Mars Petcare is testing direct SSP buying for CTV ads

When it comes to CTV, it’s using a supply-side platform — the tool publishers normally use to manage ad sales — to buy ads directly, skipping the usual DSP route altogether. 

“For over a year now, We’ve been consolidating our CTV ad spending into fewer partners in order to mitigate cross partner frequency overlap and extend unique reach,” said Jonathan Tuttle, associate director of media for Mars Pet Nutrition North America.

In March, Mars put this strategy to the test, snapping up unsold CTV inventory outside the upfront trading window to promote Greenies pet treats to non-brand buyers. But instead of using its go-to DSPs in Google Dv360 and The Trade Desk, Mars leaned on PubMatic, doing deals through programmatic guaranteed and private marketplaces. 

The advertiser’s logic was straightforward: fewer ad tech middlemen mean fewer fees, leaving more of the budget for actual ad placements.

Get it right, and the savings could be substantial. PubMatic connects advertisers directly with publishers, eliminating layers of intermediaries and offering a more transparent fee structure. By comparison, DSPs typically lack those direct connections and often operate within a complex, multi-step ecosystem that stacks on technology and transaction fees — driving up costs with every layer.  

“The main reason for doing this was financial in nature: the test with PubMatic allowed us to circumvent many of the upfront fees charged by the DSPs we traditionally use,” said Tuttle, without revealing exact savings figures. 

Those savings can add up. Take Google DV360, for instance: its fees typically average around 13%. That means for every $100 spent, $13 goes to Google, leaving only $87 for purchasing impressions. Add on charges for third-party data, measurement and verification and the costs climb even higher. 

By sidestepping its own version of these costs, Mars Petcare reallocated 8% more of its budget to actual media placements — more money in publishers’ pockets.  

“Doing it this way [buying from a SSP] was where we were going to garner a lot of the savings, in addition to hopefully media efficiencies as well,” said Tuttle. 

The results spoke for themselves. Mars surpassed its sales lift goal by 20% and blew past incremental sales targets by 126%.

Despite the success, Mars Petcare isn’t looking to replace DSPs with SSPs entirely. Instead, it plans to use SSPs for buying CTV ads in specific scenarios where the financial and operational efficiencies make sense. According to Tuttle, DSPs still offer critical advantages: volume based discounts, tiered pricing, broader inventory pools and advanced targeting capabilities — to name a few. At scale these benefits often outweigh the upfront savings from direct SSP buying. 

“We get incremental benefits from partnerships with some DSPs, and we have to take all those variables into account,” said Tuttle.

Looking ahead, Tuttle plans to explore more specific instances where PubMatic and similar SSPs can replace DSs for ad buying. Initially for Mars Petcare but eventually maybe for the wider Mars business too. 

Whether other advertisers will follow suit remains to be seen. But if SSPs do continue to attract more ad dollars, DSPs may face mounting pressure to innovate and offer more competitive pricing to reclaim their share of the pie. 

“Yes, this helps reduce fees by cutting out the middleman and only paying one party,” said Davide Rosamilia, vp of product at alternative identity provider ID5. “If more brands shift to this approach, we’ll also see DSPs wanting to reclaim their share of the pie.”

That response could include embracing identity technology to enhance CTV buying — something SSPs have already started doing.

“It’s a virtuous cycle — SSPs taking this step forward will encourage DSPs to make similar moves,” he continued. 

For now, DSPs can rest easy: their value proposition is safe. But with advertisers like Mars Petcare testing the waters, that could change over time. 

“Our publisher partners see increased monetization as more money is spent on their inventory, and our advertisers see the kind of remarkable sales lift Mars did without the additional spend,” said Kyle Dozeman, chief revenue officer of Americas at PubMatic. “This was an exciting case study that showcased how Activate puts control into the hands of the buyer to do what’s best for their campaign.”