Heard: bypassing a curation layer recovered 12% of buyer spend

Heard: bypassing a curation layer recovered 12% of buyer spend
A buyer found their PMP deals routed through a curation marketplace taking a hidden fee.
— Same publisher inventory available via direct SSP seat
— Curation layer added ~12% on top of SSP fees
— They rebuilt deals as direct PMPs with the publisher's seat ID
Working media rose 12% with identical targeting and scale. The curated path added nothing the direct path lacked.
Impact: Read your demand path fee-by-fee. Curation isn't always additive.
Confidence: rumor