How are the SSPs doing?
Last week, both PubMatic and Magnite reported Q1 earnings. Here are the key numbers:
PubMatic reported $62.6 million in revenue, down about 2% year over year, but above consensus estimates of roughly $59 million. Magnite reported $164.4 million, up about 6% year over year and ahead of estimates of around $159 million.
Following earnings, PubMatic’s stock is down nearly 7%, while Magnite is up nearly 2%.
Why This Matters:
So, what can we make of the SSP market based on these numbers? Interestingly, and to complicate things, there seem to be two different strategies at play.
First, on the PubMatic front, the company appears all in on AI and agentic and has probably been the most aggressive SSP in these areas. But those investments haven’t paid off yet in the immediate term, which isn’t entirely surprising and reflects a broader market reality. It’s still early, and revenue driven by agentic capabilities — or cost savings tied to more direct buying — will likely take time to materialize.
Interestingly, the company did see strong growth from emerging channels, including CTV, where revenue rose 13% year over year, and mobile app, which grew 25% year over year. That feels more like traditional SSP territory (yay!), tied to media channels rather than bleeding-edge technology.
Meanwhile, Magnite didn’t seem eager to overindex on AI, mostly framing it as an efficiency play while emphasizing high-growth areas like CTV, which grew 30% year over year, and retail media. That approach seemed to resonate fairly well with the market. “I think the biggest benefit you’re going to see from it is workflow and productivity,” CEO Michael Barrett said on the call.
Experts React:
PubMatic noted again — after first sharing this last year — that it continues to be impacted by a “legacy DSP” reducing spend (presumably The Trade Desk given its “house flipping” point of view around SSPs).
With that in mind, here’s CEO Rajeev Goel on the earnings call discussing how PubMatic is diversifying its DSP mix:
“The DSP landscape continues to evolve and fragment, with a growing share of digital advertising spend coming from outside the Fortune 1000 advertisers. Our growth profile mirrors this trend as we diversify our business and accelerate expansion beyond the largest DSPs. In Q1, activity from mid-market and performance DSPs continued to grow over 20% year over year.”
Our Take:
The SSP market might be splitting between companies pitching the future of media (AI!) buying and companies focused on executing against where ad dollars are actually flowing today (margins!). You can see that divide pretty clearly between PubMatic and Magnite.
