Prebid Summit 2024: how Prebid is shapping the future of programmatic advertising

I had a pleasure to attend Prebid Summit 2024 in New York on 15th of October, where industry leaders gathered to discuss the evolution of the programmatic ecosystem, focusing heavily on traffic shaping, identity solutions, and the future of addressability. It was great to see so many familiar faces, reconnect with like-minded people and contemplate about the future of the programmatic industry.

I believe it's important to recognize that this progress is made possible by the hard work of the entire Prebid community, including publishers, SSPs, and other industry-leading companies. Their collaborative efforts drives innovation and enables the effective implementation of programmatic across all digitised channels and media.

I am proud to share that we at Setupad are also a technological partner of Prebid, contributing to it's development and growth. Me and my business partner Toms Panders , got lots of new insights and learnings from this conference, therefore I am happy to share a few key points from my own perspective.

Prebid’s role and community growth

• Open Source Model. Prebid operates with minimal staff, relying on contributions from over 200 companies in 2024. Michael Racic encouraged broader industry collaboration and invited anyone regardless of the size to join. Garrett McGrath emphasized the importance of keeping Prebid open source and stated, with a hint of hesitation, that the software will remain free of charge indefinitely. This commitment highlights Prebid's dedication to fostering collaboration and innovation within the advertising community.
• Future roadmap. Though no official roadmap will be released until December, Prebid is actively working on innovations across audio, Connected TV (CTV), in-app advertising, and digital out-of-home (DOOH). In parallel, the community is focused on resolving key challenges around identity and addressability to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of the programmatic ecosystem.
• Adoption as a priority: Garrett McGrath emphasized that industry-wide adoption of Prebid solutions is essential for sustainable growth.

Traffic Shaping and SSP View

• Traffic shaping. For SSPs optimizing queries per second (QPS) remains a critical challenge. Higher QPS allows platforms to handle more valuable transactions effectively and at the same time traffic shaping benefits both the SSPs and publishers by optimizing the flow and quality of ad requests. It allows SSPs to handle high volumes of traffic efficiently, prioritizing more valuable transactions.
• DSPs scrutiny. DSPs can reject invalid traffic (IVT) impressions, such as bot traffic, which increases pressure on SSPs to maintain a clean and reliable supply chain. However, the "death of the SSP" remains a recurring topic, as DSPs - led by companies like The Trade Desk - are increasingly pursuing direct integrations with publishers to enhance efficiency and transparency.

Identity solutions & Addressability challenges

• First-Party identifiers. Publishers are actively testing various ID providers, seeking a stable solution for post-cookie environments. The challenge lies in balancing multiple ID signals to maximize revenue.
• Addressability solutions. Prebid supports around or more than 55 identity solutions, underscoring the importance of reliable signals for effective addressability. More ID-rich bid requests mean higher earnings from DSPs.
• Cookie deprecation. Despite years of preparation, uncertainty around the cookie-less future persists, with privacy regulations and signal loss posing new challenges.

Market overview: PPD and MFA sites

• PPD (Premium Priority Deals). Positioned as an evolution of Private Marketplaces (PMP), Premium Priority Deals (PPD) aim to bridge the gap between direct deals and the open market by utilizing existing technologies and data practices. Drew Sten, Founder and CEO of Audigent, projected that the PPD market could grow to five times the size of the current PMP market, generating approximately $3 billion in advertising spending in the upcoming few years.
• MFA (Made For Ads). Brands are increasingly steering clear of MFA (Made For Ads) sites and prioritizing higher-quality inventory. Premium Priority Deals (PPD) could provide a viable solution for brands by aligning with premium requirements and performance metrics, focusing on the top-quality publishers.

DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home) and technological evolution

• History and development. The advertising industry has transitioned from physical billboards to programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) screens, enabling advertisers to manage campaigns remotely through SSPs. Although the adoption of Prebid Server for DOOH requests is progressing slowly, it demonstrates significant potential to influence the out-of-home advertising landscape in the coming years. As the industry continues to evolve, embracing this technology may enhance operational efficiency and campaign effectiveness.
• Prebid role in DOOH. Screen owners utilizing cloud-based technology can act as publishers, automatically running ads via Prebid. This setup allows unfilled inventory to be sold programmatically through direct deals, private marketplaces (PMPs), or the open market. Companies like Intersection are leading this transformation, illustrating how the industry is adapting to leverage technology for improved advertising strategies.

A few more key takeaways and future focus

• Addressability and privacy. Addressability, compliance, and privacy challenges remain central themes, with innovations emerging to counter signal loss.
• In-App Ads. A distinct focus on in-app ads signals new growth opportunities for publishers.
• No lobbying. Prebid takes a non-lobbying approach, emphasizing that their transactional software is designed to help the industry generate revenue without political influence.
• Remaining open source and free for everyone.
• AI’s role. AI will further transform the open web and thus influence the programmatic ecosystem.

Happy to share my thoughts, maybe and even hopefully a little biased, but I hope this helps my peers and our business partners to better understand the programamtic advertising evolution during the previous and upcoming years.