Over the last 18 months, the expansion of sell-side curation has marked a paradigm shift for programmatic advertising, dramatically increasing scale for Deal ID data targeting and enabling faster decisioning at the impression level.
The IAB Tech Lab defines curation as “the selection and organization of inventory using technology and data, to create effective packages for advertisers through prepackaged or real-time operations.” When deal curation moves to the sell-side, this approach helps buyers achieve stronger outcomes, while DSPs can leverage it to perform more efficiently without being bottlenecked by signal loss and QPS constraints.
But what exactly makes today’s sell-side curation such a leap forward from the traditional private Deal ID model? And how is the former’s new combination of technology and data redefining how deals work?
Replacing static deals with real-time packages
In programmatic, prepackaging still plays an important role, be it for standard targeting based on publisher preferences, audience segments, or content categories, or for more tailored campaigns.
But traditional prepackaging is limited when its foundations are static. Deal IDs built on fixed lists can’t immediately adapt to live changing conditions, which means campaigns must wait for performance data before re-optimizing.
Today, global exchanges with advanced curation platforms are changing that. By bringing real-time operations, contextual signals, and adaptive infrastructure into the mix, they turn prepackaged deals into something smarter, faster, and far more responsive.
Turbocharging curation
For too long, many SSPs acted as “dumb pipes,” simply passing publisher inventory to the buy side. Combined with the proliferation of bidstream data, this led to a “burn and learn” approach: DSPs hit QPS limits, static domain lists quickly fell out of sync with real media quality, and valuable impressions were lost.
Next-gen exchanges with vertically integrated curation platforms solve this. Their infrastructure processes billions of auctions daily and analyzes hyper granular metadata, powering AI to score impressions in real time based on buyer-aligned logic.
This evolution is also dependent on Deal IDs being accurate, as they are the basis for curated transactions. This requires there to be a reduction in the overhead needed to set up, and troubleshoot that manual process. IAB Tech Lab’s Curation Sub Working Group is currently working on the initial version of a Deal API that promises to improve this process. This is expected to be released before the end of 2025, and we are excited to see adoption in the ecosystem and to observe its impact on accelerating curation.
Winning with real-time decisioning
Curation grounded in infrastructure, metadata, and AI is only as effective as its speed.
When decisioning happens directly on the supply side, it can occur in as little as 10 milliseconds, compared to 100 milliseconds or more on the buy side. And that speed unlocks major advantages.
Real-time curation at the supply source enables:
- Continuous reoptimization as site, app, and placement attributes change
- Smarter pricing decisions before the auction begins
- Faster access to high-quality, high-attention impressions
This helps eliminate the need for “burn and learn” tactics, delivers stronger ROI for buyers, and drives meaningful supply chain and operational efficiencies for DSPs.
Making the open internet work better for all
As tech infrastructure and AI continue to advance, the performance of sell-side curation will only accelerate: publishers will promote inventory more effectively to increase revenue, buyers will achieve better outcomes with greater efficiency, and the ecosystem will see increased quality and performance.
In short, curation is no longer a static solution. It’s now central to how programmatic achieves precision.
Keith Arrowsmith
Director of Product Marketing
Onetag