Google AdX Agency Deals Shift Programmatic Dynamics – But Not Enough

Do Google’s recent concessions to agencies signal a new era of transparency in the programmatic ecosystem? After years of operating as a near-impenetrable fortress, Google’s AdX has begun offering direct discount deals with media agencies, signaling a willingness to change its traditionally rigid programmatic marketplace.

Agencies have long sought to improve their relationships with supply-side platforms (SSPs), but evidence suggests that dealing with AdX, part of Google Ad Manager (GAM) – and by far the most dominant ad exchange – has generally been difficult. At the recent remedy phase of the United States versus Google LLC court case, one agency executive raised questions over transparency, pointing out that he didn’t know how Google’s final-auction logic worked or why his agency’s bids would win.

Does greater flexibility = greater transparency?

While the move toward greater flexibility in the programmatic ecosystem should be welcomed, the question remains whether Google’s motivation is to promote transparency or to strengthen the market position of its adtech offerings ahead of a potential break-up if it loses its case against the Department of Justice. Its fate still hangs in the balance, but Google has proposed making real-time bid data from AdX more available to rival ad servers as a potential remedy, which is also an encouraging sign.

The fact remains that while post-auction discounts and direct agreements are steps forward, they don’t yet amount to true transparency. It has been argued that an enforced sell-off – rather than self-administered remedies – would mean that programmatic auction mechanics would become more transparent, with the idea of a single, server-side, publisher-controlled auction model by 2028 mooted.

Even if this comes to pass, in the meantime agencies still face an uphill battle to understand AdX’s fee structures, assess inventory quality, and uncover the real value hidden behind Google’s layered systems.

Solving programmatic’s transparency problem

For brands and agencies alike, this development highlights a broader industry truth: programmatic has a huge transparency problem. According to the Association of National Advertisers, $26.8 billion in media value is lost each year globally due to programmatic inefficiencies.

It’s not for the sake of a few pennies here and there that advertisers and agencies should be feeling hard done by. Demanding a better deal isn’t about marginal savings; it’s about visibility, accountability, and control.

Advertisers’ budgets are under pressure, with marketers reporting stagnation in budget growth. Marketers need to show the ROI of every pound they invest, yet the programmatic ecosystem is opaque to the degree that it makes true accountability almost impossible. And particularly for smaller advertisers with little internal expertise of the inner workings of programmatic, this can make them reluctant to invest, meaning publishers ultimately lose out.

Understanding auctions, supply paths, and data usage

So how can we stop all of this money being left on the table? Well, for a start, brands need visibility on how auctions are run. Without transparency, they won’t be able to identify which of their partners are adding value or any inefficiencies in their supply chain.

Fee structures are also important; every intermediary in the supply chain takes a cut, and without clear disclosure of DSP, SSP, data, measurement, and exchange fees, it’s impossible for advertisers to determine what percentage of spend is actually working media.

Data stewardship is also a key concern for advertisers – first-party data is one of the most important assets a business has. Programmatic platforms that don’t provide clarity on how a brand’s data is being used to train their auction models contribute to the lack of transparency in the ecosystem.

While the market looks to be on a better path with Google now more willing to deal directly with agencies – and potentially open up details of auction mechanics – this only addresses part of the problem. Advertisers must have full transparency from their programmatic partners. It’s the only way they can truly clean up their supply paths, maximise the returns on their programmatic investments, and protect their precious data assets.

Advertisers must demand better from their programmatic partners

Advertisers must demand clearer visibility into auctions, fee structures, and data usage across platforms to reclaim trust, and so they can have confidence in their ability to optimise spend effectively. The path forward isn’t to chase better deals, it’s to demand better systems.