Programmatic buyers rate supply-chain trust 6 to 7 of 10 at POSSIBLE panel

August 17, 2026 · mediapost.com

At POSSIBLE in Miami Beach, OpenX's Stacy Bohrer asked a panel of agency, brand, publisher and supply-side executives to rate their trust in the programmatic supply chain on a scale of one to ten. Most landed at six or seven. Razorfish president and head of media Mac Hagel said decision-making is shifting closer to the supply side even as DSPs keep their central orchestration role, describing SSPs as having moved 'from plumbing to performance' through private marketplaces, bidding signals and cleaner supply paths. PepsiCo global data partnerships lead Zach Lain said the brand-side question has moved from whether a channel can reach an audience to whether a partner can prove what it is showing and disclose where its data is weakest. A+E Global Media VP of programmatic Joseph Lerner said publishers hold audience data across linear TV, CTV, FAST channels and digital products that is not always fully passed through programmatic pipes, and argued that once buyers understand what they are buying, they are willing to pay for it.

Supply-path optimization is moving from cost-cutting toward proof that inventory, audience signal and context support a campaign's goal. Lain drew a line between 'premium' inventory, a label often attached to certain publishers, and 'quality' inventory, defined by whether a placement works for a specific brand objective. An engaged audience in an unglamorous context can qualify as quality, while a cheaper impression that misses the objective wastes budget. Hagel framed the shift as a decade-long move from questions of how buyers buy toward questions of what they buy. Agencies and brands face the harder job of interrogating supply paths, pressing DSPs and SSPs to show where their signals are weak, and paying once they understand what they are buying, since Lerner argued value follows transparency.