If you're reading this recap shortly after the newsletter lands in your inbox, we're probably in Budapest with the whole Relevant Digital team, celebrating reaching some of our targets and taking some time together to look ahead and plan what's next. Autumn has started at full speed, and bringing everyone together feels especially valuable. Our team is made up of people from 11 different nationalities, and we see that diversity as a real strength, bringing different perspectives, experiences and ideas into how we build our products and work with publishers across markets.
In this month’s recap, we're turning our attention to two topics. First, CTV: Ronny Linder shares his perspective on transparency, open standards and how we're expanding Relevant Yield into the CTV ecosystem, with our first live tests already underway. We're also looking more broadly at what publishers should focus on next. As AI, automation and changing buyer expectations reshape the market, our CEO Petri Kokkonen shares his thoughts on where the biggest opportunities lie. Petri also recently spoke with ADZINE about these developments and the future of publisher monetisation. For our German-speaking readers, you can find the full interview here.
Connected TV (CTV) is rapidly becoming one of the most important growth areas in programmatic advertising. As advertisers continue shifting budgets from traditional television to streaming, publishers can unlock new revenue streams while delivering premium video experiences. At the same time, CTV introduces technical challenges around reporting, inventory management and interoperability.
CTV ecosystems are still evolving. Broadcasters, media networks and digital publishers often manage inventory in very different ways, making flexibility increasingly important. Open standards will play a key role in helping the industry avoid fragmented, proprietary solutions.
One of the most encouraging developments is the continued evolution of Prebid's CTV framework. I recently joined the CTV/OTT/DOOH/Audio Task Force, where we collaborate on the next generation of open standards for Connected TV. Working alongside others in the Prebid community provides valuable insight into where the ecosystem is heading and helps ensure Relevant Yield's roadmap stays aligned with the industry's broader direction.
As we continue expanding Relevant Yield into the CTV ecosystem, we're focused on bringing the same transparency, reporting, and optimisation capabilities that publishers already expect from web monetisation into Connected TV. We're currently exploring different implementation models together with clients while building around Prebid's evolving CTV framework, and our first live tests are already underway.
Although CTV is still developing rapidly, one principle remains unchanged. Publishers benefit most from transparent, flexible and demand-agnostic technologies that give them visibility into their auctions and control over how their inventory is monetised. As the ecosystem continues to evolve, I believe openness, transparency and publisher control will remain the foundations of long-term success.
- Ronny Linder - CPO, Partner and Member of Several IAB Tech Lab Task Forces
The publisher industry is changing. AI is reshaping how content is discovered, buyer expectations continue to evolve, and publishers are under increasing pressure to grow revenue in a market where traditional display advertising alone is no longer enough. The challenge today isn't a lack of opportunities, but deciding which ones deserve the most attention. While no single strategy works for everyone, I believe the biggest opportunities still come from combining strong fundamentals with continuous innovation.
Prioritise Long-Term Value
Everything starts with quality content and strong audience relationships. That has always been true, and in a world increasingly filled with AI-generated answers, it may become publishers' greatest competitive advantage. But strong content alone is no longer enough. Sustainable growth also depends on how effectively publishers monetise and grow the long-term value of that audience.
From a monetisation perspective, however, every publisher is different. Some balance subscriptions, direct sales and programmatic advertising, while others rely primarily on advertising revenue. Increasingly, I believe publishers should focus on maximising the overall value of their audience rather than optimising individual revenue streams in isolation.
Meaningful revenue growth rarely comes from one major change. More often, it comes from consistently improving many smaller areas. Better ad placements on mobile, creating additional high-quality inventory, automating floor price optimisation and continuing to invest in server-side monetisation are all areas where we continue to see real business impact. At the same time, direct sales remain an important part of the revenue mix, even if the ways of selling continue to evolve.
Many people ask whether technical optimisation has reached its limits. I don't think it has. Working with publishers who use Relevant Yield, we continue to see new opportunities to improve monetisation through better data, automation and continuous optimisation. Success doesn't always come from generating more revenue. Sometimes the greatest value lies in protecting existing revenue, recovering lost value or simply helping publishers make better decisions.
Ultimately, the biggest advantage still comes from the people behind the technology, the data and, increasingly, the AI prompts.
Quality, Data and Smarter Monetisation
Another area that deserves constant attention is demand quality. Short-term revenue should never come at the expense of long-term trust. The same applies to curation. Curated marketplaces can create significant value for publishers, but only when transparency and quality remain at the centre of the relationship. Understanding where demand comes from and how value is created throughout the supply chain is becoming increasingly important.
The same is true for data. Rich first-party data, contextual signals and high-quality audience information all help publishers create more valuable inventory. But publishers should also make better use of operational data. Understanding the true value of each impression, selecting the right demand partners and making smarter pricing decisions are becoming just as important as audience targeting itself.
Making AI Part of Everyday Operations
For many publishers, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI, but where it can deliver the greatest value. Today, that value is still coming primarily from machine learning rather than large language models. Machine learning already helps optimise pricing and decision-making in real time, directly improving monetisation. Large language models, meanwhile, are becoming valuable tools for analysing data, identifying opportunities, solving technical challenges and improving operational efficiency.
Rather than treating AI as a separate initiative, I believe publishers should start making it part of their everyday operations, from reporting and optimisation to troubleshooting and decision support.
Looking ahead, buyer and seller agents could reshape how digital advertising is bought and sold. Adoption has already begun, although large-scale deployment will still take time. Publishers should focus on preparing by building clean taxonomies, structured audience data and machine-readable inventory descriptions. As buying becomes increasingly automated, clarity and transparency will only become more important.
The future of programmatic advertising will undoubtedly involve more automation and AI. Technology will continue to evolve, but the goal remains the same: building sustainable publisher businesses. Publishers that continue investing in quality content, trusted audience relationships, transparent partnerships and flexible technology will be best positioned to adapt to whatever comes next.
- Petri Kokkonen - CEO & Partner, Member of the IAB Finland Board and Co-Lead of the IAB Europe Programmatic Working Group