What is the open web in advertising?
The open web, in advertising, means the independent websites, apps and streaming services outside the big walled gardens, which sell ads through third-party ad tech such as independent SSPs, exchanges and DSPs. News sites, blogs and many apps are open-web publishers. Ad tech firms like The Trade Desk and Magnite depend on it.
On the open web, buyers can use their own DSP, choose ad verification vendors and see where ads ran, which walled gardens rarely allow. But it is also where supply-chain problems concentrate: Reseller chains, made-for-advertising sites and ad fraud.
Publishers on the open web face pressure from declining search referral traffic, AI summaries and walled-garden competition, which is why many focus on first-party data, direct deals and subscriptions.