In the rush to control how SSPs manage programmatic auctions, agencies risk digging up old concerns around the neutrality and transparency of what they do.

Strong ties to SSPs are now table stakes for the likes of Havas, GroupM and IPG to the point where they’re now legally binding in many cases. Havas plans to have contracts in place with four SSPs by the end of the year. GroupM formalized its ties to Index Exchange earlier this year and is now pitching the SSPs tech to publishers. IPG put out an RFP to those ad tech vendors last month.

Read the full Digiday article here.