This question was recently asked on the r/programmatic sub-reddit.
Our founder, Mike Hauptman, provided a detailed response covering multiple factors one should consider when investing such a large amount. Here’s a condensed version of his response:
Key Takeaways
Demand full transparency before signing.
At $100K/month, you have real leverage — use it to get app-level reporting, a clear map of which publishers and deal types they can actually access, and show-level targeting controls. Vague answers about “CTV inventory” are a red flag.
Incrementality and measurement independence are non-negotiable.
Insist on holdout tests or geo lift studies, the ability to bring your own measurement partners, and impression-level log data you can take with you. Never let a vendor grade their own homework.
Understand what’s actually powering the buy.
Many CTV vendors are simply reselling a single DSP under a custom UI. Knowing which DSP(s) sit underneath — and whether they can access premium inventory across Disney, NBCU, Roku, and others — is the difference between real reach and an overpriced arbitrage layer.
Protect your optionality.
CTV inventory is fragmented by design, the landscape shifts constantly, and single-vendor lock-in can leave you stuck 18 months down the road. Push for month-to-month terms or a strong kill clause, and think carefully before committing your full performance budget to one stack.
Here’s the original response covering all of the questions:
Good instinct to vet hard before signing. At $100K/mo you’re a meaningful client to most CTV vendors, which means you have leverage to demand answers a smaller advertiser won’t give you. Here’s what I’d push on:
- Supply path and inventory transparency. Ask exactly who they buy from and whether they own the supply or arbitrage it. Direct publisher deals or SSP resellers chained three levels deep? What’s the mix of premium AVOD (Disney+, NBCU, Paramount, Max), FAST (Roku Channel, Tubi, Pluto), and long-tail apps? You want app-level reporting, not “CTV inventory.” If they own the stack, ask how they avoid the conflict of optimizing toward their own margin.
- Inventory fragmentation and access. No single DSP has full access to premium CTV inventory. Disney’s stack is different from NBCU’s, which is different from what’s available in Roku’s auction, which is different from what The Trade Desk or DV360 can reach. Ask the vendor to map exactly which publishers and which deal types (open auction, PMP, PG) they can access, and which they can’t. Then ask what their plan is when a publisher pulls inventory or shifts to a different DSP exclusively (which happens constantly in CTV).
- Show-level targeting and transparency. Can you actually target by show, or only by app/network? There’s a massive difference between “running on Hulu” and “running in front of viewers of The Bear.” Most vendors will quote you app-level targeting and call it contextual. Push for genre, show, and even episode-level controls, and ask which publishers support it and which don’t. Then ask for show-level reporting after the fact, not just app-level. If you can’t see which shows your spend ran against, you can’t optimize and you can’t defend the buy to your CMO.
- Log-level data access and portability. At your spend you should be getting impression-level logs (or at minimum daily app/domain breakdowns) you can pipe into your own measurement stack. More importantly, ask what happens to that data and your audiences if you leave. If you’re building 12 months of learning inside their walled garden, you’re stuck.
- Single platform or multi-DSP? A lot of CTV vendors are reselling one DSP under their own UI. Ask which DSP(s) actually power the buy. If it’s one, you’re at the mercy of that DSP’s inventory access, bid logic, and supply deals. Multi-DSP setups let you compare CPMs and performance across stacks for the same audience, which is the only real way to know if you’re getting fair pricing or full reach.
- Incrementality. The big one for performance teams. Will they run a holdout or PSA control test? Who pays for it? Geo lift studies are table stakes now. Without incrementality, you’re attributing conversions that would have happened anyway and your CMO will (rightfully) kill the budget in Q2.
- Frequency management. Can they measure frequency at the household level across all publishers in their network? CTV frequency abuse is the fastest way to torch a budget, especially if the vendor is incentivized to keep impressions flowing.
- Attribution methodology. IP-to-device match rates, view-through window, how they handle co-viewing. Get them to explain in detail. If “we use a third-party MTA” is the answer, ask which one and whether you can validate it independently.
- IVT and fraud. MRC accredited? What’s their SSAI fraud detection? CTV fraud is real and a lot of vendors hand-wave it.
- BYO measurement. Can you fire your own pixels? Use your own MMM partner? Test against your own incrementality framework? If they lock you into their measurement, walk. You’ll never be able to defend the spend to your CMO with the vendor grading their own homework.
- Out clause. Month-to-month or annual with a kill clause. Don’t sign an annual minimum at $100K/mo on a channel you haven’t proven.
Bigger picture: the real question isn’t which CTV vendor, it’s whether you want to commit your performance budget to a single stack or keep optionality across multiple DSPs as you scale. CTV inventory is fragmented by design, the major publishers actively pit DSPs against each other for exclusive supply, and the landscape shifts every quarter. An in-house team with $100K/mo and a measurability mandate from the CMO is exactly the profile that gets burned by single-vendor lock-in 18 months in.
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