Publishers including AccuWeather, The Arena Group, BuzzFeed, the Guardian, Hearst Magazines, Hearst TV, Newsweek, People Inc., and Ziff Davis are among the first publishers to announce their support for OpenAds, a new auction environment from advertising technology company The Trade Desk.
OpenAds is designed to deliver a high-integrity and transparent auction and, in doing so, incentivises healthy supply chain dynamics across the advertising technology ecosystem.
“OpenAds represents a major advance in how our industry thinks about a clean and transparent supply chain, starting with the auction,” said Will Doherty, SVP, Inventory Development, The Trade Desk. “Innovative partners, including our launch publishers, all agree this technology benefits buyers and publishers by helping advertisers understand what they are buying and the audience they are reaching with the best signal possible.”
Megan Hong, Senior Director of Partner and Yield Management, The Arena Group, commented: “One of the biggest challenges in programmatic is understanding where value is lost between buyers and publishers. OpenAds brings much-needed transparency to the auction, especially around fees and reseller activity, which helps us better understand how our inventory is actually being bought.”
Dave Strauss, VP of Revenue Operations and Strategy, the Guardian, added: “It means the highest bid wins in a transparent, auditable auction environment that publishers can independently verify. The Guardian is excited to be a part of that strategy.”
OpenAds will continue its development and rollout in 2026.
