ExchangeWire Names a New Adtech Category: Proprietary Signal Vendors
A panel at ATS London on September 15 will bring together Lumen, Picnic and The Goodnet to unpack a category ExchangeWire is calling Proprietary Signal Vendors, or PSVs. The term builds on last year's Super Signal Aggregator label, which ExchangeWire used for vendors that bundle brand safety, contextual and other signals with activation and measurement into a single data stack. Ciaran O'Kane writes that these aggregators consistently miss signals buyers want most, in areas such as attention, quality and sustainability, and that gap has let specialist vendors take over each niche. The Goodnet stands out for turning sustainability into an outcomes based business, treating it as a performance signal that drives results for brands that use it.
Budget decisions on signal vendors now split into two tracks: aggregators covering the basics, and one or two dominant specialists per niche worth testing against outcomes, whether that niche is attention, quality or sustainability. The Goodnet's results suggest sustainability signals can drive performance when campaigns reach people who genuinely care about the issue, giving buying teams a concrete reason to trial a PSV alongside their existing aggregator data.