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.
Latest posts
Distribution via LiveRamp enables seamless cross-device customer experiences through more platforms NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Tapad, now part of Experian and the leading provider of unified cross-device marketing technology solutions, today announced an expanded partnership with LiveRamp™, an Acxiom® company and leading provider of omnichannel identity resolution, to make the proprietary Tapad Device Graph™ accessible beyond Tapad-hosted direct integrations. Through LiveRamp, Tapad's Device Graph Access now extends to more than 400 ad tech and mar tech platforms. Tapad's Device Graph™ enables marketers to understand, monetize and measure consumer engagement across all digital channels, and Tapad's unified consumer view is recognized as one of the most accurate, scalable cross-device solutions in the market today. Through the expanded partnership with LiveRamp, the Tapad Device Graph can be distributed to the hundreds of platforms used to reach consumers on digital channels and measure campaign performance – even as devices are added daily to Tapad's extensive graph. "Increasingly, marketers want access to cross-device targeting and measurement capabilities within their preferred platforms," said Anneka Gupta, chief product officer of LiveRamp. "Our expanded partnership makes it easy for marketers to access Tapad's graph through the rapidly growing set of integrations available in our partner ecosystem." This is the latest of several initiatives between the two technology platforms designed to make the integration of cross-screen platforms seamless, privacy-safe and easy to use for dynamic and engaging marketing efforts. "During the past year, Tapad has expanded its global presence and rapidly grown its data business – Tapad Coral – doubling the number of companies integrating our device graph into their platforms and growing our annualized run rate by 210%," said Pierre Martensson, GM of Tapad Coral and APAC. "Our expanded partnership with LiveRamp positions us to meet the increased demand for Tapad Device Graph Access and enable new platforms to apply our graph with unprecedented speed." Contact us today
Cross-Screen Pioneer Explores the Power of Connected Cars as a Vehicle for Customer Engagement LAS VEGAS, NV — (October 26, 2016) –Kate O’Loughlin, GM of Media for Tapad, addressed the J.D. Power Automotive conference audience today in Las Vegas, NV. With more than 1,400 participants representing every facet of the automotive marketing profession, the conference has become the industry's leading marketing event. Bringing the unified, cross-screen perspective to the stage, O’Loughlin discussed the vital role of connected cars in the consumer engagement process. She is a founding member of Tapad which launched the world’s first cross-screen marketing technology in 2010. Tapad was acquired by the Telenor Group early in 2016. Key points from O’Loughlin’s J.D. Power 2016 address included: The marketers who deliver relevant and engaging content in a privacy-safe setting will be in the strongest position to navigate the proliferation of connected devices, including the connected points in cars. As automakers innovate the technology in cars, marketers need to be prepared for the size and diversity of data available for understanding consumers. It’s going to be increasingly difficult to wade through the data, so now is the time to build a solid framework for understanding the person behind the data. Marketers who evolve — and take a holistic approach — to their campaign measurements will achieve marked improvements in efficiency and an enhanced understanding of their core audiences. Actionable brand engagement metrics like Viewable Exposure Time (VET) will continue to overtake traditional advertising performance metrics. VET evaluates the optimal amount of time an ad is present on a screen to incite consumer action. In early testing by Tapad, campaigns that employ VET see conversion rate performance improvements from 13 to 60%. The consumer-centric technology solutions of the future need to be as scalable as they are affordable. Learn more about Tapads’ recommended Viewable Exposure Time metric contact us today! Contact us today
NEW YORK, Sept. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology, today announced a new metric for cross-device marketers, Viewable Exposure Time (VET). Viewable Exposure Time measures across screens and ad formats, identifying the optimal amount of time a consumer spends with an ad before they take action. The announcement coincides with Unify Tech '16, Tapad's third-annual cross-device summit during Advertising Week NY. Frequency caps are currently used to ensure that dollars aren't wasted on redundant ads. Viewable Exposure Time evolves the frequency capping approach to include accelerating a consumer's ad exposure rate up to the optimal time spent with the brand. VET is used in affinity, digital transaction and offline purchase models as a key indicator of marketing budget well-spent. Beta users of VET span every vertical, though interest is especially high from CPG, Automotive, Telecommunications and Retail. Viewable Exposure Time unifies and upgrades marketers' predictors of advertising success by leveraging cross-screen engagement across digital and television, with vendor-agnostic viewability scores for video, rich media and display. "Today's current measurement options, like click-through rate (CTR) and TV gross ratings points (GRP) tell an incomplete story," said Tapad GM of Media Kate O'Loughlin. "Tapad is focused on measuring what really matters to marketers – building an efficient connection with a customer. Innovation in metrics was long overdue." More than just a measurement tool, Tapad also provides clients with VET activation. Factoring in time spent with ads in viewable seconds and minutes, these analytics inform marketers about which audiences are underexposed, enabling them to adjust campaigns and deliver according to optimal viewable exposure time. This effectively increases conversion rates at the lowest cost. Contact us today