DOOH deal-type mix tracker
Private deals dominate programmatic OOH — and the share keeps rising. The PMP vs guaranteed vs open-exchange split over time, and what it means for buying beauty inventory.
If you take one number into a programmatic DOOH plan, make it this: the open exchange is a sliver. Programmatic OOH runs almost entirely on private deals — PMP and programmatic guaranteed — and that share has been climbing. This tracker charts the split over time and draws the practical conclusion for beauty: buy salon inventory on a deal ID, not the open auction.
The trend: private deals, rising
A single supply-side platform’s recurring reports give the cleanest time series for how programmatic OOH actually transacts. The private-deal share (PMP + programmatic guaranteed combined) has only gone one direction (Place Exchange — primary, single-SSP, private-deal-skewed):
| Period | Private deals (PMP + PG) | Open exchange |
|---|---|---|
| H2 2023 | ~93% | ~7% |
| H2 2024 | ~95% | ~5% |
| H1 2025 | ~96% | ~4% |
That is the opposite of the open-web programmatic instinct, where the open exchange carries enormous volume. In DOOH, the auction-for-everyone channel is the exception, not the rule — one major SSP’s buys are described as over 95% deal-ID-based, with open-auction DOOH “almost nonexistent” (AdExchanger — directional).
The four deal types
Programmatic DOOH transacts through four paths, which hand a buyer different amounts of control (Vistar — primary):
| Deal type | What it is | Price control | Supply guaranteed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open exchange (RTB) | Transparent auction, many buyers | Auction clears above your floor | No |
| PMP / deal ID | Curated inventory, negotiated price or biddable | Negotiated | No (curated, not reserved) |
| Programmatic guaranteed | Exact inventory and price locked | Fixed | Yes |
| Automated/programmatic direct | A complementary automated path | — | — |
The deal type, not just the venue, determines what you pay and what you can promise — which is why the mix matters as much as the CPM.
The composition of private
Inside that ~95% private share, the split is itself informative. For H2 2024, the breakdown of all programmatic OOH spend ran roughly (Place Exchange — primary):
- Custom PMPs — ~70% — bespoke, curated deals built for a specific buyer.
- Always-on PMPs — ~23% — standing curated marketplaces.
- Programmatic guaranteed — ~2% — fixed, reserved takeovers.
- Open exchange — ~5% — run-of-network fill and discovery.
By H1 2025 the same source put private at ~96%, with custom PMPs around 62% and programmatic guaranteed ticking up to ~5%. The exact percentages move report to report, but the shape is stable: custom, curated PMPs are where the money is.
Why private dominates
This isn’t an accident of plumbing — it’s economics. Curation lets a media owner charge a premium for preferred inventory (Vistar — primary). A PMP that pre-approves quality buyers on cherry-picked screens commands a higher rate than the same inventory dumped into an open auction, where a low or absent floor “fills up with junk campaigns and your inventory sells cheap.” Buyers, in turn, get transparency and priority access to the screens they actually want. Both sides prefer the private deal — so that’s where the spend concentrates, and it’s why the premium layer of any network is its PMP catalogue, not its exchange fill.
What it means for beauty
The composition is a buying instruction for salon inventory:
- Buy beauty on a PMP. That’s where the premium, curated, brand-safe salon screens are — over 95% of programmatic OOH transacts there. Build or request a named, transparent salon/spa bundle.
- Use the open exchange for fill and net-new discovery, never as your best rate. An unfloored exchange attracts low-quality demand.
- Reach for guaranteed only for takeovers — a locked 100% share-of-voice launch on named premium screens.
- Classify the venue correctly so the PMP can find it — OpenOOH Salon (402) / Spa (403), not just the Health & Beauty parent.
For the operator side, this is also why your packaging should lead with a curated beauty PMP as the workhorse product, with floor-protected open exchange underneath.
Related: Deal ID / PMP · Programmatic guaranteed · Floor price · CPM tracker · Programmatic DOOH via DSPs · Packaging & pricing for advertisers