At A Glance
Microsoft is moving curation toward an operating system for premium media buys, bringing deal packaging, transparency, and audience intelligence into one workflow. In this Ask the Expert conversation, Microsoft Advertising’s Erik Zamkoff shares how curated packages help buyers assess supply, help publishers track where inventory appears, and support AI-assisted planning with Experian.A closer look at media curation
Media buying depends on dependable inventory, clear package details, and results that justify spend. In this Ask the Expert session, Erik Zamkoff, Global Packaging Lead at Microsoft Advertising, joins Matt Petiton, Director of Partnership Sales at Experian, to discuss how media curation is expanding from deal packaging into a more complete system for premium buying and how inventory and audience intelligence work together to drive stronger outcomes.
How does curation solve discovery and scale challenges?
Curation helps media buyers access reliable information faster, compare packages, and reduce manual work. What started as a way to organize deal discovery has become a system for structuring supply, managing updates, and responding to buyer needs at scale.
Curation helps teams:
- Consolidate deal information in one place, so buyers have the detail they need to evaluate a package
- Act as a decisioning layer, organizing supply in a way that makes comparison easier
- Automate real-time updates, so buyers are working from current options rather than static documents
- Respond faster to custom requests, turning repeat asks into repeatable packages
- Bring speed and structure to a process that has often been manual
How does total transparency set winning curators apart?
Total transparency is becoming a baseline expectation in premium media buying. For buyers, that means knowing what inventory is inside a deal, how it’s sourced, and it’s expected to perform. For publishers, transparency means seeing how inventory is packaged, where it appears in market, and how those packages are represented back to buyers.
The strongest curation platforms build that visibility into the system itself. A source deal can be traced through its naming, packaging, and downstream use, giving publishers a clear view of where their inventory shows up and gives buyers more confidence in the information they use to make decisions.
That clarity strengthens working relationships on both sides. Publishers want partners who can show how supply is being used. Buyers want curators who stand behind the accuracy of their deal data. When that level of visibility is present, curated transactions feel more trustworthy, more organized, and easier to act on.
“The value proposition for publishers is straightforward: total transparency. I can sit down with a publisher and clearly identify which packages their specific deals appear in, ensuring clarity and trust.”
Microsoft AdvertisingErik Zamkoff, Global Packaging Lead
Why does curation clarity matter to publishers?
Publishers need a clear view of how their inventory is distributed, who has access to it, and where it appears across a fast-moving market. Gaps in that visibility make it harder to manage pricing, plan inventory strategy, and protect the value of supply.
A transparent curation system gives publishers a clearer view of how each source deal is merchandised across packages and campaigns. With that visibility, they can spot overlap, have more informed conversations with buy-side teams, and take a more active role in how their inventory is presented.
For publishers in premium marketplaces, that level of clarity matters. It supports stronger planning, control, and more confidence that supply is being used in a way that aligns with business goals.
How does audience intelligence make curation more effective?
Audience intelligence makes curated media more useful by connecting premium supply to the audiences marketers need to reach. Most campaign briefs require both quality inventory and relevant audiences to succeed, which is why curation works better when it’s connected to trusted data.
The next major shift in media buying is the move from standard inventory curation to a model that combines premium supply with audience intelligence. To bridge this gap, solutions like Experian’s act as a critical intelligence layer. Experian turns standard inventory into highly targeted, data-rich media packages. By pairing powerful data and identity with premium properties, advertisers can reach the exact people they want to connect with.
Experian Marketing Data plays an important role in this model. For example, if a marketplace offers an inventory package for professional sports, Experian audience data can augment that package by bringing in verified sports fans. This strategy adds richness and depth to campaigns, making the media buy more relevant to the audience. It allows clients to pick a category and extend it to reach a highly relevant audience. Bringing premium supply and audience intelligence together gives buyers a more complete solution for their advertising needs.
How is artificial intelligence changing the media curation interface?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how buyers search, compare, and package curated media supply. It can turn natural-language campaign requirements into recommended opportunities, helping teams move faster without replacing human strategy.
AI is poised to change how buyers interact with curated media supply, serving as both a facilitator and connective tissue across the entire transaction process. Human expertise remains essential for interpreting campaign goals and making strategic decisions. AI supports that work by automating routine, data-heavy tasks, accelerating the planning process.
“From an artificial intelligence perspective, it has been an amazing journey. We are now exploring an agentic pivot on the front end, allowing natural language search applications to simplify how buyers find supply.”
Microsoft AdvertisingErik Zamkoff, Global Packaging Lead
Tasks that previously required hours of manual effort, such as sorting through multiple audience taxonomies, cross-referencing deal details, and compiling package comparisons, are now automated. Buyers use platform interfaces in a natural language. They quickly describe campaigning requirements. AI instantly proposes new opportunities that correspond to stated objectives. This simplifies planning and drives a more consistent delivery from campaign to campaign or client to client. Reduced manual oversight allows teams to spend less time on repetitive steps. Teams can focus on client relationships, campaign strategy, and overall performance.
At Experian, AI integration is powered by our high-quality data, ranked #1 by Truthset, that meets critical standards of accuracy, freshness, consent, and interoperability. Our data is accurate, continuously updated, and human-centered. Our commitment to data quality enables AI to deliver real-time package recommendations, optimize campaigns with predictive insights, and surface opportunities that reflect current consumer behavior. By combining automation with human expertise, AI helps buyers make faster, more confident decisions.
Learn what’s possible with curated media solutions
For marketers planning premium buys, curated media solutions can help connect quality supply, audience relevance, and clearer decision-making in one workflow. Experian and Microsoft Advertising can help you solve your advertising challenges and find the right media solutions for your goals.
About our experts
Erik Zamkoff
Global Packaging Lead, Microsoft
Erik Zamkoff is currently the Global Packaging Lead at Microsoft, where he drives strategy and innovation across the company’s programmatic advertising and media marketplace offerings. He brings over a decade of experience spanning digital marketing, marketplace development, and product management, with prior roles at Microsoft, Xandr, and other technology firms.
Matt Petiton
Director of Partnership Sales, Experian
Matt Petiton is a senior revenue and go-to-market leader with over a decade of experience scaling strategic partnerships and driving revenue growth within CTV, digital and programmatic channels. Currently, Matt operates within the Partnership Sales org where he leads revenue generation and manages the end-to-end go-to-market strategy for some of Experian’s most strategic, enterprise-level platform partners.
FAQs
Curation in media buying is the process of organizing premium supply into structured packages that buyers can evaluate, compare, and activate more easily. It helps reduce manual work, improve deal clarity and connect inventory to campaign goals.
Transparency matters in curated deals since buyers and publishers both need confidence in how inventory is packaged and represented. Buyers want accurate deal data, and publishers want visibility into where their supply appears and how it is used.
Experian’s data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, helps make curation more effective by connecting premium inventory with audience intelligence. Experian’s identity foundation and marketing data can help buyers move from broad inventory packages to media opportunities tied to more relevant audiences.
A marketer would use curation to find a media package that combines quality inventory with the audience needed for a campaign goal. For example, a professional sports package can become more relevant when paired with Experian audience data for verified sports fans.
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Commerce media networks have had a strong start. Growth has been fast, demand has been strong, and brands have made it clear they want closer access to commerce-driven audiences. But as more networks mature and enter the space, many are starting to feel the same pressure point: scale. Most commerce media networks were built as managed service businesses. That model works well early on. High-touch, white-glove partnerships make sense when you’re working with a handful of strategic brands. But there’s a ceiling. There are only so many teams, only so much inventory, and only so many advertisers that model can realistically support. It’s one thing for a large retailer to build custom programs for a P&G. It’s another to do that at scale for hundreds or thousands of brands. At some point, growth slows, not because demand disappears, but because the model can’t stretch any further. The scale problem no one likes to talk about That’s where many commerce media leaders find themselves today. Pausing to assess what comes next. For a long time, growth has been measured almost entirely through media dollars. That mindset is understandable. Media is familiar, it’s easy to quantify. It shows up clearly in negotiations and revenue reports. But viewing commerce media networks purely as media sales engines creates long-term risk. It can strain brand relationships, limit innovation, and distract from what commerce media networks actually do better than almost anyone else: understand consumers deeply. Signals are the real asset Commerce platforms sit close to decision-making. They see what people search for, what they consider, what they buy, and when those behaviors change. Those signals are incredibly powerful. And yet, most networks only activate them inside their own walled environments. That’s a missed opportunity. Curation represents the next area of growth for commerce media networks, and it doesn’t require replacing or diminishing existing media revenue. In fact, it complements it. No single commerce media network has all the data needed to give advertisers the scale and reach they’re looking for. And no advertiser wants to recreate the same audience in dozens of disconnected platforms. That friction creates inefficiency and slows decision-making. Why collaboration supports sustainable growth The opportunity is to look beyond first-party data alone and start thinking about collaboration. Second-party data. Data partnerships. Signal sharing done responsibly and transparently. Imagine an advertiser defining an audience once and being able to understand and reach that audience across multiple commerce environments. Not through a series of disconnected buys, but through a more consistent approach built on shared understanding leading to increased reach and more impactful campaigns. That’s easier for advertisers to manage, and it creates an additional revenue stream for commerce media networks that complements media sales rather than competing with them. Curation strengthens media, it doesn’t replace it Media will always play an important role. There is clear value in custom experiences tied directly to a commerce environment. Think buyouts, sponsored experiences, custom creative integrations. Those are situations where brands want to work closely with the network itself. But the signals commerce media networks hold don’t need to be limited to those moments. Those signals can be monetized independently through data products, co-ops, and partnerships that extend their value into other channels. That’s how curation adds value without undercutting existing revenue. A practical path forward for commerce media leaders For commerce media leaders thinking about their next phase of growth, the focus should be on sustainability. Building a massive media operation takes time and investment. Data-driven revenue streams can be introduced more quickly, require fewer internal resources, and provide steadier margins. It’s a practical approach. Use signal-based revenue to fund growth. Let that revenue support investment in tooling, talent, and media innovation over time. Bootstrapping, in the truest sense. Why transparency matters early There’s also a broader responsibility here. In many advertising channels, transparency followed growth, often after pressure from the market. Commerce media networks have an opportunity to do this differently. To lead with transparency from the start. To be clear with brands and consumers about how data is used, how signals are created, and how value flows through the ecosystem. Because the reality is this: commerce media networks are holding some of the most valuable intent signals in the market today. But those signals don’t retain their value in isolation. If they aren’t enhanced, combined, and made accessible in the right ways, someone else will step in to do it. And when that happens, control shifts away from the source. The bottom line The next chapter of commerce media isn’t just about selling more media alone. It’s about recognizing the value of the signals already in hand, working together to make them more useful, and building additional revenue streams that support long-term growth. That’s how commerce media networks grow without eating their own lunch. About the author Kevin Dunn Chief Revenue Officer, Experian Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships. Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together. Latest posts
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