Advertisers are increasingly shifting programmatic budgets toward open web and CTV inventory to mitigate rising customer acquisition costs within major walled gardens. Industry experts suggest that programmatic platforms are evolving to better serve performance-minded buyers by offering more control and transparency compared to automated social and search platforms.
The shift toward open programmatic channels signals a growing frustration with the lack of transparency and rising costs within the Meta-Google-Amazon triopoly. As these walled gardens automate more functions via AI, buyers are losing the ability to manually optimize campaigns, making the lower-cost display and CTV markets more attractive for performance-based outcomes. This trend forces a re-evaluation of streaming platforms not just as brand-building tools, but as efficient direct-response channels that can leverage existing social creative. Watch for whether premium publishers continue to consolidate their inventory under single-seller agreements like the Yahoo-Microsoft deal to simplify buyer access while maintaining higher CPMs.
As the industry evolves, programmatic ad auctions are being updated to better handle the unique requirements of streaming environments, while new CTV supply-side platforms are emerging to provide the transparency that major platforms currently lack.
Advertisers are increasingly shifting budgets from walled gardens like Meta and Google toward open web programmatic advertising. Rising customer acquisition costs and reduced manual control within major platforms are driving this trend. By utilizing CTV and display inventory, brands are regaining granular control over media spend and achieving better performance-based outcomes.
Advertisers are frustrated by rising costs, a lack of transparency, and the loss of manual campaign optimization capabilities as major platforms increasingly automate functions via AI.
The Trade Desk is redefining the open web through its SP500+ list, which features premium streaming entities such as Disney+, Hulu, and Samsung TV.
Ecommerce agencies like Otherside are repurposing vertical social video assets for CTV units to drive brand recognition at lower CPMs.
Yahoo has secured exclusive reseller rights for open web display inventory from major media owners, including Microsoft and NBC.
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