CANNES – With the advertising industry still on a mission to simplify its notoriously convoluted digital supply chains, supply-path optimization (SPO), a buy-side-led effort to consolidate spending through fewer, more efficient intermediaries, has been a key avenue.
But, in the booming connected TV space, some major publishers are starting to flip the script. Instead of passively waiting for agencies to curate their supply lists, these media owners are taking a more active role in untangling the pathways to their inventory.
In a panel at Cannes Lions, executives debates how the emerging concept involves looking at the problem from the other direction, helping brands and agencies clean up how they buy inventory across a sprawling ecosystem of demand-side platforms and ad exchanges.
- Paul Shepherd, CEO, Annalect & Investment, APAC, Omnicom Media Group
- Miles Fisher, Sr. Director, Strategic Advertising Partnerships, Roku
- Serge Matta, President, Global Ad Sales, LG Ad Solutions
From 45 SSPs to ‘super curation’
Omnicom Media Group has had supply-path management at the “front and center of our strategy since 2017,” according to Shepherd. He said the initial catalyst was a “massive issue around fraud,” which prompted the agency to question the wisdom of working with a vast number of supply partners.
“I did some analysis back then to see that we’re partnering with 45 plus SSPs, plus BidSwitch. You’re kind of going, this doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Shepherd recalled. This realization led to a strategy of “super curation,” which involved getting closer to publishers to understand their primary and secondary SSP relationships and building a capability to get a “SKU level understanding of the inventory.”
The result is an ability to tailor buying strategies to specific advertiser needs, moving the conversation beyond simple cost metrics. “The brand outcome of an auto client is different to QSR, and so on,” Shepherd explained. “I think bringing the conversation back to effectiveness is crucial. Great, I can buy something at a dollar, but if it doesn’t work, it’s a waste of money.”
Publishers call the shots in CTV
In the CTV world, major publishers are increasingly the ones enforcing discipline. LG Ad Solutions, for example, works exclusively with one ad server and a select few preferred SSPs. The company uses Magnite’s SpringServe platform as its primary ad server. When considering a new supply partner, the core requirement is that it brings unique value.
“It needs to have incremental demand,” said Serge Matta of LG Ad Solutions. “If you end up prioritizing both of them at the same level, and they both are just competing on the same demand, then what have you really achieved, right?” Roku’s Fisher echoed the sentiment that CTV publishers hold a unique position of power. “We’re the decision maker, the publisher,” he stated. “I would say CTV is very different than most other mediums.”
This control is being asserted amid significant pricing pressure. While U.S. CTV ad spending is projected to grow 15.8% to $33.35 billion in 2025, Matta acknowledged that CPMs have “come down quite a bit in the past year or two,” and he voiced concern about a potential “race to the bottom.”
AI tackles discovery and creative
To create more sustainable value, publishers are leaning heavily on artificial intelligence. At Roku, which now reaches an estimated 50% of U.S. broadband households, a key focus is improving the consumer experience. With the average viewer spending “eight to 11 minutes a night” just trying to find something to watch, AI offers a solution. “We’re really focused on using AI to build better personalization and recommendation engines, which then leads to more ad opportunities,” Fisher said.
At LG Ad Solutions, AI is being applied to enhance the ads themselves. Matta highlighted two priorities: creative optimization and a new analytics platform to make its ACR data more accessible. “Creative optimization is where we’re leveraging AI quite a bit,” he said, describing how they can marry their household data with a partner’s data to “present to them the best creative option” in real-time.
From the agency perspective, AI is the key to unlocking these new capabilities at scale. Shepherd said that while machine learning is not new for Omnicom, its potential is being “supercharged” by new generative technologies. “From planning to optimization to measurement, we’re investing heavily, and we’re using it,” he said. “This is unique insights that I think publishers have the opportunity to really bring to the floor, and advertisers have the opportunity to plug in. It’s exciting times.”
You’re watching “The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2025, presented by Google Ad Manager” For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2025, presented by Google Ad Manager. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2025 here.
