The ad-tech take rate: gross vs net in DOOH
A quoted CPM is gross — the stack takes a cut before the screen. What the transparency audits found, why the hard numbers are display not DOOH, and how to price net.
Every CPM you see quoted is a gross number — what the advertiser pays, not what reaches the screen. Between the two sits the ad-tech chain, and it takes a real cut. This reference gathers what the landmark transparency audits actually found, flags the important caveat (the hard numbers are open-web display, not DOOH), and draws the pricing rule: model net, not gross.
The principle: CPM is gross
The instinct is to treat a quoted CPM as the value delivered. It isn’t. A CPM is the price the advertiser pays into the system; the DSP, SSP, data and verification layers each take a slice before the media owner is paid. Even a self-serve DOOH platform that prices transparently labels its CPM “gross… all-in” — an acknowledgement that the sticker and the net are different numbers. So the real question for pricing isn’t “what’s the CPM,” it’s “what lands.”
What the audits found
The cleanest figures come from the advertising industry’s own supply-chain transparency studies — but note they measure open-web programmatic display, not DOOH (ISBA/PwC — primary, display):
| Study | Publisher share of advertiser spend | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ISBA/PwC 2020 | ~51% | 15% an unattributable “unknown delta”; chain: agency ~7%, DSP ~8%, demand-tech ~10%, SSP ~8%, supply-tech ~1% |
| ISBA/PwC 2022 | ~65% | “unknown delta” fell to ~3% as transparency improved |
Other cross-channel reads converge on the same order of magnitude: combined DSP + SSP fees ~20% on average (GroupM/eMarketer), with log-level audits showing 22–45% for half of impressions and extreme cases where intermediaries take the large majority of the bid (Adalytics — directional). A US marketer-body study put as little as ~36¢ of the advertiser’s dollar reaching working media in the worst cases.
The DOOH caveat
Here’s the honest qualifier: none of those hard numbers are DOOH. Two things make DOOH different, and they cut in the operator’s favour:
- The chain is typically shorter — fewer intermediaries than open-web display.
- Direct sales skip the stack entirely — a directly-sold screen has no DSP/SSP haircut at all, which is part of why direct and private deals carry the premium.
So a DOOH operator likely keeps more than the display figures suggest. But “likely more” is not a measured number: no audited DOOH-specific take-rate study exists. The DOOH-specific figures that circulate — an intermediary take of roughly 25–45% of the gross bid, or DOOH SSP take rates of ~10–25% — are single-operator or commentary, not audited benchmarks (directional). Treat them as directional, and assume a meaningful cut without pretending to a precise one.
How to price net
The pricing discipline follows directly (the full version is in How to price your inventory and Packaging & pricing):
- Set floors and rate cards on a net basis — back out the take you expect on each path so the price protects what lands, not what’s quoted.
- Favour the channels that leak least — direct and PMP keep more of the dollar than the open exchange; another reason private deals carry your premium.
- Never discount off a gross number without checking what’s left after the haircut and any venue revenue share.
- Don’t compare gross CPMs across vendors — different stacks take different cuts, and impression methodologies vary another 20–30% on top.
For the venue host, the same logic is the most important question to ask an operator: is my share of gross advertiser spend or of net after the stack? The base can matter as much as the percentage.
Related: CPM · Floor price · Venue revenue share · CPM tracker · Deal-type mix tracker · How to price your inventory