At A Glance
Curation is changing how media is bought and sold, moving beyond open auctions and static site lists to more efficient deals. By combining unique data, real-time supply connections, and continuous optimization, curated PMPs reduce waste and improve results. Audigent's, a part of Experian, solutions help marketers achieve measurable outcomes with curated strategies that deliver better targeting, higher engagement, and improved ROI.If you buy media today, you’re already feeling the shift: the best results don’t always come from broad, open auctions or static “safe site” lists; they’re coming from deals that combine the right data with the right inventory and let algorithms optimize in real time. That’s curation. And when it’s done right, it reduces data and media waste for buyers and raises eCPMs (effective cost per thousand impressions) and win rates for publishers.
As part of our Cannes Content Studio series, leaders from Butler/Till, Index Exchange, OpenX, PubMatic, and Yieldmo discuss how curation cuts waste and lifts results.
What is real curation?
Real curation isn’t “packaging inventory.” It’s a strategic framework built on three pillars:
1. Unique data
Privacy-compliant and accurate.
2. Strong supply connections
Access to quality inventory from publishers at scale.
3. Optimization tools
To measure, refine, and improve performance throughout the campaign lifecycle.
Why it matters: Manual approaches hit a ceiling. They can’t react quickly to shifting content, identity signals, or auction dynamics. That’s where technology partners come in, keeping the optimization loop running continuously.
Intelligence at every touchpoint
Curation isn’t about shifting control between platforms. It’s about better brand decisions, connecting opportunity-rich supply to the brand’s preferred buying platform and enriching each buy with audience data. In practice, supply-side platforms (SSPs) are ingesting richer signals to route inventory more effectively and support frequency caps and deal prioritization, in collaboration with demand-side platforms (DSPs).
“I think we’re seeing a shift toward bringing more DSP capabilities into the SSP, like supply-side targeting and data driven curation. Advancements in areas like CTV are enabling targeting based on content signals, and SSPs are pulling in more data to inform which supply is sent to the DSP, helping with things like frequency caps.”
OpenXMatt Sattel
Why page-level targeting beats static lists
Static domain lists were a useful first step for quality control. The intent was sound, but the approach was too cumbersome for today’s signal-rich buying. Today, AI and contextual engines read the page, not just the site, and adapt in real time.
Page-level logic delivers three key benefits:
- Accuracy by targeting high-intent, page-level content.
- Relevance by matching the creative to both the content and the audience context.
- Speed by enabling campaigns to move away from underperforming pages in real time, without waiting for a manual trafficking change.
“AI-driven contextual engines evaluate the page, not just the domain, to curate inventory in real time. That moves curation from static allowlists to adaptive logic for greater accuracy, relevance, and speed.”
YieldmoSophia Su
Partnerships broaden who influences the buy
Curation works when publishers, agencies, data partners, and platforms share signals and KPIs.
- Horizontal curation (across multiple SSPs) assembles broader, higher-quality reach and resilience, ideal for scale and diversity of supply.
- Vertical curation (an SSP’s in-house product) provides deep controls within a single exchange, useful for specific inventory strategies.
- Creative and data now shape supply and demand: better creative decisioning, tested against richer signals, improves outcomes.
DSPs remain central for activation and pacing. But the sell-side’s growing intelligence means more accurate inventory routing and signal application before a bid ever fires.
“Curation will continue to evolve through deeper data partnerships and expanded use across publishers and agencies, with more sophisticated types of optimization. DSPs will remain critical to activation, even as sell-side decisioning plays a larger role in identifying and shaping the supply to select.”
Index ExchangeMike McNeeley
Curation delivers access and measurable performance
Here’s what curated deals are delivering.
For buyers
| Result | Type of result |
| 36-81% | savings on data segments |
| 10-70% | lower cost per click (CPCs) |
| 1.5-3x | higher click-through rates (CTRs) |
| 10-30% | higher video completion rates |
For publishers
| Result | Type of result |
| 20% | bid density |
| 118% | win rate |
| 10% | revenue on discovered inventory |
| 25% | eCRM on incremental impressions |
Why it works: When data, supply, and optimization are integrated, you reduce waste, surface better impressions, and let algorithms compound your advantage. That’s why curated private marketplaces (PMPs) have grown at ~19% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2019.
“Publishers using supply-side curation see ~15% more diverse buyers and 20–25% better performance than buy-side-only targeting. Smarter packaging and signal application tighten auctions and strengthen outcomes.”
PubmaticHoward Luks
Holistic curation streamlines planning and outcomes
Curation adds the data layer earlier in the buying process, starting at the supply-side. This creates more opportunities to reach the right audience and improves scale and performance. By replacing multiple line items with a single curated deal, campaign setup becomes faster and less error-prone. Curated deals also simplify measurement by including the necessary context for accurate attribution, while dynamic adjustments ensure campaigns remain optimized without requiring manual updates.
“Publishers using supply-side curation see ~15% more diverse buyers and 20–25% better performance than buy-side-only targeting. Smarter packaging and signal application tighten auctions and strengthen outcomes.”
Butler/TillGina Whelehan
It’s much more streamlined, bringing more pieces together so we’re thoughtful and holistic. Adding the audience and data element creates more scale and strategy in how we curate supply and data, and ultimately better results for clients.
The bottom line
Curation has matured from buzzword to performance system. DSPs still anchor activation and pacing, but better sell-side pipes now pre-route inventory and apply signals before any bid starts, making the whole system faster and more accurate. When you combine unique signals, tight supply connections, and always-on optimization, you gain addressability, reduce waste, and achieve better business outcomes for both buyers and sellers.
Curation isn’t just a trend; it’s where programmatic advertising is headed. Start testing curated PMPs today to see the difference for yourself.
Explore curated PMPs with Audigent
FAQs
Curation in performance marketing is the process of combining data, inventory, and optimization to deliver better results. Audigent supports curated strategies through privacy-safe data and advanced integrations.
Curation reduces wasted spend by targeting high-quality impressions and optimizing campaigns in real time. Audigent’s solutions help marketers achieve higher click-through rates, lower costs, and better engagement across channels.
Curated PMPs are deals that use curated data and inventory to deliver measurable results. They help buyers save on data costs, improve ad performance, and achieve better video completion rates, while publishers see higher win rates and revenue.
Audigent provides unique data assets, privacy-safe integrations, and optimization tools that help marketers and publishers create curated deals. Our solutions ensure campaigns are more efficient, targeted, and effective from start to finish.
Horizontal curation combines inventory across multiple platforms for broader reach and diversity, while vertical curation focuses on deep control within a single platform. Both approaches can be tailored to specific campaign goals with Audigent’s expertise.
Latest posts
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As Oracle exits the advertising space, we understand that this may present a challenge. Experian is here to support you with a seamless transition in your audience targeting. As one of Oracle’s primary data providers that powered their audiences, we’ve mapped Oracle audiences to Experian audiences, helping you to switch your audience targeting with no impact on your campaign’s performance. In this blog post, we highlight four audience categories that we know marketers are actively seeking to replace and target: auto, restaurants, lifestyle and interests, and demographics. Experian’s approach to best-in-class audience targeting Experian’s 2,400+ syndicated audiences are available directly on over 30 leading television, social, programmatic advertising platforms, and directly within Audigent for activation within private marketplaces (PMPs). Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes. Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent for activation in PMPs and directly on platforms like DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk. Experian’s audience solutions are rooted in offline, deterministic data — like name, address, phone number, and email — that rarely changes. Our deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds provides marketers a persistent linkage of known offline data and digital identifiers, which means you get accurate and consistent audience targeting across all channels. Auto, Cars, and Trucks As the premier auto partner contributing to Oracle auto segments, Experian can help you reach and target consumers based on their known and predictive auto shopping behaviors. Experian’s auto audiences are built utilizing insight from our North American Vehicle Database℠ and other data attributes from Experian Marketing Data to provide highly accurate audiences for digital and TV advertising. Unlike some of our competitors who are also positioning themselves as a replacement audience provider, Experian owns all our Vehicle, Consumer, and summarized Credit data under one umbrella and refreshes our audiences every 30 days. This ensures tighter audience composition, superior data hygiene, and best in-class data fidelity, which means you get to target the most accurate audiences. With over 750 syndicated audiences segmented by make, model, price, vehicle age, fuel type, and more, our data is accessible through Experian’s distribution power across all platforms — digital, TV, programmatic, and social — allowing activation wherever our partners need it. 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Here are five of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's lifestyle and interest audiences: Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > DogsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > Dog OwnersAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > CatsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Pets > Cat OwnersAudiences by Oracle > Hobbies and Interests (Affinity) > Health and Fitness > ExerciseLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Health & Fitness > Fitness EnthusiastOracle DLX (Datalogix) > DLX Finance > InvestorsLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Investors > Active InvestorAudiences by Oracle > Lifestyles > Merchant Category Audiences > Sports LoversLifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast Demographics Experian’s demographic data allows marketers to tap into the accurate data from Experian Marketing Data to refine audiences to meet a brand’s target persona. Our demographic audiences deliver insight into age, gender, income, and household attributes such as home ownership, presence of children in the household, and length of residence. Based on customer feedback, we have expanded our range of age-based audience segments. These new segments cover various adult age groups and gender distinctions (e.g., Adult Females 18-39, Adult Males 35-54). Here are seven of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's demographic audiences: Audience by Oracle Experian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Household Income > HHI: $100,000+Demographics > Household Income (HHI) > $100,000+Audiences by Oracle > Real Estate and Home Property Services > Real Estate Attributes > Ownership > Home OwnersDemographics > Homeowners/Renters > HomeownerAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Age Groups > Adults 25-54Demographics > Ages > 25-54Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Gender > FemalesDemographics > Gender > FemaleAudiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Age Groups > Adults 25-54 > Females 25-54Demographics > Ages > Female 25-54Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Age Broad > Ages 40-49Demographics > Ages > 40-49Audiences by Oracle > Demographics > Validated Demographics > Age Broad > Ages 65+Demographics > Ages > 65+ Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) Here are six of the most popular Experian audiences that align with Oracle's QSR audiences: Audience by OracleExperian audienceAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > In Store QSR Fast Food Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR QSR Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > QSR Chicken Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Chicken Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Merchant Category Audiences > QSR Burgers Frequent SpendersRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Burger Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Cuisine Type > SandwichesRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Fast Food/QSR Subs and Sandwich Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Dining Type > Casual DiningRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Casual Dining Frequent SpendersAudiences by Oracle > Restaurants > Dining Type > Coffee Shops and CafesRetail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Food and Drink > Restaurants: Coffee Frequent Spenders Switch from Oracle to Experian audiences with ease Experian is here to make it easy for advertisers and agencies to find the right audience solutions after Oracle’s exit. By partnering with us, you work with a single data provider that offers access to a diverse range of audiences across multiple categories, including political and holiday shopping. Our audiences are available for activation on the leading demand, supply, social, and TV platforms. Reach out to your account representative or our audience team for information about our comprehensive audience mapping and finding the right audiences for your campaigns. Connect with our audience team Download our audience lookbook to discover more about Experian’s audiences. Contact us Latest posts