As part of the movement to programmatic buying, some brands are bypassing their agency trading desks and going directly to the open market auctions.  We reported recently on The Kellogg Company as one of the first such earlier movers.

But going to the open marketplace has limitations, says Paul Dolan, SVP at Xaxis, the programmatic media agency unit of WPP.  He says, the direct scenario has lacks “any advantage” for brands.

Also in the interview, he speaks about the evolving role of premium publishers — with a nod to the recent developments at AOL Networks.

We spoke with him recently at Advertising Week where he was a panelist on programmatic video advertising session moderated by Jay Sears of the Rubicon Project.