What is a private marketplace (PMP) in advertising?
A private marketplace (PMP) is an invitation-only programmatic auction where a publisher offers selected inventory to chosen buyers, usually at a set minimum price and identified by a deal ID. It combines the automation of real-time bidding with some of the control of a direct deal, giving buyers better-known inventory and publishers higher prices than the open auction.
In a private marketplace, the seller creates a deal with a Deal ID and invites one or more buyers. Bids carrying that ID compete in a private auction, often before the open auction. PMPs are popular for premium news, video and CTV inventory, and for audience or contextual packages.
Related deal types include preferred deals (a fixed price offered to one buyer first, without an auction) and programmatic guaranteed (reserved volume at a fixed price). A newer twist is curation, where a third party packages inventory from many publishers into curated deals.