What we built together in the first eight months of 2026, what is performing, and the opportunities worth acting on this quarter.
Key takeaways, Jan to Aug 2026 against Jan to Aug 2025
Key takeaways
Overall spend grew 9.3% year over year to $5.0M. PMP spend rose from $99.8K to $630K while the open exchange held almost flat, declining just 2.2%.
| Spend type | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open exchange | $4.5M | $4.4M | −2.21% |
| PMP | $99.8K | $630.0K | +531.40% |
| Overall | $4.6M | $5.0M | +9.32% |
of total spend now runs through PMPs, up from about 2% in 2025
Two advertisers run PMPs with us and both meet their KPI benchmarks consistently. Around them sits a broad open exchange base of 60 advertisers.
PMP, meeting KPIsPMP, meeting KPIsIn the pipelineadvertisers live with us on the open exchange.
live PMPs. Two always-on OLV PMPs for Allstate. Samsung buys at campaign level, OLV only and not always-on.
| Quarter | Spend (OE + PMP) | CPM | QoQ | Live PMP |
|---|
Hover or tap a quarter for detail. Q3 2026 covers July and August only.
95.7% of spend is open exchange and live PMP is 4.3%. PMP has gone from nothing in 2024 to 3.0% in 2025 and 11.6% so far in 2026. All of it is Allstate from July 2025 onward, plus the Samsung flight in Q2 2026.
Best Buy spend drop
from nine new advertisers, led by Kellanova at $73.8K and Extra Gum at $66.3K
between the 26 advertisers that went dark, the largest being Kellogg's at $16.5K
With 2024 in view
The account peaked in November 2024. August 2026 sits well below that high.
below its own peak
Both advertisers on deals pair their PMPs with a data or measurement partner, and both buy online video.
withTotal spend. Experian was the only data partner live on the Samsung PMPs.
withTotal spend through August. Scope3 is live on the Allstate OLV campaign.
Both Allstate PMPs and the Samsung campaign are OLV, so video share climbs whenever the deals scale.
Dormant through 2025 at roughly $8K, then a three-month flight from April to June 2026.
Spend came in throughout 2026 across the two PMPs live with us.
of 2026 spend across 24 domains has never been live on a deal with us. This is the net new activation opportunity.
Allstate and Samsung are the only two advertisers who have run a deal with us. Between them they are 11.6% of 2026 revenue, and both are hitting their CPA targets.
11%About 11 of every 100 eligible impressions won
7%About 7 of every 100 eligible impressions won
At 7% and 11% we are losing roughly nine in ten eligible impressions on deals that already hit their targets. Scaling what is live is cheaper than opening something new.
A CPA of $32.34 against a $66 benchmark, 51% under, at an 11% win rate with completion above 70%.
Two always-on OLV PMPs running every month of 2026, $327K of revenue on 89M impressions this year, CPA in a $55 to $70 range against KPI, win rate 7%, completion above 70%.
Post auction discounts (PAD)
PAD is applied only to PMP spend, so Starcom is missing out on potential savings every quarter spend stays on the open exchange.
Total savings on PMPs to date
| PAD plan | Quarterly spend | Rebate | Additional |
|---|---|---|---|
| PreferredTier 1 | $0 to $50K | 3% | Free contextual data |
| GoldTier 2 | $50K to $250K | 5% | Brand lift study |
| PlatinumTier 3 | $250K to $750K | 7% | Brand lift study + $15K AV |
| DiamondTier 4 | $750K+ | 10% | Brand lift study + $30K AV |
Illustrative, based on the tier rates above.
Best Buy and DirecTV, each measured against their closest competitors buying on Media.net, January to August 2026.