What do PMP and PG deal fees on a DSP pay for?
PMP and PG deal fees pay for up to five layers: the DSP platform, the SSP or exchange, data and identity, curation or deal packaging, and measurement. In Leapbuzz's reading, a DSP rep's quote covers only the first.
This guide is for whoever signs off a connected TV (CTV) deal ID in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the US or Canada.
No typical PMP or PG deal fee on a DSP exists; any single figure answers a narrower question than your invoice.
Our position: programmatic guaranteed changes which layers are negotiable and how they are disclosed, so ask every layer to state its fee as a model: percent of media, flat fee, CPM add-on or bundled into the media price.
Working media here means the part of your budget that buys the impression at the clearing price. Buyer-side layers (DSP, data, curation, measurement) come out of the budget first; an SSP fee paid by the seller comes out of the publisher's share, not yours.
This sits inside media integration work. Deal mechanics sit in our PMP versus programmatic guaranteed guide; this post stays on what the money pays for.
The five fee layers in a CTV deal, and who charges each
Five fee layers sit between a CTV budget and the publisher, and Amazon DSP, Google and The Trade Desk each describe their own platform fee as a percentage.
Amazon Ads states the DSP model most plainly. Its pricing transparency guide calls the technology fee an "Amazon DSP charge, set at the entity level, in exchange for system access and standard campaign management functionality".
Google's Display & Video 360 partner help page says its fee is "calculated as a percentage of media spend". Where a contract sets it dynamically, the revenue model shows "Automated Cost". The Trade Desk's annual report for the year to 31 December 2025 calls its platform fee "generally based on a percentage" of clients' total platform spend.
So the DSP layer is the easy one. The SSP layer is harder to see: Amazon defines its own supply-side fee as "The amount a publisher pays Amazon Ads to sell their supply via open auction." That describes one SSP; ask each SSP who pays its fee and on what model.
| Fee layer | Who charges | Model options | Disclosed where | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSP platform fee | The DSP | Percent of media cost (Amazon), of media spend (Google) or of total platform spend (The Trade Desk) | Amazon: at campaign setup. DV360: the revenue model | 27 Oct 2026 |
| SSP or exchange fee | The SSP (Amazon's own is paid by the publisher) | Share taken on the sell side; Amazon's is a percentage | Seller's contract: ask each SSP | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Data and identity | Data provider, billed through the DSP | CPM (Amazon: "published CPM price"), share of media, or bundled | DSP audience listing | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Curation or deal packaging | Curator, SSP or a DSP deal desk | Share of media, CPM uplift on the floor, flat, or bundled | Varies: ask in writing | Method-level |
| Measurement and verification | Ad server, verification or measurement vendor | CPM or flat; DV360 counts these as partner costs | DSP partner costs or vendor contract | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Fee layer | Amazon Ads guide | DV360 help page | Index Exchange PG page | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DSP platform fee | Stated: percent of media cost, at setup | Stated: percent of media spend, two rate tiers, no rates | Not mentioned | 27 Oct 2026 |
| SSP fee | Stated for its own supply side: paid by the publisher, a percentage | Not covered | Not mentioned; PG winner owes the fixed price | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Data and identity | Stated: third-party audiences at a published CPM price | Not covered in the passages read | Not mentioned | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Fee by deal type | Not stated | Stated: PG on the lower rate | Not mentioned | 27 Oct 2026 |
For the identity layer specifically, our people-based DSP buyer's guide covers what that layer buys: household identity inside the DSP.
How does programmatic guaranteed change which fees apply?
Programmatic guaranteed (PG) removes the auction, and on Display & Video 360 it also moves the DSP fee from Google's exchange rate to its lower non-exchange rate.
Google's partner help page puts "Open auction, preferred/private auction deals" on the upper rate and "programmatic guaranteed deals" on the lower one. No rates are published; your contract holds them. The same DSP applies two fee rates depending on the auction route you buy through. It is the only deal-type split in the three documents we read, so for any other DSP, put a PG discount to them in writing.
On the sell side, PG fixes the price. The Index Exchange guide to creating a programmatic guaranteed deal (open beta, updated 9 October 2026) sets the auction type to "Fixed", and the winning bidder "only owes the negotiated fixed price".
In our reading, data you add on top and measurement do not move with PG, and a curation fee has nothing to attach to on a direct PG where no third party packaged the supply. Confirm it per deal.
A third pricing model sits beside fixed CPM: paying only for impressions that hit a defined audience. Google announced audience guarantees for PG in Display & Video 360 in the US on 18 August 2022, and said the feature "comes at no additional cost for advertisers".
The same Google blog post, "More connected TV ad buying options in Display & Video 360", limited the guarantee to "a set of publishers on Google Ad Manager in the U.S." Buyers in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia or Canada should ask which measurement vendor defines the outcome, and where it applies.
Open exchange vs PMP for CTV: how the pricing models differ
On Display & Video 360, open exchange and PMP buys share one DSP fee rate; our inference is that the remaining gap is the floor price and any curation layer.
A private marketplace (PMP) is still an auction, among invited buyers above a floor. The "PMP premium" mixes a higher clearing price with any curation fee.
In this illustrative example, the curated PMP puts 72 of every 100 index points into working media, the open auction 78 and the direct PG 84. We chose those inputs; the point is the mechanism.
A vendor that quotes a lower platform fee and adds a curation or "deal" fee may only have moved your cost to another layer. Ask for the full stack in one table before comparing proposals.
CTV inventory is priced in four ways you will meet in proposals:
- Floor-price auction: PMP and open exchange.
- Fixed CPM with reserved volume: PG.
- Audience-guaranteed, where you pay only for impressions in the target audience as a named measurement vendor counts them.
- Bundled, where the publisher's first-party audience data is folded into the deal price instead of billed as a data line.
For which buying model fits your team, from self-serve DSP seat to managed service, see our programmatic CTV partner guide.
What should a CTV RFP ask about PMP and PG deal fees?
A CTV RFP should ask every vendor for one table that lists each fee layer with its model and the report where the buyer can see it.
Supply-chain files help with the first question only. The IAB Tech Lab describes sellers.json as a way for buyers "to discover who the entities are" selling or reselling inventory. It names the hops; it says nothing about what each hop keeps.
| Topic | Question to ask | Acceptable answer | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosure | Which fee layers does your quote include, and which does it exclude? | A layer-by-layer list with the model for each | One blended number |
| DSP rate by deal type | Does your platform fee differ for open auction, PMP and PG? | Yes or no, in the contract (Google's help page shows that it can) | "It depends" with no schedule |
| Pass-through | Are data, verification and ad serving billed at cost or marked up? | Pass-through stated, markup stated if any | Costs folded into "media" |
| Take-rate reporting | Can we see media cost, fees and publisher payout as separate columns? | A report or log with each column | Only total spend |
| Deal ID transparency | Who created each deal ID, is a curator between us and the publisher, and how does a PG deal ID reach the DSP? | Deal creator named; curator and its fee model named | Deal IDs with no seller named |
Google's Display & Video 360 help page dated 20 February 2026 says the platform "will be deprecating the ability to manually create Programmatic Guaranteed deals", which "will need to be sent to Display & Video 360 via the deal sync API". Ask the seller and the DSP how each PG deal ID will arrive.
Amazon's guide says "All advertisers and publishers with campaigns in the EU have access to expanded reports" on costs, fees and earnings. Ask whether you get the same view in Australia, the US, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia.
In Canada, ask each broadcaster which platform issues its PMP and PG deal IDs; the seller sets the route, and routes change. Bell Media's release of 19 November 2024 says its premium inventory across connected TV, display, video, audio and digital out-of-home will be available through StackAdapt's platform. It names no deal types, so ask which are offered.
"This partnership with StackAdapt marks a strategic step forward in aligning Bell Media's premium CTV and digital inventory ..."
Sabrina Segal, Director of Advanced Advertising and National Sales, Bell Media, 19 November 2024: Bell Media and StackAdapt partner to accelerate Canadian programmatic growth
If your CTV proposals quote one blended fee and you cannot tell which layers it covers, that is the problem to bring to us. Leapbuzz can go through those proposals with you, layer by layer, and note which questions are still open; start the conversation.
Fee-layer stack builder
The stack builder shows the working media left from a 100-index CTV budget as you switch buyer-side layers on or off. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Formula: working media index = 100 minus the sum of the buyer-side layers switched on. Only percent-of-media layers are stacked; convert a CPM add-on by dividing it by the all-in CPM, and a flat fee by the total budget (made-up example: 1 unit on a 10-unit CPM is 10 points). The SSP fee is left out. Illustrative heuristic: it ignores fees charged on fees.
Working media index 72 of 100. 4 layers on; the largest is the DSP platform fee at 10 points. Ask each layer for its model before you compare this with another proposal.
Static version: the three illustrative stacks from the chart
| Deal path | DSP fee | Data, identity | Curation | Measurement | Working media |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open auction | 10 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 78 |
| PMP, curated | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 72 |
| PG, direct | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 84 |
Switch off the curation layer and the default stack moves from 72 to 78. Any layer you cannot describe is the first question for your vendor.
Do this before you sign the next CTV deal ID
Before the next CTV deal ID goes live, get every fee layer named and modelled, in this order.
- Ask your DSP for its fee schedule by deal type: open auction, PMP and PG, written down.
- Ask the seller or curator who created the deal ID and whether a curation fee sits on it, and in which model.
- List every data segment and verification tag on the line item with its pricing model.
- Rebuild the stack on a 100-index budget and compare proposals on working media, never on the headline rate.
Leapbuzz works with advertisers buying CTV across Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the US and Canada; see our programmatic platform overview.
Today: open your largest live PMP line item, copy its deal ID, and send the seller one question: "Who created this deal, and what fee model sits on it?"