SSPs Under Fire: Verve’s Layoffs Signal an Ad Tech Shakeup?
The SSP playbook is breaking.
Verve, the Swedish ad tech player with a $740 million market cap, has just cut parts of its PubNative & Smaato teams.
The signal to the market is clear: SSPs are feeling the squeeze.
Why SSPs Are Struggling
The supply path is being compressed from both ends.
- Buyers shift away from open exchange. According to ANA benchmarking, PMPs now account for ~88% of nonsocial programmatic, up from ~65% just a year ago. That’s a massive tilt toward curated pipes.
- DSPs are cutting out middlemen. The Trade Desk’s Kokai openly labels SSP routes as “resellers,” steering spend into OpenPath and other direct connections.
- Margins are collapsing. Magnite’s DV+ cost per ad request dropped 26% last year, and a brutal 45% in CTV, just to stay in play.
For SSPs, that means higher costs to win lower-margin auctions, not a long-term recipe for survival.
What Comes Next?
The SSP of the future can’t just be another tollbooth. To stay relevant, supply players will need to evolve into Swiss Army knife infrastructures, not just connecting pipes, but providing:
- Identity frameworks
- Measurement & transparency
- Quality and fraud control
- Compliance layers
- Incremental demand generation
Without that, layoffs like Verve’s may only be the start of a broader extinction wave.
The Mobile Angle
Mobile publishers should watch this closely. SSP consolidation means fewer partners but potentially stronger ones, those that can deliver trust, transparency, and better economics. For now, though, the transition will be messy. More SDK swaps, more repackaged supply, and a lot of pressure to plug into the “curated” or “direct” future.
The open exchange era is dying. The question is: who reinvents the SSP into something publishers actually need, and who fades out quietly?
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