Programmatic Curation means packaging selected inventory using automated tools to reach relevant audiences more effectively. Unlike the open marketplace, where advertisers compete in real-time auctions with limited control, curated programmatic offers pre-selected, high-quality inventory with stronger targeting and transparency.
Both buy-side and sell-side players are driving curated programmatic growth. Agencies and advertisers use it to bundle inventory and audience data for campaign goals, while publishers and SSPs create premium inventory packages for direct and efficient access.

The numbers reflect the change: the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) reported that by the end of 2024, 59% of programmatic ad spend went to private marketplace (PMP) deals, compared to 41% in the open marketplace (in 2023’s study, the shares are reversed: 59% of programmatic ad spending was allocated to the open marketplace and 41% to the private marketplace), a clear preference for curated, controlled environments.

Traditional PMPs are one-to-one relationships between publishers and advertisers, offering access to specific inventory, often at fixed CPMs or guaranteed volumes. While valuable, managing many individual PMP deals is operationally complex.

Curated programmatic marketplaces streamline this by aggregating inventory from multiple publishers under unified terms, often via SSPs like Index Exchange. Advertisers gain premium inventory faster, supported by algorithmic optimization, flexible pricing, and efficient use of first-party data.

Key benefits:
✦ Scale – one integration point to multiple premium inventory sources
✦ Optimization – algorithm-driven performance-based inventory selection
✦ Flexibility – dynamic pricing and allocation in real time
✦ Data Integration – better targeting using first-party and contextual signals

Curated buying models increase decisioning complexity. While DSPs handle targeting and pacing, adservers must now support:

‣ Advanced creative decisioning – adapting creatives to context, audience, and channel
‣ Real-time data integration – combining contextual signals, first-party data, and performance metrics
‣ Cross-channel orchestration – unified delivery across display, video, native, audio, and emerging formats
‣ Enhanced analytics – granular reporting by inventory source and audience segment

Legacy ad servers built only for simple ad serving and tracking often cannot meet these demands. Upgrading infrastructure is now critical to fully leverage curated programmatic strategies.

Curation brings industry tensions. Some publishers worry their first-party data is used to create curated packages without fair value sharing, while others question whether curated deals offer incremental benefit over traditional PMPs.

Despite these concerns, curated private marketplace deals are set to expand through 2025 and beyond. Advertisers value the transparency, control, and performance these solutions deliver, especially in a privacy-first, post-cookie world. Companies investing now in modern ad server technology and transparent value models will be best positioned to win in this evolving programmatic landscape.