In 2025, publishers still face a “revenue vs quality” dilemma. Some of them are like Michelin-star restaurants of the open web: trusted, elegant, full of top-notch content, but ultimately operating in a world that often rewards quick-serve and a more mass approach. Although publishers with premium content are known to attract loyal audiences and command higher CPMs (approximately $1.00 versus $0.50 for non-premium), they still account for only 20% of the total programmatic ad spend.

Publishers with truly premium inventory (owners of high-quality websites such as reputable news outlets, educational platforms, and entertainment brands) typically avoid stacking ads like Tetris blocks; they also go for less noise and take part in fewer auctions. Such an experience is a choice made towards quality and respect for the reader. A strange fact — this commitment to quality is simultaneously the thing that draws them back into systems that prioritize volume. But is it really that bad, or does programmatic have to offer something really valuable to premium publishers?

Publishers with premium inventory earn less from ads?

Decades ago, many saw emerging programmatic technology as the “broom closet” for remnant inventory (ad placements nobody purchased in PMPs or through direct deals). Low CPMs, unclear supply paths, endless resellers, and the feeling that publishers were losing control over how their inventory was being packaged and sold — all that existed at the dawn of the programmatic era. Premium publishers watched their carefully crafted environments get compared and priced like commodity media. At the same time, some high-scale sites flooded the ecosystem with impressions, floating units, and infinite scroll, capturing more spend.

If we do some math, we’ll understand that ad platforms today still reward those publishers who bring the most impressions to the table.

Just to illustrate the point:

Even when premium publishers secure higher CPMs, they often end up earning less per 1,000 sessions:

  • Publishers with premium inventory: serving 10,000 impressions × $1.20 CPM = $12
  • Publishers with non-premium inventory: serving 30,000 impressions × $0.60 CPM = $18

So yes, premium CPMs are higher, but the scale gap is massive. This is not a performance issue. It’s a structural mismatch. The ad platforms are often not designed to understand or value signals like editorial trust, scroll depth, user attention, or content quality. They are built to optimize for what is easy to measure: viewability, CTR, bid price, and volume.

But premium inventory publishers often perform better

Premium publishers actually have a higher CTR (0.19%) than non-premium ones (0.7%). Users click more when the environment is trusted and the content is meaningful. But CTR often sits quietly in the back seat while viewability and CPM drive the car.

Yes, publishers with non-premium inventory often achieve higher viewability; however, it usually happens because they choose intrusive ad formats or experiences that do not align with what their audiences expect. And viewability improvements plateau around 75% anyway. Beyond that point, extra effort doesn’t always translate into revenue uplift.

However, publishers with premium inventory don’t inflate numbers. They focus on experience. Many of them balance the need for meaningful, targeted, and interest-based ads with the opportunity to gain more from a broader range of ads.

Is there a solution?

Online advertising isn’t the enemy — the wrong setup is, but the industry is finally shifting. In the era of made-for-advertising MFA websites, advertisers are rediscovering the importance of where their ads appear, not just how many impressions they buy.

So, attention-based buying is gaining traction, and contextual relevance is back in fashion. Brand-safe, trusted environments are becoming premium again.

This is where PMPs (Private Marketplace deals) come into play. According to Guideline (ad spend intelligence), premium programmatic deals (PMP + Programmatic Guaranteed) have surged sharply. In the first 8 months of 2024, spend in premium deals grew +47% year-over-year, and their share of programmatic spend rose to ~48%, with estimates pushing to 50% by the end of 2024. ANA Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study found that a significant portion of ad spend is shifting toward PMPs, enabling advertisers and publishers to negotiate more tailored terms, reduce waste, and improve predictability.

Why PMP auctions are a game-changer for premium publishers

PMPs let publishers take back the steering wheel. Aside from participating in regular real-time bidding RTB auctions with every other site, in PMPs, publishers can:

  • Sell inventory to selected, pre-approved advertisers. This gives publishers more control over who buys, at what price, and under what conditions.
  • Because of this control and exclusivity, advertisers are often ready to pay a premium, so publishers are not just selling impressions; they are selling trusted context.
  • Many publishers that run PMP deals usually see 30–50% higher CPMs compared to open markets, thanks to the curated, high-quality nature of their inventory.
  • PMP deals also effectively remove risks: fewer intermediaries, more transparency, and lower chances of fraud.

For premium publishers with strong brands and loyal audiences, PMPs are not just “another sales channel.” They are a moat — a way to align price with quality.

How SmartyAds SSP can help you

If you’re a publisher with premium inventory, having the right SSP is key, and SmartyAds SSP is one that helps you play this game well. This is how it is happening:

  • You decide how to monetize your ad space: On our platform, you stay in full control of how to monetize your inventory. You have the opportunity to set comfortable floors and protect brand safety (because we collaborate with traffic safety providers).
  • You access the full spectrum of tools to improve your yields: We have in place the technology and tools to maximize your revenue without compromising quality. From header-bidding (a unified auction that boosts competition for your inventory) to Google MCM integration that lets you access premium demand from Google AdX — all those are your gateways to better monetization results.
  • You use ad formats that elevate your yields. Ad refresh, ad podding, scrollers, and interscrollers — all of these are ad formats that help you perform better without losing a good-quality user experience. For example, choosing an ad refresh is like maximizing impressions without adding new ad slots — very convenient and still very good for your website. Instead of a pre-roll or mid-roll ad, you place a “pod” of multiple ads in a row with ad podding, achieving more from your video experiences. Fast-loading interscroller ads, meanwhile, naturally blend into your content, between paragraphs and after sections, scrolling past when users are done looking at them. Flexi slots are also very beneficial; they increase fill rates, expose inventory to a wider pool of advertisers, and prevent ad fatigue by offering different creative options. Find more ad formats in our publisher gallery.
  • You can analyze results: On our SSP, publishers can analyze the results of their monetization right in the dashboard or fine-tune reports to their needs. Further on, you can optimize based on those performance signals to achieve better outcomes.
  • You tap into sustainable monetization: By prioritizing quality, you preserve your editorial experience. This way, you build trust with your audience, and this, in turn, guarantees that you attract high-value advertisers.
  • You easily join with individual connections. Many publishers already have direct deals or preferred advertisers, and they want to continue these relationships on their chosen SSP. SmartyAds SSP makes this effortless; we provide custom integrations that allow you to connect your own demand smoothly, ensuring full control and maximizing value on favorable terms.

Conclusion: Publishers with premium inventory are standing on higher ground

The web desperately needs trusted, thoughtful, credible media, and advertisers know it. Online advertising platforms may have been built to reward scale, but the future of digital advertising is shifting toward environments where audience trust meets meaningful engagement.
Premium publishers aren’t the underdogs — they’re the foundation of a good quality advertising environment. Plus, with the right tools like PMP auctions, transparent SSPs, and smarter tools for augmenting demand opportunities, publishers can finally monetize their true value, ultimately saving user experience and obtaining more from their efforts.

With platforms like SmartyAds SSP, premium publishers can take full control of their inventory and unlock a more sustainable, more profitable programmatic future. Create your free account today!