Magnite (MGNI) 20th Annual Needham Technology, Media & Consumer 1x1 Conference summary

Industry trends and curation

• Curation is shifting data and economics from DSPs to SSPs, enhancing publisher economics and data protection, accelerated by cookie deprecation and the need for stronger first-party data signals.

• Agencies and DSPs are consolidating partners, preferring to buy through fewer, larger platforms, driving supply path optimization and benefiting scaled SSPs.

• Unique ad units and curated inventory are increasingly available through major SSPs, making it easier for buyers to access differentiated supply.

Retail media networks and performance TV

• Retail media networks are tying ad units to purchases, with higher CPMs for inventory that can be linked to outcomes, but data ownership remains with retailers and advertisers.

• Shoppable ads and performance-based CTV are growing, but the SSP's role is focused on supply, not on creating or owning performance data.

Market structure and competitive dynamics

• The ecosystem is becoming more fluid, with traditional boundaries between demand and supply side blurring, but advertisers still value independence between DSPs and SSPs.

• Direct integrations and buy-side interfaces are gaining traction for simple transactions, especially in CTV.