Recap for the Public Masses, Now With Extra Mold🗓 Originally published as an ADOTAT+ exclusive two months ago. Now, we’re summarizing it for everyone brave enough to look under the hood.
Once upon a time, the SSP — that’s Supply-Side Platform for those still pretending not to be complicit — was sold as the magical fix for digital advertising.
Transparent! Automated! Democratic!
It would elevate premium publishers! Connect buyers to quality! Usher in a golden age of programmatic purity!
Spoiler: none of that happened.
What we got instead is a Frankenstack of fraud, curated PMP fairy tales, and banner ads infested with more malware than a LimeWire download circa 2005. The supply chain is now a chain of grift — where your ad dollar gets sliced thinner than a Lox special at a deli with overhead problems.
And the kicker? Media buyers still show up like it’s opening night at Lincoln Center. They’re buying theater:
🎭 Fake stage
🪑 Fake audience
☁️ Fog machine powered by shiny dashboards and made-up metrics
Ask a buyer which SSPs their DSP is routing through. You’ll get a blank stare, maybe a nervous chuckle. Push harder, and they’ll offer you a PDF with a hundred acronyms and the phrase “brand safe” slapped over a domain last registered in Moldova.
Let’s not pretend anymore:
SSP-H, as detailed in Confiant’s MAQ Index, is a radioactive trash fire.
It’s serving malware, forced redirects, cloaked scam ads — all while wearing a bowtie labeled “curated.”
Everyone knows who it is. No one wants to say it. (We do. Inside ADOTAT+.)
Meanwhile, in an actual plot twist, OpenX is trying to be clean.
They’re cutting shady CTV inventory.
They’re ditching spoofed resellers.
They’re even building tools that let buyers see what they’re actually buying.
In ad tech, that’s like a used car dealer offering a Carfax without being asked.
So, if you're still trusting dashboards that sparkle more than they inform, odds are you’re buying MFA sludge, cookie-stuffed garbage, and impressions that would fail a CAPTCHA.
Want the names? Want the receipts? Want the playbook?
Then you should’ve been here two months ago.
But lucky you — we’re giving you this taste.