Indie agencies want The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP to acknowledge their buying power with negotiating leverage

October 21, 2026 Tension in programmatic advertising has reached a fever pitch over the past year. Amazon says there’s no minimum spend threshold for Amazon ads and The Trade Desk says direct seats come with commitment levels agreed-upon with each client. Still, indie agencies say these DSP giants block direct seats and fee relief despite spend commitments. TOP STORY The Programmatic Marketer Indie agencies want The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP to acknowledge their buying power with negotiating leverage Indie agencies say DSP giants block direct seats and fee relief despite spend commitments. OTHER THINGS TO KNOW The Greater Good Awards recognize the teams and leaders driving meaningful change through corporate social responsibility, community investment and purpose-driven initiatives. Enter by next Friday, Oct. 30, to save. As the digital ecosystem rapidly scaled, it became increasingly complex. Programmatic advertising inefficiencies result in $26.8 billion in wasted annual spend. Meanwhile, the average publisher connects to 24.5 SSPs. Partner insights from Google Publisher Connections. AI adoption alone no longer earns credit. The bar has moved from experimentation to proof. The problem is that the infrastructure to provide that proof hasn’t caught up, and nowhere is that clearer than incrementality. Partner insights from Affinity Global. Advertisement MARKETING The Creator Economy Creator mentors Colin and Samir want to turn their followers' ideas into productions Creator mentors Colin and Samir teamed up with Adobe to fund a creator’s project; the first step towards the duo’s new production era. Retail Media Rewritten Nearly 30% of holiday budgets expected to be spent by the end of October Per a new report from Deloitte, 28% of shoppers’ budgets are expected to be exhausted by the end of October. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM ARC XP As news consumers gravitate to social media, The Washington Post and Forbes partner with creators According to a new Digiday and Arc XP survey, among publisher respondents working with creators in some capacity, 62% said they are seeing faster audience growth. Marketing on Platforms Apple finally explains its Safari block, and identity companies are in its sights As Apple spells out its case for blocking identity companies in Safari, its job board shows an ads business with big plans. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM THE TRADE DESK Why purchase and intent data matter in programmatic Marketers have more data than ever, but proving what drives sales remains a challenge. Purchase and intent data can connect programmatic spend to real outcomes when measurement standards and partner methodologies are aligned. Advertisement DIGIDAY+ Member exclusive Future of TV Briefing: YouTube, Tubi top streamers’ share of ad exposure time This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at Comscore’s new Score Report that gauges TV and streaming companies’ share of audiences’ ad exposure time. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM EYEOTA, A DUN & BRADSTREET COMPANY Amid industry consolidation, marketers assess the long-term viability of key partnerships No business evaluation can predict the next acquisition or strategic pivot. The practical defense is knowing which dependencies would cause the greatest disruption. ICYMI AI Revenue Generation Reach CEO touts Google AI deal as a template, steps up pressure on OpenAI over scraping  Digiday spoke with Reach CEO Piers North about his plans to make its Google AI content deal a blueprint framework for other LLM deals, and its recent cease-and-desist letter to OpenAI. The Programmatic Marketer Inside The Trade Desk's programmatic power struggle The Trade Desk faces rising tensions with agencies over transparency — and more importantly, programmatic control. Written by Jim Cooper and Sara Jerde Were you forwarded this email? Sign up to get it daily. Advertise | Digiday+ | Events | Awards Update your email | Unsubscribe | Privacy policy