PRIVATE MARKETPLACE DEALS (PMPs)
A guide to private marketplace deals
If you’re new to the world of digital advertising, you may have noticed that the industry is full (and we mean FULL) of buzzwords and acronyms. To help navigate this notoriously complex landscape, we thought we’d break down some of the most commonly used industry jargon.
We’re starting off with one of our favourite TLAs (three-letter acronyms that is): PMP
What is PMP?
PMP stands for Private Marketplace and is a programmatic media-buying method.
Compared to open auctions, which you can read about here, PMP is an invitation-only bidding process where publishers invite selected buyers to take place in real-time bidding to purchase their inventory.
The minimum price of the bids is referred to as ‘floor price’ and is negotiated before the auction starts. Private marketplace deals are more targeted and premium than open auction deals, which is reflected in the price.
What are the pros of private marketplace deals?
- Transparency: It gives both buyers and sellers transparency of the auction
- Relationship building: Publishers and buyers negotiate and agree on terms and pricing, which allows for mutual understanding and strong relationships to be built
- Premium inventory: Gives access to higher-quality inventory before it ends up on the open market
- Targeting: Allows advertisers to target specific audiences
What are the cons of private marketplace deals?
- Only partly-automated, meaning the buying process can require more manual labour and time compared to open auctions
- Non-guaranteed inventory: there is no guarantee you’ll get the inventory you want
- Pricing: Costs tend to be slightly higher than open auction deals
When to choose PMPs:
- When you have a whitelist of publishers you want to display your ads across
- When you want access to higher-quality inventory before it ends up on the open market
- When you have a specific target audience for your campaign
When to avoid private auctions:
- When a campaign calls for more premium inventory (mastheads, roadblocks etc.)
- When you want a fixed price for the inventory
If you want to learn more about other types of programmatic media-buying, check out our blog post on open auctions here.