The programmatic advertising industry has entered a new phase of transparency and accountability. For years, Supply Path Optimization (SPO) has been framed as a cost exercise—a way to shave CPMs, tighten the path, and chase discounts. But was that enough for buyers, or do they want to derive more value from the tactic?
Over the past year, The 614 Group conducted a major research initiative designed to understand what buyers actually need from SPO and what technology platforms can realistically deliver. Through interviews with senior marketers, agency leaders, and leading technology platforms, we distilled buyer priorities into eight key questions that define what effective SPO should deliver.
To answer those questions, the study combined three methodologies:
The findings are presented in a new report, “SPO: Bridging Buy Side Needs with Platform Capabilities.” The report offers a practical map of what buyers need to run SPO as an outcomes lever. Importantly, it details what technology can deliver today, as well as the gaps that still require product investment and cross-industry collaboration.
While we were conducting our research, the Media Rating Council was developing its Auction Transparency Standards, which establish new baseline expectations for how programmatic auctions disclose supply chain mechanics and pricing dynamics. As we mentioned in our research, these are necessary since they are recently released. We don't make any claims to their current adoption or effectiveness.
The two efforts serve different roles. Standards define the technical baseline for how the marketplace should operate. Our research focuses on the operational reality of SPO: what buyers actually need in order to manage supply paths and prove outcomes, and what technology platforms can deliver today or are planning to deliver next. The alignment between the two is encouraging, but our goal is to go a step further and translate those expectations into concrete capabilities.