One of the quieter but more structurally important stories of the week: Digiday reported on May 18 that agencies are moving closer to supply, reshaping the programmatic middle layer. Holding companies are increasingly building their own curation desks directly on top of SSPs — assembling, packaging, and pricing inventory themselves rather than relying solely on DSPs and traditional intermediaries.
01What “closer to supply” actually means
For most of programmatic’s history, the value chain ran buyer → DSP → ad exchange → SSP → publisher, with a stack of intermediaries (and take rates) in between. Agency curation desks collapse part of that. By building on SSPs directly, holdcos:
- Assemble their own curated marketplaces and audience packages at the supply layer.
- Capture margin that used to belong to the middle of the chain.
- Get closer to first-party publisher data and inventory, with fewer hops between brief and impression.
This is happening in parallel with The Trade Desk opening into Skai and Pacvue and Publicis buying LiveRamp’s identity spine. The common thread: the middle of the programmatic supply chain is being disintermediated and rebuilt around whoever controls curation, identity, and the buying console.
02Why this matters
This cuts both ways, and which way it cuts for you depends on your data and your relationships.
| Direct supply relationships gain value | If holdcos are building curation desks on SSPs, the publishers with clean inventory, strong first-party data, and good SSP integrations become the raw material those desks are built on. That's leverage — if you're at the table. |
|---|---|
| Undifferentiated open-auction supply loses | As curation captures the premium packages, commodity inventory sold into the open auction gets squeezed harder. The middle hollows out fastest for sellers who haven't curated their own supply. |
| Take-rate scrutiny intensifies | Curation desks exist partly to reclaim margin. Expect more pressure on every fee in the chain — including SSP take rates — which can mean better economics for publishers who negotiate, or thinner partners if SSPs get squeezed. |
The programmatic middle layer is being rebuilt around curation, identity, and unified buying consoles — and holdcos intend to own it.
03What publishers should do this quarter
04What marketers should do
05The bottom line
The programmatic middle layer is being rebuilt around curation, identity, and unified buying consoles — and holdcos intend to own it. Publishers who curate their own supply and bring clean first-party data to the table will be the foundation those desks are built on; everyone selling undifferentiated open-auction inventory gets squeezed. Decide which one you’ll be this year.