At A Glance
Curation is becoming the standard for programmatic buying because it connects trusted data, premium inventory, and supply-path optimization into performance-ready deals. In a privacy-first environment, curated private marketplaces (PMPs) give marketers more control, better efficiency, and clearer outcomes across channels.Curation is becoming the standard for programmatic buying because it improves transparency, cost efficiency, and measurable performance in privacy-first environments. It connects trusted data with premium supply paths, making scale more accountable and aligned to outcomes.
For years, success meant reaching as many impressions as possible at the lowest cost. That model delivered reach, but it didn’t always deliver results. As privacy standards tightened and signals fragmented, scale alone stopped translating into performance.
In 2026, programmatic buying looks different. Advertisers are moving toward better-defined paths to results. Curation, once a niche tactic, is now becoming central to a brand’s strategy shaping how media is planned, activated, and measured.
How is programmatic buying shifting from broad access to intentional activation?
Programmatic buying is shifting from broad, open exchange access to curated, performance-ready supply paths. Advertisers now prioritize quality, transparency, and data alignment over raw impression volume. Curation is reshaping programmatic into something more focused, efficient, and accountable.
Instead of relying on uncurated open exchange buying (the old “needle in a haystack” example), advertisers are curating both audiences and supply paths to better surface high-value opportunities at the right price. They’re combining high-quality inventory with trusted data, identity, and optimization to create premium private marketplace (PMP) deals designed for performance. In practice, this means the open exchange remains the source of scale, while curation determines how that scale is accessed and optimized.
In a privacy-first environment, curation brings identity, quality, and control together. It allows marketers to activate across connected TV (CTV), audio, in-app and the open web while reducing waste and improving transparency.
What’s the performance case for curation?
Curation drives measurable efficiency gains for both buyers and sellers. Experian’s identity foundation strengthens this alignment by ensuring audience consistency across curated supply paths, improving match quality, and cross-channel measurement. A growing share of programmatic spend now flows through curated private marketplaces because they improve cost control and outcomes.
The shift toward curated buying paths reflects how the open exchange itself is evolving.
2026 Digital trends and predictions report
Our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report is available now and reveals five trends that will define 2026. From curation becoming the standard in programmatic to AI moving from hype to implementation, each trend reflects a shift toward more connected, data-driven marketing. The interplay between them will define how marketers will lead in 2026.
More than 66% of open-exchange ad spend, representing over $100 billion annually, now flows through curated PMPs. Advertisers are seeing data cost savings of 36-81% compared to uncurated open exchange buying, while publishers benefit as well, with revenue lifts of up to 70% on mobile and 13% on CTV.
These gains come from alignment. Curated deals provide:
When data and supply are aligned at the deal level, performance becomes more predictable and measurable.
How are supply-side platforms accelerating curation?
Supply-side platforms (SSPs) are embedding curation directly into their infrastructure. This is making curated buying easier to execute at scale.
SSPs like Index Exchange, Magnite, and OpenX now embed curation tools directly into their platforms that enable:
- Real-time optimization
- Data enrichment
- Transparent buyer-to-publisher connections
Audigent’s collaboration with Index Exchange brings curated inventory directly into DV360 through Index Marketplaces. For marketers, this translates to faster activation, clearer insights, and more control across the supply path.
Curation is no longer a workaround layered on top of programmatic. It’s becoming part of the core transaction.
Why are agencies stepping into the curator role?
Agencies are building curated marketplaces to improve performance and differentiate their media strategies. Curation gives them more control over data costs, transparency, and client outcomes.
Holding company GroupM and independent agency Butler/Till are building their own curated marketplaces. These deals allow them to:
- Control data costs
- Maintain transparency
- Improve performance while reducing reliance on open-market bidding
For advertisers, agency-curated deals provide accuracy without added complexity. For agencies, curation strengthens their strategic power beyond buying power.
How does data collaboration expand curated activation?
Curation works best when data partners collaborate within the deal structure. Curated PMPs allow trusted audience segments to move closer to supply without additional friction.
Through Experian Curated Deals, high-performing audience segments are made available directly within curated PMPs. This includes PurpleLab’s HIPAA-compliant audiences, enabling privacy-conscious activation across verticals like B2B, CPG, health, retail, and travel.
Experian Curated Deals are live across major buying platforms, including:
Marketers can activate trusted data without added contracts or data fees, expanding reach while maintaining governance and control.
Experian’s identity foundation ensures audiences remain consistent across channels. Audigent’s supply-path intelligence strengthens efficiency and optimization. Together, we create a performance-focused buying environment.
How does real-time optimization keep curation flexible?
Curation supports in-flight optimization tied directly to performance metrics. Curated deals evolve based on outcomes. Experian Curated Deals support in-flight optimization using metrics like conversions and returnon ad spend (ROAS). Audigent supports mid-flight campaign adjustments without sacrificing transparency or control.
How a pet brand beat audio campaign goals by 63% with Experian Curated Deals
In emerging channels, this flexibility is especially valuable. A national e-commerce pet brand partnered with Audigent to test audio advertising for the first time using Experian Curated Deals. With limited bandwidth and a need for fast results, the team saw immediate impact. Audio campaigns beat KPIs by 63%, drove stronger purchase intent than competing platforms, and earned ongoing budget and executive support.
Performance validation is why curation continues gaining momentum.
The takeaway: Curation is central to privacy-first addressability
Curation now anchors privacy-first addressability. It aligns data depth, identity, and supply-path optimization within a controlled marketplace structure. By combining Experian’s identity foundation with Audigent’s activation and optimization capabilities, Experian Curated Deals help marketers:
- Personalize messaging across channels
- Optimize campaigns in real-time
- Prove results across every channel
- Activate across preferred DSPs without operational friction
To explore this trend and the others shaping marketing in 2026, download our 2026 Digital trends and predictions report.
Connect with our team if you’re ready to get started with curation
About the author
Jake Abraham
Head of Strategic Partnerships, Experian
Jake Abraham is Head of Strategic Partnerships at Experian Marketing Services, where he leads efforts in publisher monetization, cloud solutions, and Experian’s data marketplace. Known for his ability to connect strategic vision with real-world execution, Jake brings deep expertise in AdTech and media innovation.
Prior to Experian, Jake was Chief Commercial Officer at Audigent (acquired by Experian in 2024) and spent five years at the Hearst Corporation, where he developed content strategy for its digital agency, iCrossing. He began his career as an award-winning film and television producer, a foundation that continues to inform his creative and strategic approach to the industry.
Programmatic curation FAQs
Programmatic curation packages high-quality inventory and trusted data into private marketplace deals designed for performance. Instead of buying broadly across the open exchange, marketers activate pre-aligned supply paths that improve transparency, efficiency, and outcomes.
Marketers are shifting budget into curated PMPs because curated deals improve cost control, transparency, and performance predictability. Curated supply paths reduce data waste, increase win rates, and align identity with premium inventory in a privacy-conscious structure.
Experian supports curated programmatic strategies by combining Experian’s identity foundation with Audigent’s curation and optimization technology. Experian’s data powers audience consistency across channels, and curated deals embed that data directly into supply paths for measurable performance.
Marketers should treat the open exchange as a source of scale and curated PMPs as a layer of control and performance alignment. The open exchange provides reach, and curated supply paths refine how that reach is accessed, measured, and optimized. Together, they create a more accountable and flexible buying strategy.
Curation improves performance in privacy-first environments by aligning deterministic and contextual data with premium inventory inside controlled deal structures. Experian’s identity capabilities support cross-channel consistency, and curated supply paths reduce reliance on fragmented legacy identifiers.
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With Tapad, part of Experian, technology, AdsWizz AudioMatic is the first Audio buying platform to offer cross-device identity resolution across the U.S. and EMEA NEW YORK and LONDON, July 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, part of Experian and a global leader in digital identity resolution, today announced a new joint capability with AdsWizz , the leading technology provider for digital audio advertising solutions. The partnership combines Tapad's digital cross-device technology with AdsWizz's AudioMatic buying platform, enabling the ability to connect audio ad experiences across screens. AudioMatic, AdsWizz's audio-centric buying platform, supports programmatic audio buying and entirely new audio ad experiences for listeners. The integration of The Tapad Graph onto its platform enables new opportunities for marketers to reach, engage and measure each interaction with their desired consumers on digital radio and podcasts channels, and across devices. This partnership makes AdsWizz the first audio buying platform to offer this enhanced cross-device identity capability in the US and EMEA markets. "Marketers need privacy-safe digital identity resolution to reach their consumers," says Tom Rolph, VP of EMEA at Tapad. "With audio becoming an increasingly powerful medium for engagement, it's important that our technology extends to this channel, which is why we are excited to announce our integration with AdsWizz's AudioMatic platform." Digital audio is experiencing high growth, with 84% of advertisers and agencies saying it will play a bigger role in their media plans in the future. Today, 60% of digital audio is consumed via a mobile device.* The Tapad Graph is the largest digital identity resolution graph with differentiated global scale. The partnership enables audio advertisers to leverage The Tapad Graph for enhanced attribution, analytics, and targeting. Alexis van der Wyer, CEO at AdsWizz, added, "Digital audio is increasingly becoming ubiquitous in our media consumption and in our daily digital interactions, and because of that, audio advertising offers tremendous opportunity to personally interact with consumers in every moment of their daily lives. By integrating with Tapad, we enable our advertising partners to increase the effectiveness and the relevance of their marketing messages across audio channels." To learn more about Tapad and our digital identity resolution products, visit our identity solutions page. *Digital Audio Exchange, "The Rise of Digital Audio Advertising," https://thisisdax.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DAX-Whitepaper.pdf About Tapad Tapad, Inc. is a global leader in digital identity resolution. The Tapad Graph, and its related solutions, provide a transparent, privacy-safe approach connecting brands to consumers through their devices globally. Our one-of-a-kind Graph Select offering enables marketers the flexibility and freedom of choice to correlate devices to varied objectives, driving campaign effectiveness and business results. Tapad is recognized across the industry for its product innovation, workplace culture and talent, and has earned numerous awards including One World Identity's 2019 Top 100 Influencers in Identity Award. Headquartered in New York, Tapad also has offices in Chicago, London, Oslo, Singapore and Tokyo. About AdsWizz: AdsWizz has created the end-to-end technology platform that is powering the digital audio advertising ecosystem. AdsWizz powers well-known music platforms, podcasts and broadcasting groups worldwide with a comprehensive digital audio software suite of solutions that connect audio publishers to the advertising community. From dynamic ad insertion to advanced programmatic platforms to innovative new audio formats, AdsWizz efficiently connects buyers and sellers in digital audio. AdsWizz is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with an IT Development hub in Bucharest, Romania, and presence in 39 markets around the world. About AudioMatic: AdsWizz Demand Side, audio-centric DSP and audio buying platform, AudioMatic, enables programmatic audio buying and entirely new audio ad experiences that are proven to be more engaging and more effective, and have delivered measurable results for agencies and their brands all over the world. All the biggest ad agencies have used our programmatic trading platform, including Omnicom, GroupM, Havas, Publicis, Mobext, and more. Contact us today