Sell-side ad platform Magnite has unveiled an open beta of its “Unified Decisioning” solution which gives CTV and OTT publishers the ability to have direct sold and programmatic demand compete for available inventory. By doing so publishers can maximize yield while the decisioning still respects deal priority and business rules such as frequency capping and competitive separation.

Paige Bilins, Magnite’s VP of Video Product Management said “publishers are eager to tap into the efficiencies that programmatic provides without relinquishing the control they are used to when selling directly to buyers.” Magnite said that Unified Decisioning works with all major ad servers.

eMarketer recently estimated that programmatic CTV video ad spending in the U.S. totaled $4.36 billion in 2020, and forecast it to jump to $8.67 billion in 2022. The supply of CTV inventory is being fueled by the proliferation of CTVs being activated plus AVOD and live services viewers are adopting. The pandemic has accelerated all of these underlying trends.

Still, traditional TV is approximately $70 billion in the U.S. and accounts for the vast majority of ad spending on premium video, with direct selling the primary way of transacting (even a healthy portion of CTV advertising is transacted directly). This means that for the foreseeable future publishers and networks will have to effectively balance direct sold and programmatic deals, which is what Magnite’s Unified Decisioning aims to do.