As third-party cookies become a less reliable way to target people with ads, more publishers are rethinking their programmatic outfits.

This, plus the damages from the coronavirus, has spurred a few to pull their inventory from the open marketplace. I spoke with female-focused publisher Stylist about why it ceased trading on the OMP in November.

“Publishers have three routes,” head of digital David Hayter told me, “get rid of open marketplace and focus on direct sold. Or ship out to [Google ad exchange] AdX, where you don’t have to worry about quality or yield. Or go in really hard on the open marketplace, hire dynamic-floor price analysts who monitor every hour of every day. For us that didn’t make sense so we turned it off.”

It’s reasonable to think others will do the same.

In my story, I look at why this should serve as a wake up call for publishers.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Lucinda
[email protected]

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Kevin Reilly, Cindy Holland and Marc DeBevoise were among more than two dozen high-profile exits.

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