Above the Fold: December 29, 2025

by

Above the Fold: December 29, 2025

BY ROB BEELER

Please note that this information is confidential and intended for the internal use of our partners only. The Above the Fold Report is an amalgamation of the discussions taking place within the Beeler.Tech universe. Much of what is presented is based on conversations held behind closed doors within the last week. The topics will range from the existential threats to publishers down to questions about how to use a specific feature in an ad server. We believe that if you are a publisher or someone who works with publishers, all of these provide opportunities to help or learn. The report’s format changes as the conversations change.

Quote of the Week

  • “Sigh. What a Q4 it’s been.”

Quick Takes on a Slow Week

  • What Publisher Revenue Leaders Need To Get Right Heading Into 2026 – AdMonsters. Written by Samuel Youn is a good read.
  • Amazon woes continue as more publishers report that both demand and TAM have been turned off.
  • Carousel ads discussed. One publisher shared they felt these to be malicious. Another pub reported a 30% increase in CPM but observed a correlation between that unit and an overall CPM decrease. When they stopped using the unit, the overall CPMs returned to previous levels. Also mentioned was the feeling that the unit breaks flooring strategies. 
  • Screenshots of digital editions of print magazines were discussed with someone offering they have a developer create a solution after off-the-shelf solutions failed.
  • More discussion about The Trade Desk after this Digiday article. “This same theory should work to give pubs more money, but in reality, they are submitting lower gross bids.” One pub reporting 2.5x higher bids through supply paths vs OpenPath since October.
  • Does anyone have a sample IO (or portion thereof) for doing audience extension or “boosting” on behalf of a brand/client? TYIA!

RESELLER update

A publisher reported that they’ve been reaching out to demand partners to reduce RESELLER lines. Historically, they capped at 40 entries and required minimum spend thresholds to remain. They have since trimmed every partner to 20 entries or fewer, with no drop-off in revenue. “If performance remains stable, we are considering a move to remove resellers entirely for most bidders. We’ll evaluate this on a case-by-case basis, as a few partners still drive significant spend via specific reseller lines.”

Ad Quality Update

Update from Confiant: Here’s the latest in the D-Shortiez was active on Beeswax since early November and they finally got shut down on Friday, likely under pressure from publishers who started blocking Beeswax wholesale. Well done, everybody!! This proactive blocking is no longer necessary at this stage. Immediately after Beeswax shut them down, they went live on Xandr. In the meantime, we learned that the buying agency on both Beeswax and Xandr is Datawrkz. We reported D-Shortiez to Datawrkz today and they indicated they had shut down the buyer. We will continue to monitor the situation. I was just informed about the degree to which Raptive helped apply pressure by leading the way with blocking Beeswax and helped us unlock the situation. Thank you.