A look at the publisher quandary over ad curation

On the other hand, there’s skepticism that it’s merely a new way for intermediaries to siphon off their hard-earned ad dollars. 

This internal tug-of-war was on full display at the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe in Barcelona, where sharp critiques of curation chafed against more pragmatic perspectives, underscoring publishers’ ambivalence toward this contentious trend.

Nowhere was this conflict more palpapable than in the Town Hall sessions, held under the Chatham House rule, which allowed participants to speak freely without fear of attribution. Here, publishers shared their hopes and fears, with one exec capturing their uncertainty: while they remain unsure whether curation will ultimately benefit them, there is a sense of cautious optimism.

“I think it could be a good thing — in time,” said a publishing exec during the second day of the Town Hall. 

But this optimism didn’t come easy. Initially, this exec was a skeptic; they had concerns about whether they would get much transparency into the curation process since it tends to be handled by specialist ad tech vendors. If it did, then the fear was it might further dilute the control they have over their ad inventory. 

However, as this exec reflected on these worries, it became clear that curation might address a pressing business challenge. 

“As a premium publisher we don’t want to be sold alongside sites that are gaming the auction, and so curation solves that problem for us,” the exec continued. 

To understand why, it’s important to know how curation works at its core. 

Simply put, “curation” means using audience data to help advertisers reach their target audiences in parts of the open market of programmatic auctions they might have otherwise overlooked.  

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When executed effectively, this can significantly boost publishers’ revenue by allowing them to generate more yield from the type of impressions that don’t necessarily sell for much because advertisers don’t get a chance to bid for them.

“There’s got to be a fairer division of spending in here [programmatic advertising] otherwise we’re just providing a bunch of data and loads of value but aren’t seeing any of the money — it’s all being spent on cheaper inventory elsewhere,” said the publishing exec. “Maybe, curation can do that.”

Some attendees at the Town Hall even regarded curation as a potential antidote to the excessive blocking of news by advertisers being linked to negative or anxiety-inducing content. They posited that if curation can provide advertisers with better, more reliable access to high-performing impressions in an open auction, it could succeed where publishers have historically faltered.

“We don’t think curation is good for publishers at this juncture, but maybe if advertisers and agencies were to come together they could use the curated marketplaces as a solve for the brand safety issue,” said a publishing exec during the town hall.

Outside the Town Hall, three other execs Digiday spoke to echoed this conflicted sentiment. They saw curation as a necessary improvement over traditional programmatic auctions, streamlining the sale of historically tricky inventory. 

Yet, much like the execs in the Town Hall, these three also harbored their own doubts. Namely, that curation, despite its potential, resembles the pitches once made by ad networks and resellers — promising to help publishers maximize revenue from the ads they can’t sell directly.  

Stefan Havik certainly shares this skepticism. The chief digital officer of DPG Media made it clear during his session at the summit that curation would not be on his company’s agenda anytime soon. 

“It [curation] doesn’t really simplify the market for us,” he continued. “It favors intermediaries more than it favors us because I like a supply path to be simple and hopefully unique.”

Havik’s blunt assessment is easy to understand. 

Like many other ad execs, he has witnessed how programmatic advertising transformed the dynamics of media trading, ultimately disintermediating publishers from their revenue streams through open auctions. While these auctions brought more money into the market for some publishers, it also shifted their ability to influence where it went away from them and toward ad tech companies.

Now that publishers like DPG Media are reclaiming control over their ads — and, in turn, earning more from them — it’s no surprise they’re passing on curation. After all, why mess with a good thing? 

“Curation, at least for us, is just a way where others have more control of packaging up our inventory,” said Havik.