Transforming Programmatic Advertising : A New Approach to Efficiency and Addressability

What is Multilocal’s mission in the programmatic advertising space? 

Multilocal was born out of a deep frustration with digital advertising inefficiencies. We saw an industry fragmented, where advertisers and media owners were losing control, and consumers were bombarded with irrelevant ads. We experienced the flaws first-hand: reduced targeting signals, privacy concerns, inefficient supply chains, and a rising demand for sustainability. This inspired us to develop a new approach.  

From day one, our mission has been to transform programmatic advertising by providing advertisers and publishers with the control, transparency, and efficiency they need. We believe curation empowers both sides - driving incremental outcomes from the open web in a controlled and transparent way. 

What is the role of audience curation in addressing issues related to inefficiency in digital advertising? 

To understand this inefficiency, we need to look back at past tactics. Historically, DSPs were expected to handle all decisioning, logic, and targeting, while SSPs were viewed as simple pipelines or clearinghouses for purchased media. This setup created a problem: DSPs would only process a small sample of billions of available opportunities, leading to missed chances to reach the right audiences and content in real-time. 

Curation offers a smarter approach to this. It recognises that SSPs, with their deep knowledge of domains and apps, can highlight high-performing inventory and audience opportunities for marketers. This doesn’t replace the role of DSPs, but enhances the programmatic strategy by tapping into the SSP’s potential beyond just being a data pipeline. 

How is curation solving for a new era of addressability?

Addressability on the open web has declined over the years, with limitations in data-driven targeting and reduced transparency often pushing advertisers towards walled gardens with richer first-party data. Curation offers an alternative by enabling the use of sell-side data. By matching data directly on the sell side and linking it with various first- and second-party assets, curation strengthens open-web addressability.

The growth of retail media highlights curation's effectiveness in improving targeting precision and enabling closed-loop measurement for advertisers. Similarly, CTV leverages curation by allowing broadcasters to securely use their first-party audiences, reflecting the data control seen in walled gardens.

What are the key benefits of Multilocal's Active Curation™ technology for advertisers and agencies? 

Multilocal’s Active Curation™ continuously refines audience segments to optimize campaign performance across both the supply and demand sides, offering a unique dual-pronged approach unmatched by any other curation service. This enables us to deliver highly relevant audiences for advertisers, resulting in a 75% increase in CTR over projections and a 38% rise in video completion rates.

Active Curation™ also boosts efficiency by reducing the number of bid transactions needed to meet impression goals, tackling the issue of unnecessary waste common in programmatic advertising.

Performance data from our CarbonSmart™ solution shows a 55-80% reduction in carbon emissions per campaign. Advertisers, agencies, and DSPs can further leverage Active Curation™ to filter for low-carbon marketplaces - such as those committed to a low-carbon pledge - when selecting placements.

How is Multilocal doing curation differently?  

We’re an independent, platform-agnostic service company powered by proprietary curation technology, with five years of experience and a global team of experts. Unlike others, we take a horizontal approach to curation, collaborating across the entire programmatic ecosystem for a comprehensive view. 

Our partnerships with major SSPs, DSPs, and DMPs give us a 360-degree view of the supply and data landscape, allowing us to leverage first-party data effectively for both advertisers and media owners. Our custom-built supply taxonomy ensures quality by categorizing sites based on type of content, campaign performance, and volume of traffic.

With each brief we receive, we create audience packages aligned to KPIs, then use our Active Curation™ platform to curate audience segments and optimize in real-time, ensuring precise targeting and impactful results. 

Over the past 12 months, we've seen agencies and brands increasingly embrace curation as it demonstrates its value - resulting in a 197% increase in brief requests from clients.