What is Private Marketplace (PMP)?
A private marketplace (PMP) is an invitation-only programmatic auction in which a seller makes selected inventory available to approved buyers, usually with a floor price and a Deal ID, without guaranteeing volume or price.
Also known as: PMP, Private auction, Private exchange
How it works
A private marketplace sits between the open exchange, where any approved buyer can bid, and fully direct deals, where price and volume are fixed in advance. The seller chooses some inventory, decides which buyers can access it and sets rules such as a floor price (the lowest bid it will accept).
The deal is created in the seller's platform and given a Deal ID. The buyer adds the Deal ID to their DSP and targets a line item to it. When a matching impression is available, the bid request includes the deal details and the invited buyers can bid through real-time bidding. If the highest eligible bid clears the floor, the ad runs. If not, the impression may go to other deals or to the open auction, depending on how the seller has set priorities.
Sellers can also decide whether the inventory in a PMP is reserved only for deal buyers or still available in the open auction. That choice affects how much competition the deal faces.
Why it matters
For publishers, a PMP is a way to offer better inventory, or inventory with clearer context and data, to buyers who value it, without the workload of a fully direct sale. It also lets them keep some control over who appears on their pages or in their apps.
For buyers, a PMP gives more certainty about where ads will run than open exchange buying does. It is still an auction, so there is no commitment to spend, which makes PMPs a common first step before a larger agreement such as programmatic guaranteed.
PMPs can also be built around more than one seller. When inventory is selected and packaged across several sources, the result is often called a curated deal.
Example
Illustrative example. A connected TV app publisher wants to sell its live sports inventory to a small group of agencies. It creates a PMP with a floor price, invites three agency buyer seats and shares the Deal ID with each. During a busy match, all three agencies bid on the same ad breaks, and the highest bid above the floor wins each impression. On quieter days, some impressions go unsold in the deal and pass to other demand.
IncrementX perspective
PMPs are one of the deal types IncrementX uses when it represents publisher inventory. Through Media Representation and the Demand Marketplace, IncrementX can package a publisher's inventory and connect it with brands, agencies, DSPs and trading desks through PMP, PG and curated deals. For a publisher, the value of a PMP depends on how well the inventory is understood and matched with the right buyers, which is the core of representation work.
For deeper reading, see how PMP and PG deals redefine publisher revenue streams.