Glossary
Supply-side curation
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Supply-side curation is curation done in or through a supply-side platform, where the SSP or a curator inside it selects inventory across publishers, adds data at the point of sale and sells packages as deals.
The SSP sits close to the publisher, so it sees each impression as the publisher describes it, with context, first-party signals and the full supply path. Curators use that position to filter inventory before any bid request reaches a DSP. IAB Australia's 2025 explainer, as reported by PPC Land, described curation as sellers using SSP features to select and group premium, brand-safe inventory enriched with audience data (PPC Land, 8 June 2025).
Supporters say supply-side curation avoids the data loss that comes with syncing IDs between platforms. Critics point to extra fees, unclear curator roles and the risk that publisher data leaks to curators. The IAB Tech Lab's Curation Framework Working Group listed data leakage and visibility of curation partners among its first topics. Buyers should find the curator in the schain and in sellers.json, and ask for the domain list and fee.
Example: In an October 2024 analysis cited by PPC Land, the SSP Equativ said match rates drop by 40% to 70% when data moves between platforms, a company claim. Its argument is that applying the data inside the SSP, under one deal ID, avoids that loss (same source).
Related terms: curation, curated marketplace, demand-side curation, SSP, deal ID, SupplyChain object.