What is supply path optimisation in CTV advertising?
Supply path optimisation (SPO) is the practice of reducing the number of intermediaries (SSPs, ad networks, resellers) between an advertiser’s DSP and a publisher’s actual inventory. In programmatic CTV, a single publisher’s inventory may be available through five or more SSPs simultaneously — and some of those SSPs may themselves be resellers rather than direct connections to the publisher. Buying through a reseller adds fees (typically 10–20% of the impression value) that reduce how much of the advertiser’s CPM actually reaches the publisher. SPO means auditing supply paths, identifying which SSPs have direct publisher relationships, and preferring those paths — or negotiating direct publisher deals — to maximise media quality and working media percentage.
Why is SPO particularly important for India CTV?
India CTV supply path complexity is high for two reasons: (1) Many India CTV publishers are connected to multiple SSPs, and those SSPs may further resell inventory through aggregators. The path from a DSP bid to a JioHotstar impression can involve 2–4 entities, each taking a fee. (2) App spoofing — fraudulent sellers list themselves as intermediaries in the supply path for premium India CTV apps, collecting arbitrage margin on fake impressions. SPO reduces this risk by requiring buyers to only transact through SSPs listed as authorised sellers in the publisher’s app-ads.txt file. For India CTV, a practical SPO approach: identify the 3–5 SSPs with direct relationships to your target publishers (JioHotstar, Sony LIV, Zee5) and concentrate buying through those SSPs, excluding reseller paths.
How do I implement SPO for an India CTV campaign?
SPO implementation steps for India CTV: (1) Pull the app-ads.txt file for each target publisher (hosted at their domain) and list the SSPs marked as DIRECT — these are the authorised direct sellers. (2) In your DSP, apply an SSP allowlist that includes only these direct-relationship SSPs for each publisher. DV360, TTD, and Amazon DSP all support SSP-level filtering. (3) Compare CPMs and fill rates across SSP paths — in first-price auctions, the same impression bought through a direct SSP path may clear at the same price as through a reseller, but the publisher receives more of the bid value in the direct path. (4) Negotiate direct PMP or PG deals with publishers where volume justifies it — this is the ultimate SPO outcome, eliminating SSP markup entirely and guaranteeing a direct publisher relationship.