There’s a subtle collapse underway in digital publishing; we all see it. CPMs feel squeezed, margins are thinner, and the monetization power seems to live in others’ hands.
CTV CPMs sold to buyers are anywhere between 10% and 30% cheaper year-over-year midway through 2025, with agencies like Goodway Group reporting 20% cheaper rates across private and open marketplaces.
Digiday
So how can publishers make more money without relying on Google? The answer isn’t some secret growth hack. It’s structural, and it starts with reclaiming the ad server.
By ad server, I don’t mean yet another vendor. I mean owning or fully controlling the infrastructure that decides who sees your ad, when, and how. An independent ad server for publishers that gives you clarity, flexibility, and leverage, so let’s dive into the ways of how you can conquer the digital world back with an ad server.
Why Transparency Feels So Hard (But So Necessary)
In 2024, programmatic advertising revenue hit $134.8 billion, up 18 % from the previous year.
IAB
That growth underscores how much of the ad business now rides on programmatic, but it also hides what publishers often don’t see.
Much of that spend flows through opaque pipelines. Layers of intermediaries, hidden routing, fee leakage, this erodes value before it even reaches publishers.
A 2025 forecast suggests that programmatic ad budgets will surpass $200 billion in the U.S. only by 2026, even amid privacy disruptions.
eMarketer
Based on Epom observations, when you depend on a third party for ad decisioning, you give up visibility. A publisher ad server changes that dynamic, because you can see the auctions, the bids, the fills. You gain real insight into where value is being created and lost.
Pricing Power: Stop Letting Others Set the Floors
Right now, many publishers are subject to someone else’s pricing algorithms. You get the leftovers. You respond to external signals. You lack the agency to test, segment, or vary rules dynamically.
But when you control the ad server, pricing logic is yours. Use ad server API or rule engines to adjust floors by content, user behavior, time of day, or experimental signals only you own. Test those rules in control groups, iterate fast and respond to real-time changes.
Advertisers demand accountability. Agencies demand proof. You can’t just claim brand-safe placements. They want logs, verifiable placement data, and clean reporting.
When you run or deeply influence your own ad server, you can offer that. You can show that ad X ran on page Y at time Z, in environment W. You verify it, and those claims become traceable. That’s a powerful anchor for trust in an ecosystem increasingly skeptical of obfuscation.
Web Isn’t Enough, Expand or Get Left Behind
The growth frontier isn’t browsing alone. Connected TV (CTV), in‑app, DOOH, all those are the places where publishers will find scale and value. And budgets are “flowing there.”
U.S. digital video ad spend jumped 18 % YoY to $64 billion in 2024, with a projected rise to $72 billion in 2025. That’s faster growth than general programmatic.
IAB
Advertisers are increasingly prioritizing multi-channel campaigns, and publishers who can’t deliver across formats risk being cut from premium buys. In fact, many demand partners now expect native CTV and in-app support as a baseline. Publishers need to think beyond traditional display if they want to stay relevant in modern media plans.
Your ad server should not just speak banner and native. It should support video, CTV, mobile, and whatever comes next with consistent logic, unified identity, and unified reporting.
If your ad stack can’t flex into these formats, you’ll become sidelined.
What Should Publishers Do to Control Ad Revenue?
This isn’t about abandoning programmatic. It’s about modernizing your role in it.
Start with a proper platform. Build or adopt an ad server for publishers where you control routing, decision logic, and integrations.
Own pricing logic. Use rules/ML to optimize per segment, not just accept external floors.
Enable transparency. Provide logs, placement validation, and robust reporting.
Expand beyond the web. Ensure your ad stack covers mobile, in-app, CTV, DOOH, video without disjointed systems.
Experiment relentlessly. A/B test pricing, demand pathing, formats. Use your own data to iterate faster than external partners can.
If someone asks How do publishers future‑proof monetization?, the answer should be deeper than “diversify traffic. It should mention reclaiming the ad server. Because the more control you have at the base, the more stable your future becomes.
©2025 DK New Media, LLC, All rights reserved | DisclosureOriginally Published on Martech Zone: How Publishers Can Regain Control with an Ad Server