In programmatic advertising, “curation” is everywhere. The term shows up in pitch decks, industry talks, and media kits — but much of the time, what’s sold as curation is nothing more than a rebrand. The result? Advertisers pay more without gaining any real advantage.
For performance-focused marketers, that’s a problem. In a market where every impression and every dollar counts, you need curation that isn’t just a buzzword, but a proven driver of results.
The Problem With “Curated” That Isn’t
Curation was originally meant to improve the programmatic supply chain: cleaner inventory, more relevant audiences, better outcomes. But in practice, many curated deals are little more than bundled lists of domains put together by intermediaries. They’re given a “premium” label, but the contents aren’t any different from what you could already buy on the open exchange — just with a higher price tag.
This superficial approach often benefits the seller far more than the buyer. The added layers can increase margins while reducing transparency, making it harder to trace the real performance impact. Worse, the same inventory might appear in multiple curated deals, creating unnecessary duplication and cost. Without a clear, data-backed reason for inclusion, these deals risk being decorative rather than effective.
Why It Matters Now
The programmatic landscape is already complex, with countless DSPs, SSPs, exchanges, and data providers in play. Add in “curated” packages that offer no real differentiation, and the complexity becomes opacity.
When you don’t know which supply paths truly perform best, you can’t optimise for them. If you can’t verify the accuracy and performance of the audience you’re buying, you’re left relying on claims instead of proof. And if your curation strategy fails to eliminate waste, it isn’t a strategy at all — it’s a surcharge dressed up as value.
More and more marketers are starting to push back. They want to know exactly what’s in a curated package, why it’s better than open-market buying, and where the proof lies in performance data. These questions can’t be answered by branding alone — they demand transparency.
Two curated deals: one flashy but empty, one simple but packed with real value.
Afront’s Take on Smarter Curation
At Afront, curation is never just a label. It’s a process built to measurably improve campaigns from the ground up. That starts with real-time visibility into auction-level data, so we can pinpoint exactly which combinations of inventory, audiences, and supply paths are driving actual results. This level of granularity allows us to make fast, informed adjustments to the curated set, optimising for both efficiency and effectiveness.
We also take supply path optimisation seriously. Instead of relying on generic “premium” tags, we apply targeted filters that directly affect outcomes — such as verified brand safety thresholds, proven viewability metrics, contextually aligned environments, and latency controls that preserve user experience.
Finally, our curation is grounded in verified audience performance. Rather than accepting audience segments at face value, we measure them against engagement and conversion signals. This ensures you’re not just buying reach, but audiences that deliver tangible results. By combining transparency, precision targeting, and real-time adaptability, Afront turns curation into a performance engine, not a packaging exercise.
Performance grows when transparency, smart filters, and auction data work together.
Proof in Performance
Consider the example of a global retail advertiser who approached Afront after hitting a performance plateau. They had been buying into multiple curated deals via their DSP, but results had stagnated and CPMs were rising.
When we analysed their curated inventory, we discovered that a significant portion of impressions flowed through inefficient supply paths. Audience definitions varied wildly across partners, with no common performance benchmark, and some of the most expensive inventory showed zero correlation with conversions.
By applying our smarter curation methodology — auction-level transparency, targeted supply path reduction, and audience performance verification — we delivered measurable improvements. Effective CPM dropped by over 20% as waste was removed. Conversion rates jumped by more than 30%, and campaign pacing improved thanks to better match rates and reduced bid duplication.
The lesson? When curation is rooted in data and optimisation, it produces results you can measure and defend.
Afront tools bring precision, clarity, and control to every programmatic campaign.
From Buzzword to Baseline
As programmatic buying evolves, the industry is moving away from taking curation claims at face value. The pressure is on to prove that curated deals are delivering genuine advantages over open-market buying. That means defining exactly how the deal is built, what is included and excluded, and how it outperforms a standard benchmark.
At Afront, we’ve built smarter curation into the foundation of our approach. Every deal is constructed with transparency at its core, optimised for clean supply paths, and validated against performance metrics that matter. This ensures that our clients aren’t paying for the illusion of quality — they’re investing in a strategy that works.
If smarter curation is about choosing the right inventory, then creative strategy is about making sure what you run there works. A curated supply path means little if the creative fails to connect with the audience at the right moment. That’s where our insights into retail media creative come in.
In our piece“Retail Media Creative Strategy: Why Standard Ads Fall Flat in Commerce Environments”, we break down how to design and deliver creative that doesn’t just fill an ad slot but drives action. Read it next — and see how smarter buying and smarter creative work together to unlock real performance.
