Lesson 5 of 7 · 8 min read · intermediate
Deals: PMPs, preferred deals and programmatic guaranteed
How deal IDs work, and when buyers and sellers choose open auction, private marketplaces, preferred deals or programmatic guaranteed.
The open auction is a busy public market where anyone can bid on almost anything. But a lot of programmatic money does not go through the open market. It goes through private arrangements: a carmaker agrees special terms with a group of news publishers, a streaming service reserves slots in a big football match for three advertisers. These are programmatic deals, and they are how quality inventory is increasingly bought.
The open auction is like a public farmers' market. A private marketplace is like a members-only wholesale club where only invited shoppers can buy, still at variable prices. A preferred deal is being told about the best mangoes before the market opens. Programmatic guaranteed is a signed contract for a box of mangoes every week at a set price.
The deal ID: a password in the bid request
Every programmatic deal is identified by a Deal ID, a string agreed between the seller and the buyer. The SSP includes it in the bid request (inside the imp.pmp.deals list in OpenRTB), together with the deal's floor and which buyers are allowed. The buyer's DSP sees the deal ID, recognises it and bids under those special terms. If the ID is missing or the buyer is not on the list, the impression is treated as open auction or not offered at all.
- NegotiatePublisher (or SSP) and buyer agree audience, formats, price or floor, dates and any data included.
- Create the dealThe seller sets it up in its SSP or ad server, which generates the deal ID.
- Share and activateThe buyer enters the deal ID in its DSP and attaches it to a campaign.
- TradeMatching impressions arrive with the deal ID; the DSP bids under the agreed terms.
- TroubleshootMost deal problems are setup errors: wrong IDs, floors above the buyer's bid, or targeting too narrow to find supply.
The four main ways to trade
| Type | Who can buy | Price | Volume guaranteed? | Priority in ad server |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open auction | Any approved buyer | Auction above floor | No | Lowest |
| Private marketplace (PMP) | Invited buyers only | Auction above a deal floor | No | Above open auction |
| Preferred deal | One buyer, first look | Fixed | No, buyer may pass | Above PMP |
| Programmatic guaranteed (PG) | One buyer | Fixed | Yes, like an IO | Highest, alongside direct |
Private marketplaces
A PMP is an auction with a guest list. Publishers use them to offer premium placements or audiences built from their own first-party data to selected buyers, often at higher floors. Buyers get better context, less fraud risk and more transparency about where their ads run. A group of Japanese publishers might jointly offer a PMP of business readers; an Indian news group might package cricket coverage during a tournament.
Preferred deals and PG
In a preferred deal, one buyer gets to see impressions at a fixed price before they go to auction, but does not have to buy them. In programmatic guaranteed, the buyer commits to a fixed number of impressions at a fixed price, and the publisher commits to deliver them. PG is essentially a direct-sold advertising Insertion order executed through a DSP, which lets the brand keep all its frequency capping, measurement and reporting in one place.
Why buyers like deals
- Known, quality publishers
- Access to publisher first-party audiences
- Lower fraud and brand-safety risk
- Priority access to premium slots
Why sellers like deals
- Higher prices than open auction
- Stable, predictable revenue
- Control over who buys
- Direct relationships without manual ad serving
CTV and video: where deals dominate
In connected TV, premium streamers have long preferred deals and PG to open auction, because they want to control which brands appear next to their shows and protect prices. Much CTV spend in the US, Europe and increasingly India flows through PMPs and PG rather than open auction, and the major DSPs compete hard on how well they handle these deals.
Deals also set the stage for curation. If anyone can package impressions from many sellers into a deal ID, then the company doing the packaging becomes powerful. That is exactly what happened in 2024 to 2026, as the last lesson explains.
Key takeaways
- A deal ID in the bid request tells the DSP that special terms apply to this impression.
- Open auction, PMP, preferred deal and programmatic guaranteed differ by who can buy, whether price is fixed and whether volume is guaranteed.
- Programmatic guaranteed is a direct IO executed through a DSP.
- Deals improve quality and control, but a deal ID alone does not guarantee clean supply.
Questions people ask
What is a deal ID in programmatic advertising?
A deal ID is a unique code agreed between a seller and a buyer that identifies a programmatic deal. The SSP includes it in the OpenRTB bid request with the deal's floor price and allowed buyers. When the buyer's DSP sees the ID, it bids under the agreed terms. Deal IDs power private marketplaces, preferred deals, programmatic guaranteed and curated packages.
What is the difference between a PMP and programmatic guaranteed?
A private marketplace is an invitation-only auction: selected buyers bid above a floor, and neither price nor volume is fixed. Programmatic guaranteed is a one-to-one deal with a fixed price and a committed number of impressions, like a traditional insertion order but executed through a DSP. PMPs offer flexibility; PG offers certainty for both buyer and seller.
Why is my programmatic deal not spending?
Common reasons are setup errors: the deal ID is mistyped or not attached to an active campaign, the buyer's bid is below the deal floor, targeting or brand-safety filters are too narrow, frequency caps are blocking bids, or the creative size does not match the slot. Check bid request volume on the deal first, then bids, then wins, to find where it breaks.