A way to buy/sell programmatic advertising. It is the least-restrictive type of ad auction, with a media owner/publisher generally allowing any and all buyers to participate in accessing the ad inventory through this tactic. Usually there is no direct relationship with the buyer. Media owners may choose to use blocklists and floor pricing to prevent certain advertisers from gaining access. On the advertiser side, they are often unaware of what media owner network they are buying on. DSPs usually present a list of exchanges/SSPs to the buyer that they automatically opt into. Buyers may not know or care that they are buying a specific network’s inventory. Because of this, publishers can participate in the open auction on a blind basis.

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