GroupM Premium Supply Expands Offering with Video in the U.S.

Currently live in 10+ global markets, this is the first fully auditable programmatic premium supply marketplace

SpotX tapped as a preferred programmatic video exchange partner

New York (October 22, 2020) — GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, today announced that it has expanded its global Premium Supply offering with video in the U.S. Currently, live in more than 10 global markets, GroupM Premium Supply (GPS) was launched in 2017 as the first fully auditable programmatic premium supply marketplace allowing end to end visibility on all buys. In expanding the offering to video, GroupM has tapped SpotX as its preferred programmatic video exchange partner.

GPS directly connects GroupM clients to high-quality publishers to support programmatic buying objectives and mitigates the risk of the 15% unknown delta detailed in May’s U.K. ISBA study.

In addition to end-to-end visibility on all buys, these partnerships ensure GroupM delivers for clients’ programmatic campaigns into engaging, effective, brand-safe environments while providing advantageous pricing, reduced transactional technology costs, and operational simplicity for their trading teams across multiple DSPs.

The GPS expansion into video with SpotX will see them develop unique programmatic solutions for GroupM clients to streamline the ad planning, buying, decisioning, and optimization processes. With nearly all major ad-supported providers of OTT video working with SpotX, the partnership will enable GroupM to provide its clients with direct access to premium publisher inventory beyond linear television, thereby complementing traditional TV media buys.

“GroupM Premium Supply allows clients to leverage our scale in a biddable environment while, at the same time, ensuring they’re accessing only the best possible publisher inventory in each market. This is exactly what the industry has been calling out for,” said Andrew Meaden, GroupM Global Head of Investment Strategy. Esra Bacher, GroupM’s managing partner, and programmatic investment lead adds: “As viewership dramatically increases in streaming video, we have chosen to partner with SpotX due to their strong relationships with the supply-side of the video ecosystem. We’re excited to continue our great work with them moving forward.”

The GroupM-SpotX agreement is part of a growing industry trend around supply-path optimization (SPO) in which media owners and buyers are leaning into deeper relationships with a smaller number of partners. The addition of SpotX in the U.S. will complement GroupM’s successful global partnership with Index Exchange that focuses on display media, established earlier this year.

“In today’s climate, we understand that media agencies have many different choices in SSPs, and we are thrilled to be recognized by GroupM for our programmatic expertise and substantial ties to publishers,” said Sean Buckley, COO at SpotX. “We’re excited to enhance the partnership GroupM and their clients have with our platform customers and continue to scale the digital video ecosystem.”