That’s the problem PubMatic (NASDAQ: PUBM) is targeting with the launch of AI Insights, a new set of AI‑powered capabilities designed to help publishers understand shifting demand dynamics and act on them before revenue opportunities disappear.
Delivered through the PubMatic Assistant, which is embedded directly into the company’s platform, AI Insights gives publishers real‑time visibility into how their inventory, pricing, and demand compare with a relevant peer group—without exposing proprietary data. The goal: replace backward‑looking analysis with live intelligence that explains not just what changed, but why it changed.
In a programmatic market where conditions can shift in hours, not weeks, that distinction matters.
From Static Reporting to Live Market Intelligence
Historically, publishers could see auction outcomes—clearing prices, win rates, buyers—but understanding the drivers behind those results was far harder. Was revenue down because of pricing strategy? Fewer buyers? Budget shifts?
Answering those questions often meant stitching together reports across multiple tools, long after demand had already moved elsewhere.
AI Insights is designed to close that gap. By combining real‑time peer benchmarking with AI‑generated interpretation, the tool gives publishers an active view into how buyers are engaging with their inventory as it happens. Publishers can see which advertisers are active, where competition is intensifying or softening, and how budgets are moving across channels and buying paths.
“Publishers today are operating in a market where demand conditions can shift in hours, not weeks, and relying on static reports simply doesn’t work anymore,” said John Martin, Associate Vice President of Publisher Growth Solutions at PubMatic. “With AI Insights, we’re applying generative AI to give publishers real‑time answers to why performance is changing and where yield opportunities are emerging.”
That emphasis on “why” reflects a broader shift in ad tech, where analytics platforms are moving from dashboards to decision support—using AI not just to summarize data, but to interpret it.
Built for a Fragmented, Fast‑Moving Market
The launch comes as programmatic advertising grows more complex across formats and buying models. CTV, online video, display, open auction, private marketplaces—each has its own demand patterns, pricing dynamics, and buyer behaviors.
PubMatic is particularly well‑positioned here. The company now works with more than 90% of the top 30 streaming publishers, giving it a broad view of how demand flows across live TV, premium on‑demand, and free ad‑supported streaming (FAST). For large‑scale CTV publishers juggling multiple content types and monetization strategies, AI Insights pulls fragmented signals into a single, coherent view.
Instead of guessing whether demand is shifting from PMP to open auction—or whether certain formats are overheating—publishers can see those changes reflected in real time, backed by market‑level context.
Natural Language Meets Peer Benchmarking
One of AI Insights’ more practical features is how publishers interact with it.
Insights are available through dashboards, but also via natural language prompts inside the PubMatic Assistant. Publishers can ask plain‑language questions—about pricing, demand concentration, buyer behavior—and get immediate, contextual answers rather than exporting reports or waiting on analysts.
Under the hood, peer benchmarking plays a central role. Publishers see how their inventory performs relative to a comparable cohort, without revealing any individual publisher’s data. This allows them to identify underpricing, demand gaps, or packaging issues while maintaining competitive confidentiality.
Early usage suggests that visibility alone can surface material opportunities.
- A prominent CTV publisher identified the ability to command up to 27% higher eCPMs for similar inventory when benchmarked against its closest peers, averaged across open exchange, PMP, and auction packages.
- A leading online video publisher discovered that comparable inventory in its peer set was monetizing at roughly 22% higher eCPMs, prompting a reassessment of pricing and packaging strategy.
In both cases, the opportunity wasn’t hidden because data didn’t exist—it was hidden because it wasn’t contextualized fast enough.
Turning Insights Into Action
AI Insights surfaces specific, actionable signals that publishers can act on immediately, including:
- Channel optimization insights, showing how pricing and demand shift between open auction and PMP as buyer behavior changes
- Advertiser and vertical trends, revealing which categories are gaining traction, which are declining, and where deeper engagement could unlock future demand
- Inventory alignment signals, highlighting which content genres and placements are attracting stronger CPMs and auction pressure
- DSP and buyer behavior trends, showing where spend is concentrating or fragmenting across buying platforms
Taken together, these insights allow publishers to adjust pacing, repackage inventory, revisit pricing floors, or prioritize certain buyers—while demand is still active.
For omnichannel publishers, that speed is critical. Realtor.com, an early user, pointed to the value of timely, market‑level visibility in an environment where seasonality and buyer behavior shift quickly.
“PubMatic’s AI Insights delivers the timely, market‑level visibility we need to spot performance opportunities, understand shifts in demand, and make confident, real‑time optimizations as conditions change,” said Yi‑Fang Yen, Senior Vice President of Digital Media & Advertising at Realtor.com.
Why This Matters for Publishers—and Ad Tech
AI Insights reflects a broader industry transition from static analytics to always‑on intelligence. As programmatic environments become more fragmented, publishers can’t afford to wait days—or weeks—to understand what went wrong or right.
At the same time, trust and data protection remain non‑negotiable. PubMatic is positioning AI Insights as publisher‑first: protecting proprietary data, avoiding data leakage, and preserving competitive advantage while still enabling meaningful benchmarking.
That balance will be critical as more AI‑powered tools enter the market. Generative AI has the potential to overwhelm publishers with insights—or oversimplify complex dynamics. The real value lies in delivering contextually relevant, explainable intelligence that supports decision‑making without eroding control.
By embedding AI Insights directly into its platform and tying it to live demand signals, PubMatic is betting that publishers don’t just want smarter reports—they want answers they can act on now.
In a market where revenue opportunities can vanish as quickly as they appear, that shift from hindsight to foresight may be the most valuable optimization of all.
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