A Private Marketplace (PMP) is an invite-only programmatic auction where a publisher makes specific inventory available to a curated group of buyers at a negotiated floor price. Unlike open auction, where any DSP can bid on any available impression, a PMP restricts access using a deal ID — a unique identifier shared between publisher and buyer that unlocks the private auction. In India CTV, PMPs are the dominant deal structure for premium inventory on platforms like JioHotstar, SonyLIV, and Zee5.
How a PMP deal works step by step
The mechanics are straightforward once you understand the deal ID:
- Negotiation: Buyer and publisher (or their SSP) agree on floor CPM, inventory type, targeting parameters, and flight dates.
- Deal ID creation: The publisher's SSP generates a deal ID — a string like
pub_ctv_cricket_pmp_001— and shares it with the buyer's DSP. - DSP configuration: The buyer's trader enters the deal ID in the DSP and sets a bid. The bid must beat the floor price to win.
- Auction: When an eligible impression is available, the SSP holds a private auction. Only buyers with the deal ID can participate. The highest bid above the floor wins.
- Delivery: The winning ad serves. Reporting flows back to both the DSP (buyer) and SSP (publisher) independently.
PMP vs open auction: the key differences
Open auction (OA) means any buyer can bid on any impression — it's the default programmatic channel. PMPs sit above OA in the publisher's waterfall. When a PMP deal ID is present, the SSP checks if any PMP buyer wants to bid before opening the impression to OA. This means PMP buyers get first look at premium inventory that may never reach open auction.
For buyers, the PMP advantage is access: publisher-curated inventory, often with audience segments applied, that is not available anywhere else. For publishers, PMPs deliver higher CPMs and predictable revenue from known buyers rather than unknown bidders.
Why PMP is the dominant CTV deal type in India
India CTV inventory is concentrated among a handful of major platforms. JioHotstar, SonyLIV, Zee5, and Sun NXT collectively account for the majority of premium CTV viewing. These platforms price their inventory above what open auction generates — and they protect it accordingly. Most premium sports, live event, and primetime content on Indian CTV is available exclusively through PMP deals, not open auction.
This is partly economics and partly control. Publishers want to know who is advertising alongside their content. A PMP lets JioHotstar approve which brands can run against IPL inventory before a single bid is placed.
Floor prices in India CTV PMPs
Floor prices on India CTV PMPs typically run Rs 120–300 CPM for standard premium inventory, with live sports floors reaching Rs 300–600 CPM during major tournaments. These are significantly above open auction floors (Rs 40–80 CPM). The premium reflects both inventory quality and the audience verification that PMP deals often include.
Floors are negotiated, not fixed. A buyer committing to a large volume (Rs 50+ lakh for a single campaign) can negotiate the floor down 10–20% and often secure inventory exclusions that block competitor categories.
Audience targeting in PMP deals
One of the main reasons buyers pay PMP premiums is audience targeting. A publisher can apply their first-party audience segments to a PMP — so the buyer doesn't just get inventory, they get inventory served only to verified cricket fans, or to registered users in metro cities, or to premium subscribers. This layered product is what makes PMP CPMs defensible.
In a standard open auction impression, the buyer applies their own audience data (if any) to filter. In a publisher PMP, the publisher does the filtering using their proprietary data — which is often richer and more accurate for their own content platform.
How to set up a PMP deal in India
The process varies by publisher and SSP, but the standard path:
- Contact the publisher's programmatic sales team (or their SSP account manager at Magnite, PubMatic, or Index Exchange)
- Agree on floor price, audience parameters, inventory type (pre-roll, mid-roll, pause), and flight
- Receive the deal ID from the publisher's SSP
- Enter the deal ID in your DSP (DV360, Amazon DSP, The Trade Desk) under Inventory → Deal Management
- Set a bid 20–30% above floor to ensure you're competitive in the private auction
- Monitor win rate: if below 30%, your bid is likely too close to floor or the deal is oversold