GroupM launches a supply path optimisation initiative

Media investment company GroupM has announced the launch of a supply path optimisation project to give brands and advertisers across Asia-Pacific more visibility in the programmatic supply chain.

A study by the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) in May uncovered that up to 15% of UK advertising spend cannot be accounted for and showed a lack of standardisation around data capture and storage. This window into programmatic operations brought up questions for the entire industry about how revenue is earned. Over a period of six months, GroupM gathered a significant amount of data into a single visualisation tool. The process included onboarding the log level data from over 400 demand-side platform (DSP) seats at an APAC level and consolidating it into a centralised warehouse to ensure data consistency. 

John Miskelly

John Miskelly, APAC investment director, GroupM, said, “We wanted to take a rigorous and focused approach to supply curation and apply it across all APAC markets. GroupM has led the way in this area working with select supply-side platforms (SSPs). Now, we know every dollar that is spent across each market, DSP, and SSP down to the domain level." 

GroupM has developed a set of guiding principles to improve transparency through the creation of the supply path optimisation tool. The number of SSPs included has been limited to those who agree to a code of conduct, only have direct integrations with publishers and never send inventory as unknown or obfuscated domains. SSPs also have to provide the log-level data for campaigns so that it can be matched against DSP data. GroupM aims to become 100% ads/apps.txt compliant and support Open Measurement SDK as well as VAST 4.1 and higher. The group is working with a select set of SSP partners as well as premium local publishers, to integrate header bidding into their programmatic setup. 

Deepak Tahiliani

"Superior supply integration methods like header-bidding allow GroupM and our clients to unlock significant efficiencies in programmatic buying. The SPO practice does not only just allow us to buy more transparently, but also unlocks efficiencies of scale, thus benefitting all stakeholders. At GroupM, we have planned several market-first initiatives to drive value for our client’s digital investments, some of which we will unveil in 2021," said Deepak Tahiliani, Head of Digital Trading, GroupM India.

Tushar Vyas

“In our stated objective to provide the best value to our clients, SPO is yet another market-first initiative from GroupM to help drive transparency, efficiency, and accountability in programmatic buying. With programmatic and performance right up the alley for our focus area’s for growth, this strategy sits in perfectly well,” said Tushar Vyas, President, GroupM South Asia.

GroupM creates competitive advantage for advertisers via its worldwide organisation of media experts who deliver insights on consumers and media platforms, trading expertise, market-leading brand-safe media, technology solutions, addressable TV, content, sports and more.

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