Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia picks Publica to automate premium CTV ad auctions
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Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia has partnered with Publica to integrate a unified auction solution for its CTV advertising inventory. The solution leverages server-side ad insertion and advanced pod decisioning to enable linear-style controls for programmatic advertisers.
Key Takeaways
- Atresmedia implemented Publica’s Unified Auction to manage demand between multiple SSPs and direct sales simultaneously.
- Integrated Live Logs provide real-time visibility into programmatic auctions for immediate yield optimization and troubleshooting.
- Advanced pod decisioning enables competitive separation and frequency capping identical to traditional linear TV commercial breaks.
- Adoption of OpenRTB 2.6 and ads.cert 2.0 protocols secures server-side ad insertion (SSAI) to prevent fraud in streaming environments.
Why It Matters
Broadcasters like Atresmedia are under pressure to modernize streaming monetization as standard TV ad revenue faces structural declines. By adopting unified auctions and pod-level controls, Atresmedia can command higher CPMs from programmatic buyers who previously avoided CTV due to limited transparency or frequency issues. This move specifically targets the Spanish market, where CTV investment grew over 48% in 2025, according to IAB Spain. For the broader ecosystem, this signals a shift toward demand-agnostic ad stacks that prioritize publisher yield over single-vendor silos. Watch for Atresmedia’s 2026 digital revenue reports to see if these programmatic efficiencies offset the softening of traditional linear spot sales.
Additional Context
The partnership comes as the Spanish media landscape undergoes a decisive shift toward digital revenue. Per Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) in February 2026, streaming platforms in Spain surpassed traditional television operators in total revenue for the first time in 2025, generating €3.58 billion compared to €3.35 billion for conventional broadcasters. While core television advertising in Spain contracted by roughly 5% in late 2024 and throughout 2025, the digital video segment grew at a double-digit clip, making it a critical area for established players like Atresmedia to defend their market share. Atresmedia remains a dominant force in this environment, maintaining a 25.7% audience share in the third quarter of 2025 as the leading private media group in Spain, according to filings from CNMV in October 2025. Its streaming service, Atresplayer, reached 17.2 million registered users by mid-2025, reflecting a significant base for its new ad-tech capabilities. The group is increasingly diversifying into non-linear streams to mitigate audience migration to global SVOD services like Netflix and Prime Video. The adoption of Publica technology also highlights the growing influence of its parent company, Magnite. Since acquiring Publica, Magnite has focused on the Unified Auction as a differentiator for high-end broadcasters. In its February 2025 earnings report, Magnite noted that CTV now accounts for 43% of its total contribution ex-TAC, largely driven by international expansion and partnerships with major content owners. This growth is reinforced by local regulatory shifts; in late 2024, the Spanish government proposed amendments to the Audiovisual General Law to provide more advertising flexibility for broadcasters, incentivizing the use of advanced ad servers to manage increased inventory volume.
Read full article at getpublica.com
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