If there was one group you’d think might express skepticism, even hope, that the march to ad exchanged-traded media would slow, it would be ad sellers for digital media companies. They seem mostly resigned to the idea, or even happy that it might free them up to sell more high-priced packages.
Digiday partnered with SellerCrowd, a Q&A site that’s attracted 3,500 sellers from digital media companies across the industry, to poll its users on this question: “Will the amount of inventory going to ad exchanges and networks in 2012: 1. increase; 2. decrease; 3. stay the same.” The results weren’t very close. Out of 161 votes, 73 percent said increase, 16 percent decrease and 11 percent stay the same.
That’s the general feeling across the industry on the buy side, too. The VivaKi Nerve Center, which serves as the hub of its programmatic buying capability, has mushroomed from five people in 2008 to 215 today. It now has ad-exchange buying operations in 10 markets worldwide. Digiday will run a Q&A with VivaKi Nerve Center chief Curt Hecht later today.
More in Media
Condé Nast, Hearst among 300 media execs to push federal ‘bad bots’ bill on AI scraping
More than 300 publishing execs are heading to Washington, D.C to push Congress to crack down on AI bots that scrape their content without permission.
Digiday Publishing Summit September 2026 Recap: How publishers are rebuilding for the post-search era
Execs at DPS described how they’re preparing for a post-search era by prioritizing direct audiences, diversified revenue and AI strategies.
From brand deals to equity deals: creators want a stake, not just a fee
The creator economy is moving into a new phase: creators getting into companies at the ground floor through sweat equity or angel investing.