth quarter in a row, Pixalate has named OpenX a top-ranked CTV SSP in its Global CTV Seller Trust Index, which ranks global sellers of programmatic CTV advertising inventory sold on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung devices. 

Promoting a fair and transparent value exchange has long been core to OpenX’s DNA, and as more marketers choose CTV, we are committed to ensuring our transparency practices lead the industry. While our CTV inventory has always been 100% glass-on-wall devices and in-stream video, we recently launched an ongoing initiative to expand our commitment to a transparent CTV ecosystem.

We created this initiative to combine the most powerful aspects of linear and programmatic buying models to unlock the full potential of CTV. To fulfill that potential, in the first phase of this initiative, we took the following actions:

In its short tenure, TV by OpenX has already helped buyers reduce manual efforts for CTV setup and set more accurate bid guidance. Additionally, TV by OpenX delivers enhanced reporting, including log-level data and granular insights into campaigns, for improved measurement and attribution. The goal of TV by OpenX is to move the industry forward for buyers, publishers, and technology providers alike.

This is only the beginning. Our belief is that you should Demand More from your Media today than you did yesterday. TV by OpenX is actively advancing that mission by helping to create a more transparent and efficient programmatic CTV experience for the entire ecosystem.

Interested in activating today? Contact us here, or download the one-sheet to learn more. 

Download the TV by OpenX one-sheet:

A new path for biddable CTV

Today, OpenX announced the launch of TV by OpenX, an ongoing initiative to unlock the full potential of CTV by combining the most powerful aspects of linear and programmatic buying models.

Ensuring that CTV doesn’t repeat the same cycles as digital is imperative to the success of programmatic TV. As a for instance, in the current CTV landscape, buyers aren’t able to efficiently buy in biddable media environments due to an over-indexing of intermediaries. 

Further, brands and agencies often pay CTV CPMs without having full transparency into what they’re buying. When non-TV content is categorized as CTV, publishers’ premium content is devalued and buyers cannot lean into their KPIs with confidence.

Improving trust and transparency in CTV

To address these pain points, OpenX has launched the first phase of TV by OpenX. As a part of this initial phase, we’ve taken two key actions to improve trust and transparency in CTV.

The future of biddable CTV

Through TV by OpenX, buyers can unlock direct premium publisher integrations across more than 110 million measurable “glass-on-wall” devices. This access to direct-sourced inventory improves transparency and control, while the log-level data OpenX provides buyers delivers visibility into impressions. Together, these transparency initiatives positively impact buyer confidence, enabling brands and agencies to implement key strategies such as incremental reach.

This first step in the TV by OpenX mission to transform programmatic CTV into a high-quality marketing opportunity allows publishers to confidently place their premium inventory into biddable environments while giving brands and agencies full transparency into what they’re buying. By prioritizing this level of trust and transparency, TV by OpenX furthers our commitment to delivering a fair and transparent value exchange between publishers, agencies, and DSPs.

As we embark on creating the future of CTV, we have the opportunity to make programmatic TV more efficient and effective by ensuring content is fit for purpose, accessed directly, and demand and supply partners have transparency across the value chain. To learn more, please reach out directly or download the one-sheet below.

Download the TV by OpenX one-sheet:

The role of supply-side platforms (SSPs) has evolved over the years, shifting from a simple pipeline between buyers and publishers to a unique channel for valuable optimization. 

Matt Sattel, SVP of Global Buyer Development at OpenX joined Wayne Blodwell, host of The AdPod, to talk about this transformation, the power of working with an experienced SSP, and what the future holds for these platforms.

Listen to their chat here, and read on for the biggest takeaways from the conversation.

SSPs aren’t what they used to be.

With an increased focus on direct supply, SSPs have developed powerful supply-side targeting capabilities, data-focused tools, and strong identity technology. This shift has brought enormous value to buyers, who can now find solutions in SSPs to their targeting and audience needs.

SSPs have a critical responsibility in this changing landscape. First, SSPs have long been responsible for sorting through the marketplace for buyers, and modern buyers are leaning on SSPs to do that and more. 

Second, SSPs can drive yield management, increase publisher revenue, and ensure fair and timely payments. The close relationships that SSPs have with each corner of the ecosystem mean they can build the most effective, efficient supply paths.

Differentiation is critical.

Any aspect of the industry that can’t differentiate itself is falling behind. For an SSP, differentiation means finding the unique capabilities that drive value for buyers. OpenX, for example, has leaned into its valuable data and identity tools, while also pushing forward impactful sustainability efforts. To survive the transforming advertising landscape, SSPs need to focus on maintaining and growing their distinct capacities.

Clients also have a task in this differentiated landscape. To find the best-fitting platform amid increasing differentiation, they need to carefully curate requests for information and ask questions that draw out connections between their needs and a platform’s specific capabilities.

SSPs are innovating to better equip modern buyers.

Buyers are facing distinct challenges from those that arose in years past, and that includes an increase in indirect inventory and made-for-advertising sites (MFA). To meet buyer needs, SSPs have developed tools that can be used to protect buyers’ investments and results. 

OpenX is doing that by digging deeply into the issues currently troubling buyers, like the need to easily remove indirect inventory and avoid MFA. We’re building tools that give quick, accessible, and valuable control to buyers — ones that SSPs like OpenX are uniquely qualified to provide.

The supply-path optimization (SPO) process has allowed buyers to build more competitive packages for publishers. There’s been an evolution of fee caps, which ultimately send more dollars to the publisher, and post-auction discounts, which power more working media and pull additional revenue back to buyers. Both of these practices have transformed commercial models within the SPO process and relationships between buyers and publishers.

SSPs are cleaning up the advertising landscape.

There are times when buyers may choose to go directly through a DSP, like when there’s a particular buy that’s necessary. There are times when buying through an SSP will bring targeted markets with focused and effective connections. Either way, there is space for both in the industry, especially when SSPs partner closely with DSP partners. 

While there’s a trend toward direct advertising at the moment, encouraged by movements against MFA, SSPs have been working hard to eliminate problematic indirect supply. These clean-ups are a critical step in bringing back buyer confidence in auction-based buying with audience layering.

For example, OpenX is developing the cleanest supply possible and placing its sophisticated audience curation on top of it. With that, buyers will soon be able to see even more clearly that it’s safe and valuable to work with an SSP for these types of buys.

The open exchange is evolving.

Buyers are concerned about brand safety and quality in the open exchange, but with the right partner, buyers can tie open exchange interactions into an auction package. This provides safeguards for both brand and results, and buyers can find powerful scale while still feeling safe and confident in their representation and numbers. 

SPO helps clients avoid massive waste.

There’s a huge amount of seller-hopping that occurs when one SSP is getting supply from another, who is getting it from another, all the way down to the publisher. The practice creates a ton of financial waste since each platform is taking a cut of the revenue. Separately, bias from a DSP toward a particular SSP can mean that content is not optimized for the best audiences. 

In each of those scenarios, supply is not being sent out through the most direct path to its most valuable audiences. SPO demonstrates where supply should run, while advanced technology from SSPs can target focused and valuable audiences. 

At OpenX, advanced data and identity tools provide this effective targeting, while blocked indirect supply and made-for-advertising sites prioritize direct contact. Together, these steps can prevent waste and provide buyers with more valuable experiences.

The true value of SPO is the close relationships with the SSPs that allow this to happen, highlighting the true value of SPO vs leveraging it to get good commercial terms. SSPs like OpenX are working closely with buyers and publishers to curate and provide the most high-value inventory possible, inventory that meets the key performance indicators set by buyers.

Are you ready to unleash your inner ghoul and let your creativity shine this Halloween? Whether you’re a wicked witch, a courageous superhero, or a furry four-legged friend with a hauntingly adorable costume, it’s time to show off your Halloween spirit! Enter our Halloween Costume Contest and win terrifyingly terrific prizes.

How to Enter: Capture a high-quality photo of yourself, your family, or your adorable pet in their Halloween costume and send it to spooktacular@openx.com along with your name and the name of your brand/agency. 

Prizes: 

Contest Timeline: 

We can’t wait to see your spooktacular entries. Happy haunting!

Transparency 

As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, the brands and agencies who are going to see the most success this holiday season will be those who evolve along with it. 

We live in an increasingly data-driven world where insights are actionable and changes can – and should – happen in real-time. Gone are the days of launching a campaign and sitting back to wait and hope the results come pouring in. Today’s programmatic world requires buyers to optimize their performance on an ongoing basis, gleaning insights from partners who offer transparency throughout the entire process.

Empower yourself to understand why activation is yielding results (or not) across the entire supply chain. Give yourself the gift of transparency by only selecting partners willing to give it to you. This should be table stakes. 

Pro tip: Ask each partner for log-level reporting. If they can’t deliver this, consider partnering with someone who can provide that level of transparency.

Addressability

Addressability is one of adtech’s biggest buzzwords as of current, but at its core, what it really means is maximizing the value of every customer touchpoint. 

As targeted media-buying evolves, it’s more important than ever to seek out partners that are testing a variety of solutions to help publishers and buyers alike prepare for a future without third-party cookies and IDFAs. 

Regardless of how you reach them, connecting with your target audience in content they love in this new era of programmatic is imperative to leaning into your KPIs with confidence. 

Pro tip: Test different audiences (transparently) so you can optimize what’s working. Also, don’t be afraid to test your assumptions – you may be surprised by how performance improves by broadening your audience and/or testing new ones!

Service

You’ve been here before at this time of year – the hours are longer, the expectations are higher and the days somehow don’t stretch enough. 

Good partners aren’t simply vendors but rather an extension of your team. This is the time to lean on those partners. All year long, prospective partners tout their white glove service. Now is the time to capitalize on that offer of support. 

You and your team have resources that are likely untapped; ask for those insights, ask for regular reporting and optimizations – and in the format that you need it so you don’t have to redo it. Ask and watch how quickly your workload begins to lessen. 

Pro tip: Schedule a meeting with your closest partners to kick off Q4 and share expectations, deliverables, and needs. Good partners want to earn your trust and business – this is the time to let them.

OpenX’s Michael Guzewicz spoke with Matthew Papa, Captify’s SVP of Business and Corporate Development, about the role search intelligence plays in programmatic and the next evolution of digital advertising. Thanks for joining us, Matthew.

What did you want to be when you grew up? 

I wanted to be on SNL and then eventually a talk show host.

Can you tell us more about the role of search intelligence in programmatic advertising?

Search intelligence provides a unique signal within audiences defined by marketers to reach their most relevant consumer. This allows for less media waste and a better understanding of consumer intent and brand/product sentiment.

How does Captify empower brands to engage with audiences safely and effectively?

Our audiences are available to activate contextually, which means brands can eschew any concerns they have around using identity in the media buys. Brands can incorporate any additional brand safety mechanisms within their DSP without limiting scale.

How does search intelligence promote a healthy open web?

Search advertising is the largest format by investment across the US digital advertising landscape, capturing over 41.4% of total revenue. This largely goes to Google and Microsoft. Captify’s platform ingests billions of direct search queries outside of the search engines, which allows buyers and sellers to tap into signals of intent, activate audiences, and deliver better outcomes for their marketers. The open web needs the same value propositions as the walled gardens to ensure its survival.

What does the industry at large not know about cookieless targeting?

That 70% of the market is cookieless already. So we are already attributing success to a minority majority, which is a very unhealthy way to run an ecosystem.

What should marketers consider when planning for a cookieless future?

The economics of buying and measuring media are going to change. They changed with the introduction of Google Ad Manager. They changed with the introduction of programmatic, which enabled 100% of impressions to be sold. The economics shifted dramatically after the introduction of header bidding in 2013. Knowing something about the target audiences will create a sum of all parts approach to data usage, and leaning in with your platform partners to softly land into this new world, will help you as a marketer succeed.

How does applying data on the supply side drive value for buyers?

Most data post-cookie will originate from or require connective tissue to the supply side of the market. Buyers are actively looking for ways to include audience solutions across inventory they curate. We have already seen this shift happening in 2023, and it has accelerated since the ANA report on MFAs. There is no shortage of appetite for audience-based buying, but the activation points are becoming less scaled and more opaque. Curated solutions that SSPs like OpenX and data companies like Captify can provide to marketers are fueling the next evolution of digital advertising.

How does Captify work with OpenX?

Captify was an early design partner in adding curation functionality into the OpenX platform, which we have used to enable hundreds of our agency clients to activate our search intent audiences across OpenX’s premium inventory. Since 2020, we have evolved our integration with OpenX to now include contextual targeting capabilities within our search intent segments, and the ability to deliver campaigns across display, OLV and CTV. These contextual audiences allow marketers to reach users regardless of identity challenges while still defining the audience.

How do marketers benefit from these types of partnerships?

Marketers have been consolidating partners for several years now and it is not reversing. They have already established they want to work with Captify and OpenX, and by giving them a turnkey solution for buying premium media with search intent signals, with or without identity, we are making their lives much easier.

What data strategies do you think buyers are undervaluing today?

Not having a defined strategy for reaching iPhone consumers. This is the most valuable consumer set on the planet and the dominant OS in most developed economies. Nobody has set out to develop a strategy that includes a multi-point audience-building solution specifically tailored to iPhone users.

To mark the announcement of OpenX’s partnership with Cedara, Joseph Worswick, VP EMEA and Head of Global Sustainability, spoke with Eric Shih, COO at Cedara. Thanks for taking the time, Eric!

What is a fun fact about yourself?

I was an electronic music (drum and bass) DJ for over 15 years and have played clubs around the world. I also co-owned a record label with a number of releases across genres including house and dubstep. Music has always been a passion of mine, as I have a graduate degree in music business. Interestingly enough, this actually started my path into media when I started working at a music cable TV network (when those still existed).

Why is it important that organizations build a sustainable supply path?

From an adtech perspective, when we talk about a sustainable supply path, we’re ultimately talking about a sustainable supply chain. The programmatic supply chain, which is composed of SSPs and the publishers that they’re partnered with, represents the majority of scope 3 emissions for media buyers in programmatic. In order for these media buyers (brands and agencies) and the advertising industry to reach net zero, it’s critical that we build a sustainable supply path through the measurement and the reduction of carbon emissions across SSPs and publishers.

Can you tell us a little more about your high-impact, data-driven approach to sustainability?

When we talk about “high-impact,” it’s a reference to our mission in helping the advertising industry reach net zero by 2030 (which supports the global goal of limiting global warming to a rise in 1.5 degrees Celsius). 

How can we achieve this impactful target? Cedara has developed a platform that is specifically designed to map carbon emissions across the advertising industry and provide actionable intelligence throughout the media supply chain to support organizations in reaching their net zero targets. Our approach is data-driven as we’re empowering carbon measurement at scale, which will deliver the necessary data for companies to become sustainable and inform emissions reduction initiatives.

Tell us about the business impact of being able to sync organizational emissions data with media buys.

Delivering organizational emissions data up the media supply chain to brands and their agencies addresses the number-one action in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media’s and Ad Net Zero’s recently released Action Guide for advertisers to reduce carbon emissions. 

This action states that advertisers should acquire sustainability credentials from its suppliers, which ultimately means they’ll need transparency into the emissions data from these suppliers to ensure they’re tracking toward their net zero targets in their supply chain. Not only will advertisers have more transparency into supplier emissions, they’ll also have more accurate measurement of scope 3 emissions from media buys with this data.

It’s also important to note that when we reference syncing, it implies data sharing through automation to enable a scalable process (rather than manually sharing emissions data by sending Excel files from hundreds if not thousands of suppliers in the advertising industry).

Why is third-party verification crucial when it comes to emissions and sustainability as a whole?

Besides the fact that verification is a requirement in order to set or achieve a net zero target (per Science Based Targets, or other relevant net zero standards bodies), independent verification is critical to maintaining credibility in your emissions reporting and avoiding any claims of greenwashing. Verification can also help ensure that you are complying with relevant standards from an emissions measurement and reporting perspective. 

Bringing it back to an adtech lens, sustainability should be treated no differently than other KPIs such as viewability and fraud, which also depend on third-party verification, to ensure that the media supply chain is properly measured and suppliers are held accountable. 

When it comes to offsets, why are transparency and customization important?

Transparency in offset projects is critical to ensuring both the integrity and carbon reduction effectiveness of offset purchases, while demonstrating traceability of where investments are flowing. Buyers should know exactly what they are purchasing, and be able to select from high-quality and scientifically verified projects.

On a related note, customization and investment across multiple offset sectors will allow for diversification of investment across new technologies and also offer advertising clients the ability to curate projects that meet their own corporate objectives.

What role do adtech vendors play in sustainability?

Per Ad Net Zero’s research, the advertising industry contributes between 2 to 4 percent of carbon emissions globally. Realizing that digital represents the majority share of advertising, it’s apparent that adtech vendors contribute a significant amount of carbon emissions in the digital advertising supply chain. In order for the advertising industry to achieve its net zero ambitions, it will be crucial for adtech vendors to prioritize sustainability (which includes measuring and reducing their own emissions).

Why did Cedara choose to partner with OpenX?

OpenX is not only one of the largest digital ad platforms, but also one of the most advanced when it comes to sustainability given that it was first in the advertising or technology industries to achieve both net zero and carbon neutral certification. 

OpenX was a natural partner for Cedara, as we both are supporters of the Ad Net Zero initiative, our missions are aligned to support a net zero objective for the advertising industry, and we both prioritized measuring and reducing emissions at both an organizational- and media activity-level in the advertising supply chain.

What about this partnership makes this an innovative offering to the marketplace?

OpenX is the first adtech platform to offer a fully integrated media sustainability solution to media buyers that will include automated emissions measurement across all of its campaigns, emissions reduction solutions, and fully-transparent, custom offset project portfolios from Cedara’s platform. 

How have you seen sustainability evolve in the past few years?

About half of Fortune 500 companies now have either net zero or carbon emissions reduction targets in place – many of which were introduced in the past few years. We’re pleased to see that these targets are now permeating through these organizations and various industries, and, of course, affecting the advertising industry as these companies begin to decarbonize their marketing supply chains. The introduction of Ad Net Zero in the past two years is a prime example of this industry impact.

In parallel, we’re also seeing a greater push from governments (in carbon reporting and reduction regulations) and consumers who are demanding action. While this is good progress, we’ll need a concerted collective global push over the next few years to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and prevent further damage to our environment.

The future of contextual buying

Today, OpenX announced the launch of ConteX, a supply-side marketplace that empowers brands and agencies to activate a variety of both off-the-shelf and custom premium contextual solutions without complicated contracts and long wait times. This new, future-proofed innovation offers end-to-end targeting and activation without any reliance on third-party cookies.

Buyers are increasingly looking for regionally compliant targeting solutions that deliver on accuracy and quality without having to strike individual deals with a variety of data partners. In fact, 54 percent of marketers have plans to increase the use of contextual data in their campaigns. 

ConteX offers buyers contract-free contextual targeting capabilities, enabling them to activate premium data partners directly within our SSP, with pre-negotiated terms. This means that buyers are now able to easily test and deploy the solutions that work best for their region without going partner-by-partner to strike deals.

Additionally, ConteX combines supply-side targeting and contextual targeting to deliver improved accuracy, more premium supply, and unprecedented insight into programmatic campaigns. 

Effective targeting, contract-free activation, and broader scale

Contextual targeting has become increasingly intelligent and effective, with ConteX’s data partners going well beyond on-page content: Rather than targeting cooking enthusiasts via cooking content, they build models to predict audience behavior and target cooking enthusiasts in any vertical or type of premium content they’re engaging with.

To do this, each ConteX premium data partner uses a different, proprietary methodology to enable buyers to reach highly targeted audiences in any environment without leveraging cookies or authenticated IDs:

To activate these segments, OpenX works directly with the data partner to set up the audience and share a data-driven deal ID with the buyer, who then activates the deal ID within their DSP of choice.

As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, ConteX signals another step forward for OpenX in its ongoing commitment to building tools that prioritize both innovation and quality.

As Climate Week NYC wraps up, we’re provided an opportunity to reflect not only on our own sustainability journey, but also how we can continue to encourage digital advertising to become more sustainable.

This year, Climate Week CEO Helen Clarkson centered her opening remarks centered around this year’s theme: We Can. We Will. 

We Can.

The area of sustainability can feel incredibly overwhelming. It can seem as though one group’s efforts are too small to make a meaningful impact or that the process of determining which actions make a difference is too complicated and labor-intensive.

However, as Clarkson began her opening remarks, “We can, because we know that the change we need is entirely possible.”

To illustrate this, Clarkson cited the advancement leaps made in solar energy and electric cars as proof that not only is change possible but that it also makes good business sense to invest in sustainability. 

Corporate trailblazers in sustainability have a unique opportunity to make real change, continued Clarkson. When early adopters committed to renewable energy, and thereby drove the demand, solar energy became the “cheapest electricity in history.” The same goes for electric cars, which soared from novelty to 14 percent of all new car sales.

OpenX has already shown the same: We endeavored to reduce our emissions by 90 percent against a base reporting year of 2018 and in 2022 reduced our emissions by 95 percent. As a result of this work, we became the first company in the advertising, technology, and media sectors to receive independent verification that it has met the key requirements of the Net-Zero Standard established by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

We Will.

As Clarkson indicated, we can make a meaningful impact on sustainability. But will we? This is where transparency becomes absolutely crucial.

With transparent goals, measurement and reporting, adtech is is equipped to hold each other accountable, to exchange new ideas and to ultimately make a meaningful impact on our own industry. 

As businesses go beyond reducing their own emissions or committing to using more renewable resources, globally, they’re increasingly asking their supply chains to do the same, shared Clarkson. Through OpenX’s status as a verified Net-Zero and certified CarbonNeutral company, we’re already helping our partners achieve this.

Through strategic partnerships with companies like Scope3, OpenX is empowering brands and agencies to measure and reduce the carbon impact of their ad campaigns. We will continue to implement partnerships such as these to signal that a measurable impact on the carbon footprint of the advertising industry is indeed possible.

As OpenX CEO John Gentry noted earlier this year, “Real change comes from transparency, strategy, and process, and we’re continuing to share our story to encourage every company in our industry to measure and report their emissions so that we can collectively make strides towards a more sustainable future.”

In recognition of OpenX’s ongoing commitment to transparency, Pixalate rated OpenX the number-one independent supply-side platform for CTV In its Q2 2023 Global CTV Seller Trust Index and the number-two CTV SSP overall.

OpenX earned straight As, achieving scores of 89, 88, and 86 across Amazon Fire TV, Samsung, and Roku, respectively. 

Pixalate’s Seller Trust Index is a signal that for all parts of the advertising ecosystem – publishers, DSPs, agencies, or brands – transparency and trust are a requirement for successful addressable CTV campaigns.

As an independent SSP, OpenX prioritizes direct relationships and dynamic innovative technology. Rather than trying to achieve growth at all costs, we maintain quality while providing the scale to deliver on buyer needs. 

Additionally, taking action to limit re-sellers and made for advertising domains while prioritizing direct connections enables us to maintain consistently high quality and transparency standards.

Pixalate’s Seller Trust Indexes are based on a variety of seller factors, including invalid traffic (IVT), household reach, server-side ad insertion (SSAI) transparency, and spoofing. The Global CTV Seller Trust Index ranks global sellers of programmatic CTV advertising inventory sold on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung devices.

Demand More

As we look back at the history of programmatic advertising, its initial stages were marked by a lack of transparency, brand safety standards, and accountability for the environment or privacy. Without a responsible, healthy ecosystem, buyers and publishers alike were subject to waste, inefficiencies, and obfuscation. 

In 2013, OpenX led an industry-wide effort to prioritize quality and clean up the digital advertising ecosystem. Since then, addressability, transparency, and sustainability have been core to our mission of supporting the open web. These continued strides reflect our belief that you should Demand More from your media today than you did yesterday.

At OpenX, we always try to do the right thing. While we don’t always get it right the first time, we’re constantly learning, and we are committed to being and doing better every single day. That’s a promise we make to our employees, publishers, brands, agencies, DSPs, data providers, the planet, and ultimately, consumers. As the most innovative supply-side platform (SSP) we demand a lot of ourselves today so that you can Demand More From Your Media tomorrow. 

Demand Addressability 

At its core, addressability means enabling a buyer to reach their target consumer with the right creative. Addressability also means reducing wasted impressions while maximizing the value of every customer touchpoint – because every impression is most valuable when the right consumer is connected to the right brand with content they love. 

OpenX is committed to delivering the best supply-side targeting products so that brands and agencies can leverage sophisticated data-driven solutions to reach their audiences directly or contextually and lean into their KPIs with confidence. Similarly, we commit to ensuring that publishers maximize the value of their content across channels. This includes developing the first supply-side identity graph for an independent SSP, delivering the most robust addressable CTV solutions, and innovating emerging solutions.

As targeted media-buying evolves, OpenX is taking action to help publishers and buyers alike prepare for this new landscape, including the deprecation of third-party cookies and IDFAs. To that end, we are building our own solutions, have partnered with leading identity solutions including Ramp ID, ID5, and 33Across, and are the only major SSP to be developing solutions with Google Privacy Sandbox.

Learn more about supply-side targeting here.

Demand Transparency 

A fair and transparent value exchange ensures publishers are able to effectively monetize their inventory and marketers are able to improve business results by effectively connecting with their consumers.

As the creators and patent-holders of header bidding, OpenX has always been on the cutting edge of programmatic and a champion of transparent and mutually beneficial auction dynamics. To that end, OpenX has long provided advertisers with actionable insights and granular reporting that helps them measure against their KPIs with confidence. Any OpenX buyer can opt-in to OpenX’s BIDs product to receive log-level data and granular insights into their programmatic campaigns.

While we seek to grow profitably, by controlling the size of our footprint, we are able to maintain high quality standards that effectively connect marketers with the audiences and inventory that perform best for their brands at a fair price for publishers. Our size gives us enough scale to deliver on any buyer need, but also allows us to focus on premium inventory by building innovative tools that prioritize quality versus growth at all costs. Specifically, we eliminate bad actors and limit re-sellers and made for advertising domains while prioritizing direct connections for superior control over where marketers’ ads are seen.

Recently, OpenX was among the first companies to receive the TAG Certified for Transparency Seal. We do not believe in grading our own homework, therefore independent third-party verification is paramount to everything that we do. We take transparency a step further by providing buyers with actionable insights and granular reporting that helps them measure against their KPIs with confidence. With log-level data, including clearing price, for every impression, OpenX gives buyers unprecedented insight into their programmatic campaigns.  

Demand Sustainability

Meaningful, measurable sustainability efforts in advertising matter because we have the opportunity to be enormously influential. Not only is our industry a significant global contributor to carbon emissions, which provides opportunity for emission reduction, but marketing and advertising has a tremendous storytelling impact, allowing us to connect with consumers and inspire more sustainable decisions.

Because sustainability is a non-negotiable at OpenX, we have agreed to adhere to globally accepted standards: We have pledged to have our GHG emissions measured and audited by experienced third-parties, and we remain committed to independent third-party verification and public reporting of these emissions so that we remain accountable to our employees, publishers, and clients. 

We are also the first adtech company to achieve our Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) Net-Zero goals and to be certified CarbonNeutral®. As a testament to these commitments, OpenX is one of only nine companies in the world to be recognized as a Climate Registered All Star

As the leader in supply-side targeting we help publishers and advertisers go a step beyond supply path optimization (SPO). By applying data to campaigns on the supply side, we are able to help reduce the number of SSPs responding to a bid request, substantially reducing emissions.

We share our path to Net-Zero because we care about sustainability well beyond our own company, and we endeavor to encourage other companies to embrace both global standards as well as transparent reporting.Learn more about our journey here.

Digital advertising demand is undergoing a perceptible shift: Increasingly, buyers are turning to SSPs such as OpenX to double-down on KPIs like audience, viewability, or conversion. Supply-side targeting is a growing element of a larger media-buying strategy that sits within the DSP, where workflow, measurement and more layered targeting still live. 

With supply-side targeting, buyers get closer to their audience, getting higher match rates and more scale — not to mention more transparency. But buyers aren’t the only ones leaning into supply-side targeting. Oracle, LiveRamp, Experian, and other industry leaders are building solutions that not only help buyers get closer to their audiences but also increase reach against those audiences.

Oracle and OpenX – A Major Step Forward for CTV and Beyond

Together, OpenX and Oracle recently marked a major supply-side targeting milestone: Oracle’s audience data is now connected with OpenX CTV, app, and web inventory. As one of the founders of data targeting, Oracle’s investment in supply-side targeting represents a major shift in the market. 

This is the first and only supply-side integration to support Oracle Audiences directly activated against CTV inventory, expanding on video and Oracle Moat measurement capabilities. This first-to-market offering delivers buyers:

“This is an opportune time to be integrating Oracle Audiences with platforms like OpenX as the industry is really waking up to the value of using purchase data insights from CPG and other retail categories to help inform targeting strategies and targetable segments,” said Tim Carr, Head of Oracle Advertising Product Marketing. 

Ecosystem-Wide Benefits

Now, buyers can finally realize the promise of CTV and omnichannel supply-side targeting. A particular challenge with CTV has always been addressability, due to the fact that neither the cookie nor hashed email-based targeting can function in this environment. This first-to-market integration solves for that challenge. 

The Value of Supply-Side Targeting

Supply-side targeting provides immense value in terms of scale and control over inventory quality. Additionally, buyers can easily activate targeted campaigns in their DSP of choice and receive consistent reporting, measurement, and additional real-time optimizations that they are used to. 

Here’s how it works:

Ready to tap into supply-side targeting with OpenX and Oracle? Send us a note at BuyerDevelopment@openx.com.