How Curation is Transforming Programmatic Media

Supply-side curation is transforming programmatic advertising from a fragmented, open marketplace into a more intelligent and structured ecosystem.

Curation enhances outcomes for buyers, empowers publishers with greater control, and unlocks new monetization opportunities for data partners and platforms.

Although, it requires thoughtful implementation to avoid added complexity.

The Benefits of Curation

Supply-side curation involves selecting, packaging, and optimizing inventory with targeting data from the supply-side (SSPs, publishers, or intermediaries) to make it more targeted, efficient, and valuable for buyers.

This is typically done by curators, companies or technologies that sit between SSPs and DSPs and create custom deal IDs or curated marketplaces.

    • Curation unlocks the ability to optimize campaigns from the supply-side, ensuring spend is allocated to higher performing data:inventory combinations faster.

    • Curation helps simplify and shorten the supply chain by eliminating redundant or inefficient hops, leading to lower tech fees, increased transparency, and improved auction dynamics.

    • Through curated deal IDs, advertisers gain more control over inventory selection, data layers, and pricing structures, enabling custom strategies that align with specific KPIs, brand safety requirements, or ethical considerations.

    • This reduces noise and inefficiency in the open exchange.

    • Buyers receive access to more relevant impressions with less waste.

    • Curated deals are DSP agnostic by nature and transacted upon via a deal ID.

    • Curators can monetize their data, tech, or domain expertise without owning the inventory.

    • By offloading tasks like deal generation, deal mapping, and optimization to curation partners, internal teams reduce manual overhead and streamline workflows, freeing up resources to focus on higher-value initiatives.

  • Ensure media spend is not being misallocated across made-for-advertising properties or websites that could compromise your brand’s message.

  • Curation opens the door to new data partnerships, premium publishers, and emerging formats, without requiring custom integrations or platform commitments, giving buyers flexible access to innovation at scale.

Cross-screen Curation

Activate across the channels where your audience is most engaged.

Elcano’s strategic partnerships with industry-leading SSPs provide access to a variety of inventory sources to align with campaign goals.

CTV and OTT, Connected TV, Smart TV, Curation

CTV & OTT

Display and online video, programmatic media, curation

Display & Online Video

Native display, native online video, programmatic advertising, curation

Native Display & Video

programmatic audio, audio, curation, podcasts, news, gaming

Programmatic
Audio

Activate within Curated Marketplaces that are designed to align with campaign goals and objectives.

How it Works

Campaign Alignment: Demand and supply-side activation teams align on targeting goals, campaign KPIs, and set-up requirements.

Campaign
Alignment

Demand and supply-side activation teams align on targeting goals, campaign KPIs, and set-up requirements.

Deal curation: Audiences are packaged with premium curated supply across key programmatic channels.

Deal
Curation

Audiences are packaged with premium curated supply across key programmatic channels.

  • CTV

  • Display & OLV

  • Native

  • Programmatic Audio

Deal delivery: Curated deals are delivered to demand-side activation teams.  Recommended kick-off call to confirm campaign set-up requirements and alignment.

Deal
Delivery

Curated deals are delivered to demand-side activation teams.

Recommended kick-off call to confirm campaign set-up requirements and alignment.

Campaign activation: Demand-side activation teams begin buying against curated deals.

Campaign
Activation

Demand-side activation teams begin buying against curated deals.

Campaign optimization: Supply-side optimizations are implemented throughout the flight.

Campaign
Optimization

Supply-side optimizations are implemented throughout the flight.

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Ready to push boundaries with Elcano?

We’re excited to explore new horizons together.