Within the notoriously complicated digital promoting provide chain, some manufacturers and their companies, together with a handful of the world’s largest promoting holding corporations, have funneled cash and information to rival Publicis Groupe with out understanding it.
Media patrons worry that by unknowingly buying resold writer stock—routed by means of Publicis’ Epsilon-owned supply-side platform (SSP) to different SSPs in open-web auctions—they’ve each funded a competitor and revealed their viewers concentrating on methods. Epsilon SSP is the one main SSP available on the market owned by an company or holdco.
Over the previous 18 months, the media-buying arms of WPP, IPG, Dentsu, and Havas—together with a minimum of 4 impartial companies and one brand-side programmatic group—bought advert stock not directly by means of Publicis’ Epsilon SSP, in keeping with bid response information reviewed by ADWEEK. For instance, final 12 months, WPP dealt with buys for present model Moonpig, Dentsu for United, Havas for Sanofi, and IPG for Truvia and Bristol Myers Squibb, all in instances the place Epsilon SSP resold the stock by means of one other SSP.
Some patrons at the moment are blocking Epsilon SSP over considerations that, by transacting on the platform, they’ve not solely funneled {dollars} to Publicis but additionally uncovered beneficial information to a direct competitor. This information consists of the quantity they’re keen to spend on particular stock, artistic property, and the audiences they’re concentrating on—alerts these media patrons say might be used to achieve a aggressive benefit.
These findings come from an ADWEEK evaluation of publicly accessible provide path information from advertisements.txt and sellers.json information and a evaluation of historic bid response information, together with conversations with 5 model and company media patrons who have been granted anonymity to talk freely about proprietary practices.
“Bid requests and responses, carrying info essential to ship an advert, usually are not a aggressive benefit,” a spokesperson for Publicis instructed ADWEEK, including: “It’s regarding that skilled patrons are both unaware of, or just not utilizing, the reporting instruments out there to them by means of their DSP to completely view each ‘hop’ in a programmatic path.”
“If different holding corporations select to not use our platforms, that’s their resolution, and one that’s immaterial to our operations,“ the spokesperson stated.
WPP, IPG, and Havas declined to remark. Dentsu didn’t reply to a request for remark. Moonpig, United, Sanofi, Truvia, and Bristol Myers Squibb didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Resold stock provides complexity and prices
In lots of instances, patrons didn’t know they have been transacting on Epsilon SSP due to a standard however opaque adtech observe referred to as “multi-hop reselling,” the place an advert impression passes by means of a number of SSPs or exchanges earlier than reaching the advertiser’s shopping for platform. This could typically put media patrons at the hours of darkness about the entire gamers of their provide chains.
To keep away from opacity in programmatic provide chains, some patrons go for direct relationships with publishers or personal market offers during which publishers make their stock out there to a choose, invite-only group of patrons.
Reselling, alternatively, complicates the provision chain, making it troublesome for advertisers to know which palms the provision handed by means of. It additionally provides additional charges for the advertiser since every middleman takes a reduce.
Epsilon SSP typically acts as a reseller, the time period for any middleman approved by the writer to resell their stock, even when that middleman doesn’t take possession of it, in keeping with the Interactive Promoting Bureau. Epsilon SSP is permitted to amass digital advert stock from different SSPs or exchanges—and in addition to resell it to SSPs together with Magnite, PubMatic, Nexxen, and OpenX, in keeping with publicly-available sellers.json and advertisements.txt information.
Provide path information considered by ADWEEK exhibits that Epsilon SSP is usually the second, third, or fourth “hop” away from the unique writer. This implies an advertiser shopping for from PubMatic, as an illustration, is perhaps buying an impression that was resold by means of Epsilon, which can itself have sourced the stock from one other upstream middleman.
For instance, within the following visible, a set of pattern provide paths for information writer 9News.com is proven, the place Epsilon could also be each a purchaser of stock resold from different SSPs and a reseller to downstream SSPs. 9News declined a request for remark.
Patrons usually are not at all times conscious of those hops. Commonplace reporting from SSPs typically solely exhibits the unique platform the place the purchase was made, not the intermediaries or the ultimate vendor, which means patrons may by no means see Epsilon’s title of their stories.
“Many holding corporations and types which can be shopping for on the open alternate in a non-structured trend are sending their cash and their information to Publicis with out realizing it,” stated one agency-side media purchaser who blocked Epsilon SSP after mistakenly transacting on the platform by means of resold paths.
A PubMatic spokesperson stated the corporate is “dedicated to delivering most transparency and controls to empower patrons to make knowledgeable selections.”
OpenX’s svp of worldwide writer growth Tyler Romasco stated the corporate solely permits two hops—referring to the variety of middlemen an advert request goes by means of earlier than a shopper sees the advert—and plans to cut back it to at least one hop within the close to future. He stated OpenX “maintains a rigorous and clear strategy to reselling” and that OpenX shoppers can block particular resellers.
Magnite and Nexxen declined to remark.
Patrons are anxious about sharing information with Publicis
Patrons might not know they’re buying resold stock from Epsilon or transacting on its platform, however it’s in the end the customer’s duty to know their very own provide paths, three patrons stated.
“It’s probably not an issue in the event that they’re reselling,” stated a kind of patrons, who blocked Epsilon SSP after shopping for resold stock for non-Publicis shoppers. “The issue is that entrepreneurs in every single place are unknowingly doubtless giving their information to their opponents.”
Like several SSP within the digital advert provide chain, Epsilon SSP not solely takes a reduce with every transaction, but additionally beneficial properties entry to bid response information shared by the demand-side platform.This consists of alerts just like the advertiser’s id, URL of the stock, artistic attributes, measurement of the advert, and price of the advert area, in keeping with the Interactive Promoting Bureau’s trade requirements.
SSPs additionally see bid request information from the writer aspect—which incorporates parameters like consumer ID, system kind, geolocation, and blocked classes. Any SSP, alternate, or reseller within the chain sees each request and response information for the transactions they facilitate, besides in uncommon instances the place some information is purposefully obfuscated.
All this information offers SSPs the power to make inferences a couple of given advertiser’s technique—significantly the audiences they’re concentrating on—primarily based on the bidstream information it receives, in keeping with conversations with 9 completely different programmatic consultants.
A type of consultants, who oversees a preferred SSP, stated that any SSP “may arguably reverse engineer the complete marketer’s technique when you wished to.”
For example, this exec stated, an SSP may verify doubtless viewers segments {that a} given advertiser is concentrating on if it noticed the advertiser ceaselessly bidding on placements for 18- to 24-year-olds out there for a brand new automobile. The identical might be executed for contextual placements by associating bids with URLs.
The U.S. Division of Justice made an identical argument in its landmark antitrust case in opposition to Google’s adtech enterprise, which resulted in a federal ruling that decided Google operated an unlawful monopoly over advert exchanges and advert servers. The federal government claimed in its grievance that “public sale information, together with information regarding bidding, out there impressions and gained impressions, allow advert tech merchandise to enhance their algorithms.” It additionally alleged that “an advert tech supplier that may see at scale who bids on stock and at what costs can create bidding methods to extra reliably win future auctions for related stock.”
Whereas this logic might apply to any SSP or advert alternate operating open alternate auctions, Epsilon SSP stands out: It’s the one main SSP owned by an promoting holding firm. That makes Publicis the one company community with direct entry to advertisers’ marketing campaign information within the programmatic ecosystem whereas concurrently competing for these advertisers’ enterprise. Some patrons see this twin function on each the purchase and promote sides as a possible battle of curiosity.
“No different holding firm has a majority or full possession over part of the ecosystem that everyone transacts and performs in,” an company media purchaser stated.
The corporate stated it retains its buy-side and sell-side operations separate.
“The buy-side can by no means see bid info acquired on the sell-side both in actual time or after the actual fact, because of technical and operational firewalls (together with completely different groups and engineering techniques) which can be frequently audited by a 3rd celebration,” a Publicis spokesperson stated. They added that “any consumer utilizing each its buy-side and sell-side companies does so in full transparency, with a number of and repeated handbook opt-ins.”
When requested, the corporate declined to supply extra details about what sorts of firewalls are in place.
“This information shouldn’t be logged or saved by Epsilon’s SSP. Even when it have been, it isn’t attainable to make use of it to achieve perception right into a marketing campaign’s technique or targets,” the Publicis spokesperson stated.
The chief of a distinct main SSP, talking on situation of anonymity, disputed that an SSP wouldn’t log or retailer bid information, saying it’s “customary” observe for SSPs to retailer each bid request and bid response information, because it’s “essential for observability, telemetry, troubleshooting.” Additionally they stated that storing bid response information is important for implementing advertiser blocklists and offering correct reporting for advertisers.
‘Offended and pissed off,’ patrons block Epsilon SSP
5 media patrons instructed ADWEEK they found they have been shopping for by means of Epsilon SSP by way of reseller paths with out realizing it. All 5 have since blocked the platform—one as a part of a broader crackdown on reseller visitors, one attributable to media high quality considerations, and three particularly to keep away from sending cash and information to Publicis.
One Fortune 500 model unintentionally purchased 10 million impressions resold by Epsilon SSP between July 2023 and April 2024 by way of SSPs like PubMatic and Magnite, in keeping with an in-house media purchaser talking on situation of anonymity. PubMatic identified that advertisers choose their very own media shopping for methods and partnerships, and underscored the prime quality of the media it represents. Magnite declined to remark.
The customer argued that Epsilon SSP is “taking margin…and lowering working media for manufacturers that will or will not be Publicis shoppers,” including that “the potential for it to be an issue, and a battle of curiosity, is huge.”
The corporate has since eradicated most reseller paths. The customer additionally famous that Epsilon SSP wouldn’t be thought-about as a possible provide companion for the model in any respect as a result of “an SSP owned by a holdco could be working with incentives that don’t align effectively with advertiser targets.”
A special agency-side purchaser stated they felt “offended and pissed off” after unwittingly shopping for Epsilon SSP’s stock by means of different SSPs for a number of shoppers final 12 months. The customer blocked Epsilon SSP from all of its provide paths, citing considerations about self-preferencing.
They added: “I’m not within the enterprise of funding a competitor.”
