The explosive growth of the programmatic media buying marketplace has been accompanied by surging interest among publishers, advertisers, and consumers in embracing responsible media practices. While many in the industry debate the importance of “being responsible” and varied approaches for doing so, PubMatic is at the forefront of creating a responsible media supply chain for our customers.
Driven by demand from our media buyer customers, PubMatic is putting these best practices into play, turning responsible media insights into action by eliminating made for advertising (MFA) websites from PubMatic-sold Auction Packages. This gives advertisers a turnkey approach to match their strategies to business outcomes, programmatically and efficiently.
We have seen, over nearly two decades as a pioneer in developing the programmatic marketplace and advocating for transparency, that it is integral to collaborate with other like-minded organizations. We work with industry leaders such as Jounce Media, Ad Fontes, Confiant, and NewsGuard to drive best practices for quality, sustainable, and responsible media for our customers.
Ultimately the power to act responsibly is in the hands of the entire ecosystem, but buyers have the ability to put their media budgets to work to drive responsible media practices. Along with providing MFA-free Auction Packages, the brands and media agencies we work with ask us how we can support them in their commitment to enable responsible decision-making. In sharing a framework for acting responsibly, let’s talk more about what we mean by ‘responsible media.’
PubMatic defines responsible media as an opportunity to help brands fulfill their purpose-driven objectives by driving media spend at scale across key areas: DE&I, environmental sustainability, and responsible journalism.
Building on this clear and focused approach, PubMatic is driving responsible media outcomes for our customers through initiatives in core areas such as:
- As previously reported, our global data centers are powered by renewable energy, which is significant as over 90% of our energy usage occurs within data centers. By owning and operating our infrastructure, we have greater control over the reduction of energy consumption fueling the supply chain. We are holding ourselves accountable as we build the digital advertising supply chain of the future, leading initiatives to audit our operations’ impact on the environment.
- We are focused on software-driven optimizations and solutions that help reduce any waste in media spend and increase transparency for publishers and advertisers.
- Facilitated by our leading-edge programmatic platform, best-in-industry partnerships, and premium inventory partners, we ensure that our customers’ ads run on brand-safe inventory, with strict quality standards across supply, placement, and signals.
In fact, our work to provide powerful, quality advertising experiences for buyers has been recognized by Jounce Media, which ranks PubMatic as the omnichannel supply-side technology company with the lowest exposure to MFA inventory among our peer group. According to Jounce Media’s Chris Kane, “Bidding into the PubMatic open auction creates less exposure to MFA inventory than bidding into the open auction from any other major exchange. And, bidding into PubMatic-sold auction packages will entirely protect buyers from value-extracting MFA supply. PubMatic’s decision to block MFA by default is the type of bold action that will restore buyer trust in the open internet.”
Through cooperation, leadership, and action we can drive media practices and outcomes that will benefit our industry today, providing a foundation for a better, more responsible tomorrow. We invite you to join us in making this happen.