DOOH Marketing
PMP vs. Managed Service: How to Activate DOOH
Two activation models, two operating philosophies. One gives you the keys; the other hands you the keys-and-driver.
The Short Version
A Private Marketplace (PMP) is a self-serve activation: your team — or your agency's trading desk — buys DOOH impressions through a DSP using a negotiated deal ID against curated inventory. A managed service activation hands the plan, the buy, the optimization, and the reporting to Goldfish Ads' skilled traders who run the campaign on your behalf. Both can target the same screens. The difference is who is sitting at the console.
Side-by-Side
| Dimension | PMP (Self-Serve) | Managed Service |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates the buy | Your traders in a DSP | Goldfish Ads' skilled traders |
| Pricing model | Negotiated CPM via deal ID, plus DSP fee | All-in CPM or flat fee with service margin baked in |
| Setup time | Hours once deal ID is live | 0 — we handle everything for you |
| Optimization cadence | Your team handles | Our team optimizes daily |
| Reporting | Native DSP reporting — options vary by DSP | Curated decks and screenshots |
| Data portability | Yours — sits in your DSP | Custom whitelabeled dashboard, live view, custom heatmaps, location reports, and more |
| Creative ops | You handle trafficking and QA | Included — Goldfish Ads handles specs, sub-formats, takedowns |
| Minimum spend | Often low — set by DSP and deal | No minimums — flat rate CPM, scale up or down as needed |
| Best for | Always-on programs, in-house teams, performance brands | One-off launches, brands without a trading desk, complex multi-publisher direct deals |
When PMP Wins
You already trade in a DSP. If The Trade Desk, DV360, Yahoo, or a specialized DOOH DSP is already part of your stack, adding DOOH as another channel inside the same UI is the lowest-friction path. Your audience segments, frequency caps, and pacing logic carry over.
You want pricing by venue type. Bid logs, win rates, and CPM by venue are all visible in the DSP
You're running always-on. A live deal ID lets you flight, pause, and re-weight without re-papering an IO every time.
Where PMP Friction Shows
No proof-of-play photography. POP shots — high-quality photographs of your creative live on screen — are only available through managed service (included for spends over $20K per month, where we hire a photographer). With PMP, the DSP delivers logs, but no one is physically verifying the ad played on the intended board.
What about DOOH reporting inside The Trade Desk? Native TTD DOOH reporting is limited and does not include DOOH-specific fields like latitude and longitude. By using our PMP's, we resolve that gap and still let DOOH reporting flow into your dashboard with full transparency into the locations you are running on.
When Managed Service Wins
You don't have a trading desk. Standing one up for a single DOOH flight is not a sensible investment. A managed buy gets you live today.
The plan blends direct and programmatic. Premium spectaculars, transit takeovers, and exclusive venue networks often require direct negotiation. Goldfish Ads traders will package the direct buys alongside programmatic impressions and report against one plan.
Flighting is complex. Multiple tactics, aspect ratios, motion vs. static, market-specific cut-downs, etc... Goldfish Ads will spec, traffic, QA, and update pacing without burning out your trading teams.
It's a one-off. Product launches, sponsorship activations, and tentpole moments rarely justify the operational overhead of self-serve.
What's Included in Managed Service
No minimums, flat-rate CPM. Budgets scale up or down as needed. You're not locked into a floor commitment.
Multiple visualization tools. See your campaign before and during flight with mockups, live shots, real-time views, AR 360 visualizations, and heatmaps.
Custom reporting dashboard. Updated daily with delivery, pacing, and venue-level detail. Data can be pushed directly into your existing reporting software.
Hands-on optimization & publisher relationships. Goldfish Ads traders handle campaign optimizations and have direct publisher contacts to resolve issues fast — no ticket queues.
Proof-of-play photography. For spends over $20K per month, a dedicated photographer captures high-quality POP shots. Webcam shots from billboards are also available depending on publisher access.
The Hybrid Most Mature Buyers Run
The cleanest setup we see at scale: an always-on PMP for retargeting, geo-coverage, and audience extension — paired with managed-service flights for tentpole launches and premium direct placements that don't sit in any open exchange. Both feed into the same measurement framework, so the brand sees one DOOH performance picture rather than two.
What to Ask Before You Pick
- Do we already have a DSP seat with DOOH inventory access?
- Is this a single flight or an ongoing program?
- Who owns creative trafficking and QA — us or a partner?
- What measurement are we attaching, and where does the impression log need to live?
- How much margin are we willing to trade for speed and operational lift?
Related reading: Programmatic DOOH · What Is DOOH · For Agencies
Activate DOOH Your Way
PMP deal IDs for in-house teams. Managed flights when you need the bench. Request platform access.
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