{ "name": "Agency Echelon Reference platform profiles", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "reviewed": "2026-09-23", "count": 22, "platforms": [ { "name": "Google Ads", "owner": "Google (Alphabet)", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "The largest advertising platform in the world and the default first channel for any advertiser with existing demand. Google Ads sells Search, YouTube, Display, Shopping, Discover, Gmail, and Maps inventory through one account, and its automated campaign types now buy across all of them at once.", "surfaces": [ "Search results (text ads, Shopping ads)", "YouTube (skippable and non-skippable in-stream, bumpers, Shorts, in-feed)", "Google Display Network (responsive display, uploaded HTML5 and image)", "Discover and Gmail (Demand Gen)", "Google Maps and local surfaces", "Google Play (App campaigns)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Search", "Performance Max", "Demand Gen", "Video (YouTube)", "Display", "Shopping (Standard)", "App" ], "targeting": [ "Keywords with exact, phrase, and broad match", "Audience segments: affinity, in-market, life events, detailed demographics", "Customer Match (hashed CRM lists) and website or app remarketing", "Custom segments built from search terms, URLs, and apps", "Optimized targeting and audience expansion on Display, Video, and Demand Gen", "Location, language, device, schedule, and household income (US)" ], "buying": "Auction-based, priced by click, impression (CPM and vCPM on Display and Video), view (CPV on skippable video), or conversion targets. Smart Bidding (Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value) is the default for nearly every campaign type; manual CPC survives only on Search and Display. There is no minimum spend. Reservation buys on YouTube (masthead, some CTV packages) go through Display & Video 360 or a Google sales representative.", "measurement": "Conversion tracking through the Google tag, Google Analytics 4 import, Enhanced Conversions (hashed first-party data sent with the tag) and Enhanced Conversions for Leads, offline conversion import keyed on the gclid, and data-driven attribution by default. Brand Lift and Conversion Lift studies are available on YouTube and Demand Gen above spend thresholds. Reporting is by campaign, ad group, keyword or asset group, and search term, with the search terms report limited by a privacy threshold since 2020.", "notes": "Performance Max is where most of Google's development effort has gone since 2022; expect continuing pressure to move Search budgets into it, and use brand exclusions, search themes, and channel reporting to keep control. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search have begun carrying ads, which changes where Search impressions appear without changing how they are bought. Consent Mode v2 is required for conversion measurement and remarketing in the EEA and UK. In April 2025 a US federal court found Google liable for monopolizing the publisher ad server and exchange markets; remedies affect Google Ad Manager and AdX rather than Google Ads itself.", "documentation": "https://support.google.com/google-ads/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/google-ads/" }, { "name": "Meta Ads", "owner": "Meta Platforms", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "The second-largest advertising platform and the center of social advertising: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, WhatsApp (in some markets), and the Audience Network of third-party apps, all bought through one Ads Manager with one pixel and one Conversions API.", "surfaces": [ "Facebook feed, Stories, Reels, Marketplace, in-stream video, right column", "Instagram feed, Stories, Reels, Explore, Shop", "Messenger inbox and Stories", "Threads feed", "WhatsApp Status and click-to-message (market dependent)", "Meta Audience Network (in-app placements on third-party apps)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Sales", "Leads", "Engagement", "Traffic", "App promotion", "Awareness", "Advantage+ (automated) versions of each" ], "targeting": [ "Advantage+ audience (automated, with optional audience suggestions as signals)", "Custom Audiences: customer lists, website (pixel), app, engagement, catalog", "Lookalike Audiences seeded from Custom Audiences", "Detailed targeting: interests, behaviors, demographics (reduced for housing, credit, employment, and social issue ads)", "Location, age, gender, language", "Exclusions of customers, converters, and engaged users" ], "buying": "Auction-based, with the auction weighting bid, estimated action rate, and ad quality. Billed by impression (CPM) in nearly all cases; optimization goal (conversions, value, link clicks, ThruPlay, reach) determines what the algorithm chases. Bid strategies: highest volume, cost per result goal, bid cap, ROAS goal. Reach and Frequency buying offers predictable delivery for large brand campaigns. Minimum daily budgets are low (a few dollars) and scale with optimization goal. Ad set level is where budget, audience, placement, and optimization live; Advantage+ campaign budget moves budget to the campaign level.", "measurement": "Meta Pixel plus Conversions API with event deduplication is the required setup. Attribution windows default to 7-day click and 1-day view, selectable per ad set; Meta reports modeled conversions where browser signals are missing, and iOS conversions are aggregated and delayed. Conversion Lift, Brand Lift, and A/B tests are built into Ads Manager; Advanced Analytics is Meta's clean room. The Meta Ad Library shows every active ad on the platform.", "notes": "Meta has spent three years consolidating into automation: Advantage+ shopping campaigns, then Advantage+ audiences and creative, and since 2025 a merged Advantage+ campaign setup. Manual targeting remains available but is treated as a signal rather than a fence. Creative volume and refresh rate are the main performance levers now that targeting is automated. Meta's ad-free subscription in the EU (2023 onward) and the EU's Digital Markets Act decisions affect targeting data for European users. Political, social issue, housing, employment, and credit ads carry authorization and targeting limits.", "documentation": "https://www.facebook.com/business/help", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/meta-ads/" }, { "name": "TikTok Ads", "owner": "ByteDance (TikTok Inc. in the US following the 2025 divestiture arrangement)", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Short vertical video at scale, bought through TikTok Ads Manager, with a creative culture that rewards native-looking content and a commerce layer (TikTok Shop) that closes the loop in supported markets.", "surfaces": [ "For You feed (in-feed video)", "TopView (first ad on open)", "Search results (Search Ads)", "TikTok Shop (Shop Ads, video shopping ads)", "Pangle (third-party app network, select markets)", "Branded effects, hashtag challenges, and Branded Mission (managed)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Reach", "Traffic", "Video views", "Community interaction", "App promotion", "Lead generation", "Website conversions", "Product sales (Shop)", "Smart+ (automated)" ], "targeting": [ "Demographics, location, language, device", "Interests and behaviors (video interactions, creator interactions, hashtags)", "Custom Audiences: customer files, website (pixel), app, engagement, Shop activity", "Lookalike Audiences", "Smart Targeting and Smart+ automated targeting", "Search keywords for Search Ads" ], "buying": "Auction-based, billed by impression (CPM, oCPM), click (CPC), or view (CPV); Reach and Frequency buying for guaranteed delivery on larger budgets; TopView and Branded Mission sold as reservation. Bid strategies: lowest cost, cost cap, bid cap, value optimization. Minimum campaign budget is $50 per day and ad group $20 per day in most markets. Spark Ads, which promote an existing organic post from the advertiser's or a creator's account, are the strongest-performing format in most accounts.", "measurement": "TikTok Pixel and Events API (server-side) with deduplication; attribution windows selectable up to 28-day click and 7-day view; conversion lift and brand lift studies available; TikTok's Commercial Content Library serves as the public ad archive. Third-party measurement partners are supported through a partner program, and app installs are measured through MMPs.", "notes": "Creative is the entire game: TikTok's own guidance is to produce many short, native, sound-on videos and let the platform find the audience. Creator content through TikTok One and the Creator Marketplace, run as Spark Ads, is the standard production path. In the United States, the platform's ownership and continued operation have been subject to federal legislation and a 2025 restructuring; check current status before committing large US budgets and keep contingency creative ready for Reels and Shorts.", "documentation": "https://ads.tiktok.com/help/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/tiktok-ads/" }, { "name": "LinkedIn Ads", "owner": "Microsoft", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "The only platform with reliable, self-declared professional data at scale: job title, function, seniority, company, industry, skills, and groups. That precision is why LinkedIn is the default B2B platform, and its cost is why it is rarely used for anything else.", "surfaces": [ "Feed (single image, video, carousel, document, event, thought leader ads)", "Messaging (conversation ads; message ads, restricted in the EU)", "Right rail and text ads (desktop)", "LinkedIn Audience Network (third-party sites and apps)", "Connected TV (CTV campaigns through partners, US)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Brand awareness", "Website visits", "Engagement", "Video views", "Lead generation", "Website conversions", "Job applicants" ], "targeting": [ "Job title, function, seniority", "Company name, industry, size, growth rate, category, connections", "Skills, groups, education, degrees, fields of study", "Interests and traits", "Matched Audiences: contact lists, company lists, website retargeting (Insight Tag), engagement", "Lookalike replaced by predictive audiences", "Audience expansion (off by default; keep it off for precision)" ], "buying": "Auction-based, billed by impression (CPM), click (CPC), or send (conversation ads); Reach and Frequency and reservation options exist for large brand buys. Minimum daily budget is $10. Cost per click typically runs several times higher than on Meta or Google Display, and cost per lead correspondingly, so LinkedIn is sized against pipeline value rather than compared on CPM.", "measurement": "Insight Tag plus Conversions API; Revenue Attribution Report connects to CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics) to tie pipeline and revenue back to campaigns; Lead Gen Forms sync to CRM through native integrations or Zapier. Brand lift testing is available. The LinkedIn Ad Library is public.", "notes": "Lead Gen Forms produce the cheapest leads on the platform and the most objections from sales teams; the fix is offline conversion import of qualified leads so the platform optimizes past the form. Thought leader ads (promoting an employee's or executive's post) and document ads are the formats that changed most in recent years. Company-level ABM targeting through uploaded lists is LinkedIn's most defensible use.", "documentation": "https://www.linkedin.com/help/lms", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/linkedin-ads/" }, { "name": "X Ads", "owner": "X Corp. (xAI)", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Formerly Twitter Ads. Real-time conversation, live events, and news are the platform's advertising rationale; the audience is large but the advertiser base contracted sharply after 2022 and brand safety controls were rebuilt in response.", "surfaces": [ "Home timeline (promoted posts: image, video, carousel, text)", "Amplify pre-roll on publisher video", "Takeover (Timeline Takeover, Trend Takeover, Trend Takeover+)", "Vertical video feed", "Search results" ], "campaign_types": [ "Reach", "Video views", "App installs", "Website traffic", "Engagements", "Sales (conversions)", "Pre-roll views" ], "targeting": [ "Keywords (in posts, searches, and engagements)", "Follower lookalikes (people similar to an account's followers)", "Interests, conversation topics, events, movies and TV", "Custom Audiences: lists, website (X Pixel), app, engagement", "Demographics, location, device, carrier, language" ], "buying": "Auction-based, billed per objective: impression, view, click, engagement, install; automatic, target cost, and maximum bid options. Takeovers are reservation buys at fixed prices. No minimum spend on auction campaigns.", "measurement": "X Pixel and Conversions API; attribution windows selectable; brand lift through partners; verification through IAS and DoubleVerify integrations reintroduced in 2023 and 2024 for adjacency measurement.", "notes": "Brand suitability is the first question on any X plan. The platform offers adjacency controls, sensitivity settings, and third-party pre-bid verification; whether those satisfy a given brand is a judgment call, and several large advertisers remain absent. Where it works, it works around live moments: sports, awards, product launches, breaking news, and the communities that discuss them.", "documentation": "https://business.x.com/en/help.html", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/x-ads/" }, { "name": "Pinterest Ads", "owner": "Pinterest, Inc.", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "A visual discovery platform where users arrive with intent to plan, buy, or make something, which makes it closer to search than to social in behavior. Strongest in home, food, fashion, beauty, weddings, and travel, and skewed female and toward higher household income.", "surfaces": [ "Home feed", "Search results", "Related Pins", "Shopping surfaces (product Pins from catalog)", "Idea and collage formats" ], "campaign_types": [ "Awareness", "Consideration (clicks)", "Conversions", "Catalog sales", "Video views", "App installs", "Performance+ (automated)" ], "targeting": [ "Interests (Pinterest taxonomy)", "Keywords (search intent)", "Customer lists, website (Pinterest tag), engagement, and actalike audiences", "Demographics, location, device, language", "Performance+ automated targeting and expansion" ], "buying": "Auction-based, billed by impression, click, or view; automated bidding by default with target and max options. Performance+ campaigns automate targeting, bidding, creative, and budget across objectives. Minimum daily budget is $1. CPMs are among the lowest of the major platforms.", "measurement": "Pinterest tag and Conversions API; attribution windows up to 30-day click, 30-day engagement, 1-day view; conversion lift and brand lift studies; clean-room and third-party measurement integrations; catalog-driven product reporting.", "notes": "Pinterest content has a long shelf life and organic and paid pins reinforce each other, so campaigns are often planned seasonally well ahead of the moment (holiday planning starts in late summer). Shoppable formats and the catalog integration are where the platform has invested most. Users are planning, so creative that shows the finished result outperforms creative that sells.", "documentation": "https://help.pinterest.com/en/business", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/pinterest-ads/" }, { "name": "Snapchat Ads", "owner": "Snap Inc.", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Full-screen vertical video and augmented reality for an audience concentrated in the 13 to 34 range. Snap's reach among teenagers and young adults in the US, UK, and several other markets is difficult to replicate elsewhere.", "surfaces": [ "Stories (between friends' and publishers' Stories)", "Spotlight (short video feed)", "Discover (publisher content)", "AR Lenses and Filters", "Snap Map" ], "campaign_types": [ "Awareness and engagement", "Traffic", "Leads", "App installs and app conversions", "Sales (conversions and catalog sales)" ], "targeting": [ "Lifestyle and interest categories", "Demographics, location, device, OS, carrier", "Custom Audiences: lists, pixel, app, engagement, Lens engagement", "Lookalike Audiences", "Third-party segments via partners" ], "buying": "Auction-based; billed by impression or by goal-based bidding on swipes, installs, purchases, and other events. Lenses and takeovers are available as reservation. Minimum daily budget is $5.", "measurement": "Snap Pixel and Conversions API; MMP integrations for apps; conversion lift and brand lift studies; the Snap Ad Library is public.", "notes": "AR Lenses remain the format nobody else offers at comparable scale and are worth a test for any brand with a product that can be tried on or placed. Otherwise the platform behaves like a smaller Meta with a younger audience and lower CPMs, and shares creative easily with Reels and TikTok.", "documentation": "https://businesshelp.snapchat.com/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/snapchat-ads/" }, { "name": "Reddit Ads", "owner": "Reddit, Inc.", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Interest communities with a level of topical specificity no other platform matches: a subreddit is a self-selected audience around one subject. Reddit's advertising business grew rapidly after its 2024 listing and its formats and measurement matured accordingly.", "surfaces": [ "Feed (promoted posts in home and community feeds)", "Conversation pages (promoted comments and conversation placement)", "Search results (Dynamic Product Ads and keyword-targeted ads)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Brand awareness and reach", "Video views", "Traffic", "Conversions", "App installs", "Catalog sales", "Leads" ], "targeting": [ "Communities (subreddit targeting)", "Interests (aggregated community categories)", "Keywords (in searches and posts)", "Custom Audiences: lists, Reddit Pixel, engagement", "Lookalike Audiences", "Location, device, OS, time of day" ], "buying": "Auction-based, billed by impression, click, or view; automated bidding available. Minimum daily budget is $5 for auction; takeovers and reservation formats through Reddit's sales team. CPCs are low relative to Meta and Google, and CPMs are low; creative that reads as native to the community is the difference between success and being downvoted.", "measurement": "Reddit Pixel and Conversions API; attribution windows up to 28-day click; brand lift and conversion lift; MMP support; Reddit's ad library is public.", "notes": "Reddit users are unusually hostile to advertising that talks down to them and unusually receptive to advertising that is useful and honest. Comments are enabled by default on promoted posts; leaving them on and answering them tends to help. Community targeting is the reason to be here; broad interest targeting can be bought more cheaply elsewhere.", "documentation": "https://business.reddithelp.com/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/reddit-ads/" }, { "name": "Amazon Ads", "owner": "Amazon", "type": "Walled garden and retail media", "summary": "The largest retail media network and the third-largest digital advertising business overall. Amazon sells sponsored placements on its own store, display and video across its properties and the open web through Amazon DSP, and streaming TV on Prime Video, Twitch, and Fire TV, all measured against Amazon purchase data.", "surfaces": [ "Amazon search results and product detail pages (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display)", "Prime Video ads (since 2024), Freevee, Twitch, Fire TV", "Amazon-owned sites and apps (IMDb, Amazon Music) and third-party inventory through Amazon DSP", "Amazon Publisher Services (publisher header bidding and CTV)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Sponsored Products", "Sponsored Brands (including video)", "Sponsored Display", "Sponsored TV", "Amazon DSP (display, video, audio, STV)" ], "targeting": [ "Keywords and product targeting (ASINs, categories) for Sponsored ads", "Amazon audiences: in-market, lifestyle, interests, life events (DSP)", "Purchase and browsing behavior, including for brands not sold on Amazon", "Advertiser audiences: hashed lists, pixel, app", "Contextual and lookalike audiences (DSP)" ], "buying": "Sponsored ads are auction-based CPC with no minimum; Sponsored TV and Sponsored Display are CPM or vCPM. Amazon DSP is self-service or managed, with a managed-service minimum that has historically been in the tens of thousands of dollars per month (verify current terms). Prime Video inventory is bought through the DSP or upfronts.", "measurement": "Closed-loop attribution to Amazon sales, including new-to-brand metrics; Amazon Marketing Cloud (clean room) for custom analysis across sponsored ads and DSP; Amazon Attribution for measuring off-Amazon campaigns that drive Amazon sales; brand lift and omnichannel metrics for DSP; third-party measurement integrations for STV.", "notes": "For brands sold on Amazon, sponsored ads are close to mandatory because organic placement depends on sales velocity that ads drive. For brands not sold on Amazon, Amazon DSP and Prime Video are an audience buy with retail data behind it. Amazon Marketing Cloud is the most capable clean room in retail media and rewards analytical investment.", "documentation": "https://advertising.amazon.com/help", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/amazon-ads/" }, { "name": "Microsoft Advertising", "owner": "Microsoft", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Search advertising on Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, AOL, and Copilot, plus native and display through the Microsoft Audience Network and, since 2024, connected TV and the inventory of Microsoft-owned properties including LinkedIn data for targeting. Its Google Ads import makes it the cheapest expansion any search advertiser can make.", "surfaces": [ "Bing search results and syndicated search partners", "Copilot and Bing AI answers (ads in conversational results)", "Microsoft Audience Network (native on MSN, Outlook, Edge, and partner sites)", "Microsoft Start, Windows, and Xbox surfaces", "Connected TV and online video through Microsoft's Netflix partnership (ended 2025) and Roku, Hulu, and others via Microsoft Invest" ], "campaign_types": [ "Search", "Shopping", "Performance Max", "Audience (native and display)", "Video and CTV", "App Install", "Multimedia ads" ], "targeting": [ "Keywords with match types mirroring Google", "In-market, remarketing, similar, and customer match audiences", "LinkedIn profile targeting: company, industry, job function (search and audience campaigns)", "Demographics, location, device, schedule", "Dynamic search ads" ], "buying": "Auction-based CPC for search, CPM and CPC for audience network, automated bidding options mirroring Google's. No minimum spend. CPCs run meaningfully below Google's on comparable terms because there is less competition, though volume is a fraction of Google's outside the US desktop market.", "measurement": "Universal Event Tracking tag, offline conversion import on msclkid, Enhanced Conversions equivalent, Google Analytics import, and standard search reporting.", "notes": "Import Google campaigns, then adjust: bids, budgets, and the audience network opt-out (the network is opted in by default on search campaigns and behaves differently). The LinkedIn profile targeting is unique to Microsoft and worth testing for B2B search. Copilot ad placements are new and their reporting is still evolving.", "documentation": "https://help.ads.microsoft.com/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/microsoft-advertising/" }, { "name": "Apple Search Ads", "owner": "Apple", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Ads in the App Store, on search results, the Today tab, the Search tab, and product pages. For iOS apps it is the most direct channel to installs and the one with the cleanest attribution, since Apple owns both the ad and the store.", "surfaces": [ "App Store search results", "App Store Search tab (before a query is typed)", "Today tab", "Product pages (You Might Also Like)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Basic (automated, pay per install, capped budget)", "Advanced (keyword-based, pay per tap, full control)" ], "targeting": [ "Keywords (exact and broad) and Search Match automation", "Customer types: new users, returning users, users of other apps", "Demographics (age, gender), location, device, schedule" ], "buying": "Auction-based; Advanced campaigns pay per tap with a max cost-per-tap bid and optional cost-per-acquisition goal, Basic campaigns pay per install with a monthly cap. No minimum spend. Search results placements are the volume driver; Today tab is reservation-like in price.", "measurement": "Apple Ads Attribution API (AdServices framework) provides deterministic attribution for installs and re-downloads; integrates with all major MMPs; keyword-level reporting.", "notes": "Apple Search Ads is the exception to iOS attribution problems because it does not rely on SKAdNetwork. Brand defense on an app's own name is table stakes; competitor and category keywords are where budget scales. Apple expanded ads to Apple News and Stocks in some markets and Maps in 2025; check current placements.", "documentation": "https://ads.apple.com/app-store/help/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/apple-search-ads/" }, { "name": "Spotify Ads", "owner": "Spotify", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "The largest single source of streaming audio advertising, plus video and podcast inventory, bought self-service through Spotify Ads Manager or programmatically through the major DSPs. Free-tier listeners see and hear the ads; Premium subscribers do not, except in podcasts.", "surfaces": [ "Audio ads between songs (free tier)", "Video takeover and sponsored sessions", "Podcast ads (host-read and dynamically inserted, including on Premium)", "Display and homepage takeovers", "Spotify Audience Network (third-party podcasts and audio apps)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Audio", "Video", "Podcast", "Display", "Sponsored playlists and managed formats" ], "targeting": [ "Demographics, location, language, device, platform", "Interests, real-time context (workout, cooking, commute), genre and playlist listening", "Fan-based targeting (listeners of specific artists)", "Custom audiences from lists and website (Spotify Pixel), lookalikes", "Podcast category and show targeting" ], "buying": "Auction-based CPM in Ads Manager with a $250 minimum campaign budget for self-service; programmatic access through The Trade Desk, DV360, Yahoo, and others; managed and reservation buys for sponsorships and podcasts. Spotify also offers free audio ad creation tools including AI voiceover.", "measurement": "Spotify Pixel for web conversions, brand lift studies, streaming conversion metrics, third-party measurement through partners, and podcast attribution through Spotify's own Ad Analytics.", "notes": "Audio is a frequency medium: the same 30-second spot repeated across a flight, with a clear call to action a listener can remember without a screen. Podcasts and Spotify Audience Network extend reach to Premium listeners who never hear music ads. Programmatic buying through a DSP is the practical route for advertisers running audio alongside other channels.", "documentation": "https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/help/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/spotify-ads/" }, { "name": "Display & Video 360", "owner": "Google (Google Marketing Platform)", "type": "Demand-side platform", "summary": "Google's enterprise DSP, sold as part of the Google Marketing Platform. DV360 is the only way to buy YouTube programmatically alongside open-web display, video, audio, CTV, and DOOH, and it connects natively to Google Ad Manager inventory, Campaign Manager 360, and Google Analytics.", "surfaces": [ "YouTube (reservation and auction, including instant reserve)", "Google Ad Manager and AdX inventory", "Third-party exchanges (Magnite, PubMatic, Index, OpenX, and others)", "Connected TV (Google TV, Roku, Samsung, Hulu, Disney, NBCU, and others through deals)", "Audio (Spotify, Pandora, iHeart) and DOOH (via Vistar and others)", "Programmatic Guaranteed and marketplace deals in a built-in negotiation tool" ], "campaign_types": [ "Display", "Video", "Audio", "YouTube & partners", "Connected TV", "Demand Gen (through the Google Ads connection)" ], "targeting": [ "Google audiences (affinity, in-market, demographics) across open web", "First-party audiences from Floodlight, GA4, Customer Match, and CRM", "Third-party audience marketplace", "Contextual: keywords, categories, and third-party contextual providers", "Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation (PAIR) for cookieless matching", "Brand safety through built-in Google controls and pre-bid IAS and DV integrations" ], "buying": "Fee is a percentage of media (negotiated, typically in the low teens for open auction and lower for reservation) plus data and verification fees. Access is through Google or a certified partner; there is a minimum spend expectation for direct contracts, and many advertisers access it through agencies. Instant reserve and PG deals give fixed-price YouTube and CTV.", "measurement": "Campaign Manager 360 ad server and Floodlight tags for conversions; Ads Data Hub as the clean room for log-level analysis; Google's brand lift, reach, and unique reach reporting; third-party verification.", "notes": "DV360's advantage is YouTube and Google inventory access with Google audiences; its disadvantage is the same dependence, and the 2025 antitrust remedies could change how AdX connects to non-Google DSPs. Buyers running The Trade Desk for open web often keep DV360 for YouTube.", "documentation": "https://support.google.com/displayvideo/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/display-video-360/" }, { "name": "The Trade Desk", "owner": "The Trade Desk, Inc.", "type": "Demand-side platform", "summary": "The largest independent demand-side platform, positioned as the open internet's answer to the walled gardens, with particular strength in connected TV, retail data partnerships, and its own identity framework, Unified ID 2.0.", "surfaces": [ "Connected TV (Disney, NBCU, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, Roku, Samsung, LG, Vizio, and most FAST services through direct deals)", "Open-web display, video, and native across all major exchanges", "Audio (Spotify, SiriusXM, iHeart)", "Digital out-of-home", "Retail media off-site inventory (Walmart, Target, Kroger, Albertsons, and others through data partnerships)", "No access to YouTube, Meta, or Amazon-owned inventory" ], "campaign_types": [ "Display", "Video and CTV", "Audio", "Native", "DOOH", "Cross-channel with Kokai's AI planning" ], "targeting": [ "First-party data via UID2, hashed emails, and pixel", "Third-party data marketplace (the largest of any DSP)", "Retail data segments from retail media partners", "Contextual through Koa and third-party providers", "Cross-device graph", "Brand safety and MFA exclusion through IAS, DV, and TTD's own quality scoring" ], "buying": "Fee is a percentage of media (published platform fee historically around 20 percent of media on open auction, negotiated downward at scale, lower on direct deals), plus data and verification. Self-service for qualified advertisers and agencies with a minimum spend commitment (commonly cited in the low hundreds of thousands per year; verify current terms); many mid-size advertisers access it through an agency seat. OpenPath connects directly to publishers and bypasses SSPs.", "measurement": "Third-party ad server integration (CM360, Flashtalking, Innovid), Unified ID 2.0 based attribution, retail media closed-loop sales measurement through partners, clean room integrations, and brand lift through partners.", "notes": "The Trade Desk is the standard choice for CTV at scale and for advertisers who want open-web buying independent of Google. Its Kokai interface (2023 onward) rebuilt the platform around AI-driven planning and is now the default. Ventura, its CTV operating system, launched in 2025 and is a bid to influence the supply side as well.", "documentation": "https://www.thetradedesk.com/resource-center", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/the-trade-desk/" }, { "name": "Netflix Ads", "owner": "Netflix", "type": "Connected TV", "summary": "The ad-supported tier of the largest subscription streaming service, launched in late 2022 and moved onto Netflix's own ad server in 2025. Premium, brand-safe, non-skippable television inventory with a younger-skewing audience than linear and a household count that now rivals the major broadcast networks in the US.", "surfaces": [ "Pre-roll and mid-roll on series and films in the ad-supported tier", "Pause ads", "Live events (sports, specials)", "Title sponsorships and binge ads (managed)" ], "campaign_types": [ "Reach and frequency (reservation)", "Programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace through DSPs", "Live event sponsorships" ], "targeting": [ "Age, gender, geography", "Genre and title (contextual)", "Netflix first-party audience segments (interests and behaviors from viewing)", "Advertiser first-party data matching through partners", "Household frequency capping" ], "buying": "Sold directly through Netflix's sales team and programmatically through The Trade Desk, DV360, Yahoo DSP, Magnite, and Amazon DSP. Reservation CPMs launched high and have come down; programmatic CPMs are in the premium CTV range. Minimum commitments apply to direct deals; programmatic access has lower thresholds.", "measurement": "Nielsen, VideoAmp, and iSpot for audience; DoubleVerify and IAS for verification; brand lift through Kantar, Lucid, and others; outcome measurement through Affinity Solutions, EDO, and clean room integrations.", "notes": "Netflix's move to an in-house ad stack and its expansion of programmatic access in 2025 made it bookable alongside other CTV supply rather than only through reservation. Live sports (NFL Christmas games, WWE) are the highest-priced and highest-reach moments. Frequency management across Netflix and other CTV remains the buyer's problem.", "documentation": "https://about.netflix.com/en/advertising", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/netflix-ads/" }, { "name": "Roku Advertising", "owner": "Roku", "type": "Connected TV", "summary": "The largest streaming platform by households in the United States, selling ads on The Roku Channel, across the Roku home screen, and within third-party apps on Roku devices through its platform agreements. Roku's ACR data and the Roku home screen make it both a publisher and a gatekeeper.", "surfaces": [ "The Roku Channel (FAST and on-demand)", "Roku home screen (marquee, screensaver, sponsored rows)", "Inventory in third-party apps on Roku devices", "Roku City screensaver placements" ], "campaign_types": [ "Video (in-stream)", "Home screen and OS placements", "Sponsorships", "Shoppable and action ads with QR and remote-triggered response" ], "targeting": [ "Roku first-party data: viewing behavior, ACR from Roku TVs, subscriptions", "Demographics and geography", "Advertiser first-party matching", "Contextual by channel and genre", "Roku's Data Cloud partnerships (retail data from Kroger, Instacart, and others)" ], "buying": "Direct through Roku sales and self-service through Roku Ads Manager for small advertisers; programmatic through Roku Exchange and major DSPs (The Trade Desk, DV360, Yahoo). OneView, Roku's former DSP, was folded into Roku Exchange in 2024. Home screen placements are reservation buys.", "measurement": "Roku's own attribution and brand studies, Nielsen and VideoAmp for audience, verification partners, and retail sales measurement through Data Cloud partners.", "notes": "Roku's home screen inventory has no equivalent on other platforms: a marquee placement reaches every household that turns on the TV. Roku Ads Manager opened the platform to advertisers under $10,000. Roku also sells Frndly, Tubi-style FAST reach, and increasingly sports.", "documentation": "https://advertising.roku.com", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/roku-advertising/" }, { "name": "Walmart Connect", "owner": "Walmart", "type": "Retail media", "summary": "The second-largest US retail media network, selling sponsored search, display, and video on walmart.com and the Walmart app, off-site through partnerships, in-store screens and audio, and, since the 2024 acquisition of Vizio, smart TV inventory tied to Walmart purchase data.", "surfaces": [ "Walmart.com and app search results and item pages (Sponsored Search)", "On-site display and video", "Off-site display, video, and CTV through Walmart DSP (built on The Trade Desk)", "In-store: self-checkout screens, TV wall, radio", "Vizio smart TVs" ], "campaign_types": [ "Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands (Sponsored Search)", "Onsite Display", "Offsite Media (Walmart DSP)", "In-store", "Vizio CTV" ], "targeting": [ "Keywords and item targeting for Sponsored Search", "Walmart shopper segments: purchase history, category, brand, lifestyle", "Advertiser first-party matching", "Geography and demographics" ], "buying": "Sponsored Search is self-service auction CPC with no minimum; display and off-site are managed or through Walmart DSP with spend minimums; in-store and Vizio are managed. Access is restricted to brands sold at Walmart for most products, with limited non-endemic availability.", "measurement": "Closed-loop attribution to online and in-store Walmart sales, new-to-brand, share metrics, and the Walmart Luminate (now Scintilla) analytics platform.", "notes": "The Vizio acquisition gives Walmart a television footprint with ACR data linked to purchase data, a combination only Amazon otherwise has. Sponsored Search rules and API access have matured quickly; third-party tools such as Pacvue and Skai manage it alongside Amazon.", "documentation": "https://www.walmartconnect.com", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/walmart-connect/" }, { "name": "Criteo", "owner": "Criteo S.A.", "type": "Demand-side platform and retail media", "summary": "The company that built retargeting into a category, now repositioned as a commerce media platform: a performance DSP with the largest shopper dataset outside the walled gardens, and the technology behind many retailers' media networks.", "surfaces": [ "Open-web display and native across exchanges and Criteo's direct publisher relationships", "Retail media on-site placements for partner retailers (Target, Best Buy, Macy's, and others through Criteo's platform)", "Connected TV and video through partners" ], "campaign_types": [ "Retargeting and lower-funnel commerce", "Acquisition (lookalike and in-market)", "Retail media (sponsored products and display on partner retailers)", "Retention" ], "targeting": [ "Criteo Shopper Graph: purchase and intent data across partner retailers and brands", "Advertiser first-party data via pixel and CRM", "Contextual and commerce-intent signals", "Dynamic product creative from feeds" ], "buying": "Cost per click and cost per order pricing on the performance DSP, with self-service and managed options; retail media through Criteo's Commerce Max DSP and retailer-specific programs. Minimums vary by product.", "measurement": "Post-click and post-view attribution with configurable windows, incrementality through Criteo's own tests, and retailer sales data for retail media.", "notes": "Criteo's retail media business is now its growth engine, and it powers the ad tech behind a large share of US retailer networks. The classic Criteo retargeting product still exists and still reports strong ROAS; treat it with the usual retargeting skepticism and test for lift.", "documentation": "https://www.criteo.com", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/criteo/" }, { "name": "StackAdapt", "owner": "StackAdapt", "type": "Demand-side platform", "summary": "A mid-market, self-service DSP that grew by being easier to use and cheaper to start with than the enterprise platforms, with strength in native, display, CTV, and audio for agencies and advertisers spending thousands rather than millions a month.", "surfaces": [ "Open-web native, display, and video across major exchanges", "Connected TV and online video", "Audio (streaming and podcast)", "Digital out-of-home", "In-game" ], "campaign_types": [ "Display", "Native", "Video and CTV", "Audio", "DOOH", "In-game" ], "targeting": [ "Third-party segments from StackAdapt's marketplace and partners", "First-party audiences via pixel and CRM upload", "Contextual (Page Context AI) and keyword targeting", "Lookalike and in-market audiences", "ABM through IP and company targeting" ], "buying": "Auction CPM with self-service access and no published minimum spend, which is its main differentiator from the enterprise DSPs; managed service available. Platform fees are bundled into the CPM.", "measurement": "Pixel-based conversion tracking, brand lift studies, footfall attribution through partners, and standard reporting; integrations with GA4 and major verification vendors.", "notes": "StackAdapt is the DSP most often chosen by independent agencies and in-house teams that are too small for a Trade Desk contract. Its native format library is the widest among DSPs. Agency Echelon's free audience finder was inspired by StackAdapt's third-party catalog.", "documentation": "https://www.stackadapt.com", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/stackadapt/" }, { "name": "Yahoo DSP", "owner": "Yahoo", "type": "Demand-side platform", "summary": "An independent omnichannel DSP with Yahoo's own inventory (Yahoo Mail, Finance, Sports, News), its identity solution (Yahoo ConnectID), and access to third-party exchanges, CTV, audio, and DOOH. Yahoo exited its SSP business in 2023 to focus on the buy side.", "surfaces": [ "Yahoo owned-and-operated properties (mail, news, finance, sports)", "Open-web display, native, and video across exchanges", "Connected TV through direct publisher deals and Yahoo's Backstage marketplace", "Audio and DOOH" ], "campaign_types": [ "Display", "Native", "Video and CTV", "Audio", "DOOH" ], "targeting": [ "Yahoo ConnectID (email-based identity from Yahoo's logged-in users)", "Yahoo first-party data: mail, search, and content behavior", "Third-party segments", "Advertiser first-party via ConnectID and clean rooms", "Contextual" ], "buying": "Percentage-of-media platform fee, self-service or managed, with commitment levels below The Trade Desk's. Yahoo Backstage offers direct-to-publisher CTV deals.", "measurement": "Yahoo's own attribution, brand lift, and footfall; third-party verification; clean room integrations for advertiser data.", "notes": "Yahoo's logged-in user base gives ConnectID one of the better cookieless match rates on the open web, especially in email and finance content. It is a credible second seat for advertisers wanting a Trade Desk alternative.", "documentation": "https://www.advertising.yahooinc.com/", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/yahoo-dsp/" }, { "name": "Nextdoor Ads", "owner": "Nextdoor Holdings", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Advertising on the neighborhood social network, where every user is verified to a residential address. Nextdoor offers the most precise neighborhood-level targeting of any platform, at a scale suited to local businesses, home services, real estate, and national brands with local footprints.", "surfaces": [ "Neighborhood feed", "Nextdoor For Sale & Free", "Local business pages and recommendations" ], "campaign_types": [ "Awareness", "Traffic", "Leads", "Local promotions (Local Deals for small businesses)" ], "targeting": [ "Neighborhood, ZIP code, and radius", "Homeowners and renters, household composition", "Interests derived from neighborhood activity", "Advertiser first-party matching (managed)" ], "buying": "Self-service Nextdoor Ads Manager with auction CPM and low minimums; managed service for larger advertisers; Local Deals for small businesses at a flat price. CPMs are moderate; the value is in geographic precision.", "measurement": "Nextdoor Pixel and Conversions API, foot traffic studies through partners, brand lift studies for managed campaigns.", "notes": "Nextdoor is the platform for anything that needs to say the name of the neighborhood. Creative that reads as a neighbor's recommendation outperforms brand advertising, and the user base skews to homeowners with above-average income.", "documentation": "https://business.nextdoor.com", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/nextdoor-ads/" }, { "name": "Quora Ads", "owner": "Quora", "type": "Walled garden", "summary": "Advertising alongside questions and answers on Quora, where users arrive with a specific question and high intent. Quora's targeting by question and topic gives contextual precision that suits B2B, software, education, finance, and anything people research before buying.", "surfaces": [ "Question pages (text and image ads next to answers)", "Topic and home feeds", "Answer promotion (promoting an existing answer)", "Poe (Quora's AI chat product) placements" ], "campaign_types": [ "Conversions", "Traffic", "Awareness", "App installs", "Lead generation" ], "targeting": [ "Question targeting (specific questions), topic targeting, keyword targeting", "Interest and behavioral audiences", "Website retargeting (Quora Pixel), list matching, lookalikes", "Location, device, platform, browser, language, gender", "Contextual by question and topic" ], "buying": "Auction-based CPC, CPM, or conversion-optimized bidding; no minimum spend. CPCs are low relative to LinkedIn and Google for comparable B2B intent.", "measurement": "Quora Pixel and Conversions API, offline conversion upload, standard reporting by question and topic.", "notes": "Question targeting is the reason to be on Quora: an ad next to 'what is the best CRM for a small team' is as close to search intent as display gets. Answer promotion, where an advertiser's own helpful answer is promoted, is the platform's native format and its best performer.", "documentation": "https://business.quora.com", "url": "https://agencyechelon.com/reference/platforms/quora-ads/" } ] }