Alright, buckle up folks, because it’s time to talk about the latest punching bag in adtech: curation. Yeah, that word everyone throws around like it’s the kale of programmatic. Sure, it’s good for you, but let’s be real: nobody actually likes it unless it’s blended into something else so you can’t taste the bitterness. And recently, Adweek decided to fan the flames with an article citing five anonymous sources trashing curation like it’s the Illuminati of ad placements. Five anonymous sources? Seriously? What’s next, a curation whistleblower protection program? It’s adtech, not a government takedown. No one’s getting black-bagged over spilling the tea that “curation’s not perfect.”

The fact that Adweek went full cloak-and-dagger on something as mundane as ad inventory bundling tells you everything you need to know about the conversation around curation. Publishers are clutching their pearls like someone just told them they couldn’t run autoplay videos with sound. They’re mad—and not just about their shrinking revenue streams. No, this is about something much deeper. Control. Publishers, once the kings of first-party data, are now feeling like they’ve been dethroned by SSPs (Supply Side Platforms) and DSPs (Demand Side Platforms) who are packaging up inventory and selling it without them sitting on the iron throne.

Let’s break it down: Publishers have been riding the first-party data pony for years, ever since third-party cookies were shown the door like an overstayed houseguest. They want you to believe they’re the gatekeepers of premium inventory, but newsflash: SSPs and DSPs have other plans. Enter curation. This is where the magic happens, people. Curation bundles up the internet’s so-called “good stuff” using, get this—actual logic. Think of it like putting velvet ropes around the sketchiest corners of the internet and only letting in the advertisers who aren’t looking to slum it on some made-for-advertising (MFA) clickbait cesspool.

But here’s where the real fun begins: the publishers hate it. They’re calling it the “emperor’s new clothes.” Oof, talk about a tired metaphor. It’s more like someone found a slightly worn designer jacket in a thrift shop. Some people see a gem; others think it’s overpriced. Publishers are screaming that curation hurts their revenue potential—another adtech middleman skimming off the top. Meanwhile, platforms like Audigent are happily reporting that curation has delivered up to 40% incremental revenue to publishers. Hmm, sounds like someone’s just salty they didn’t get the top-shelf treatment.

Now, I’ll give the publishers this: the adtech supply chain is as bloated as a post-buffet nap. Every vendor wants a piece of the pie, and every “solution” comes with its own special sauce, slathered on top of the same greasy inventory. Middlemen are everywhere, each one claiming to have the magic formula to make the system more efficient. Spoiler alert: most of them don’t. But that’s not curation’s fault. The real issue is that the old “open web auction” model is dead on arrival. It's like trying to sell a five-star meal in a fast food joint. Yeah, you can do it, but do you really want to?

And let’s talk about this complaint that curation lowers inventory value. Oh, please. The argument goes something like this: SSPs are "cannibalizing" buyers who would’ve thrown money at direct deals by offering curated packages at lower rates. The result? Declining eCPMs (effective cost per thousand impressions) and shrinking profits. But let’s not kid ourselves here—when was the open web ever this glittering goldmine of premium inventory? You’re seriously telling me you’d rather sell your “premium” ad placements next to a banner ad for “1 Weird Trick to Remove Belly Fat”? Didn’t think so.

The cognitive dissonance here is wild. Publishers are crying about lost revenue, but on the other side, advertisers are eating up curation like it’s a lifeline. Take Coca-Cola, for example. They’re leaning into curation to avoid junk inventory, because guess what? They don’t want their ads next to spammy MFA sites either. It’s not about being picky—it’s about brand survival in a post-cookie wasteland. Curation is basically a metal detector for the web, sifting through all the garbage to find the shiny coins.

And here’s where things get downright hilarious. While publishers are busy moaning about the “death of the open web,” SSPs are over here evolving into the MVPs of adtech. Xandr, Index Exchange, OpenX—they’re all building curated marketplaces, packed with premium, vetted inventory. It’s like the nerds from high school who finally figured out how to throw the best parties. Suddenly, everyone wants in, and the publishers are left grumbling about how their invite got lost in the mail.

But don’t worry, DSPs are throwing their own tantrum. Why? Because curation cuts into their control over how audiences are targeted. DSPs were the old guard, holding onto their third-party cookie crumbs like they were the last slice of pizza. Now SSPs are using first-party data to curate their own inventory packages, and DSPs are feeling the squeeze. It's like the tables have turned, and DSPs are suddenly realizing they aren’t running the show anymore.

Look, I get it. Everyone’s got an axe to grind. But here’s the truth: curation isn’t going anywhere because, surprise—it actually works. Sure, it’s not the sleek, sexy Ferrari everyone thought it would be, but it’s not a rusty old jalopy either. In this bloated, overhyped world of adtech, curation is like the dependable Honda Accord. It’s not flashy, but it gets the job done, and you’re not going to wake up one day to find it broke down on the side of the road.

Now, if you really want to pretend that programmatic can just run itself—without any oversight, without any safety nets—be my guest. But that’s like tossing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks. Except the spaghetti is your ad budget, and the wall is the vast, shady underbelly of the internet. You can’t just let it ride and expect to wake up to a perfectly curated campaign. That’s how you end up with ads for your multi-million-dollar brand showing up next to some clickbait nonsense about “One Simple Trick to Cure Toenail Fungus” or “Celebrities Who Look Like Potatoes Now.” Yeah, that’s definitely the brand vibe you’re going for, right?

Enter curation, the unsung hero everyone loves to hate. It’s the digital equivalent of a velvet rope, keeping the riff-raff out of your carefully crafted campaigns. You want to wade through the swamp of MFA sites and hope you come out clean? Good luck. MFA sites are the cockroaches of the internet—no matter how many you squish, a hundred more show up. Without curation, you’re basically throwing your ad dollars into a bonfire and hoping something worthwhile pops out.

So yeah, curation works. It keeps your ad spend out of the greasy hands of digital squatters and sketchy websites. It’s the bouncer at the bar, throwing out the creeps so you can enjoy your overpriced cocktail in peace. And let’s face it, in an ecosystem as bloated as this, curation is probably the only thing keeping the whole house of cards from collapsing in on itself. Without it? We’re all just stumbling through an all-you-can-eat buffet at 2 a.m., not entirely sure where the food came from or how long it’s been sitting out. Except instead of food poisoning, you’re getting brand poisoning from bad ad placements.

Remember the “good ol’ days” of programmatic advertising? Yeah, no one does. Because that dream of a single portal where you could buy ads with Swiss-watch precision? It quickly turned into a swamp of low-quality, scammy inventory. Billions wasted, ads showing up next to conspiracy theories and explicit content. So now, with third-party cookies heading for the graveyard and brands getting more skittish about where their ads end up, curation is the lifeline we didn’t know we needed. It cuts through the noise, weeds out the garbage, and gives us the one thing we desperately need: control.

Let’s not pretend the open web was ever this pristine, untapped goldmine of ad inventory. It’s been a mess for years. Curation, however flawed, is the only thing standing between advertisers and a digital wasteland of bot traffic and junk sites. So the next time someone starts griping about curation being “just another middleman tax,” remind them: better a tax than a dumpster fire of untargeted, low-quality ads.

So yeah, curation might not be the glitzy savior some people hoped for, but it’s the bandaid we need for the gaping wound that is programmatic inventory. Sure, publishers hate it because they lose a little control, but this isn’t about who owns the playground—it’s about cleaning up the mess before advertisers take their ball and go home.
 
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