What is a deal ID?
A deal ID is a unique string that identifies an agreement between a publisher and a buyer in programmatic advertising. It links an impression to the deal's terms, such as price, inventory and deal type. When a DSP sees a deal ID in a bid request, it knows the impression belongs to that agreement and bids on the agreed terms.
Deal IDs are what make private programmatic buying possible. Without them, every impression would be sold the same way, in the open auction.
How a deal ID works
The process usually follows the same steps, whatever platforms are involved:
Negotiate: buyer and publisher agree on inventory, price, dates, formats and deal type.
Create: the publisher sets up the deal in its supply-side platform or ad server and targets it to the buyer's DSP and account. The system generates the deal ID.
Share: the publisher sends the deal ID to the buyer, or the deal appears in the DSP's marketplace.
Activate: the buyer attaches the deal to a line item with targeting, budget and creatives.
Bid: when a matching impression is available, the SSP includes the deal ID in the OpenRTB bid request. The DSP recognizes it and bids under the deal's terms.
Deal IDs are used for several deal types, including a private marketplace (an invite-only auction), a preferred deal (fixed price, no volume commitment) and programmatic guaranteed (fixed price and reserved volume).
Why deal IDs matter
Access: premium inventory is often only available through deals.
Priority: some deal types see impressions before the open auction.
Transparency: you know which publisher and inventory you are buying.
Clean reporting: results can be split by deal, so you can compare publishers fairly.
Deals also make planning easier, since price and inventory are known before the campaign starts.
When a deal is not spending
A deal that does not deliver is one of the most common issues in programmatic. Typical causes are a mistyped or inactive deal ID, a deal targeted to the wrong buyer account, targeting on the line item that is too narrow, a bid below the agreed floor price, creatives that the publisher has not approved, or simply low available volume. Checking these one by one usually finds the problem.
Deal ID vs seat ID
A seat ID identifies the buyer: the account inside a DSP that is doing the buying. A deal ID identifies the agreement. Publishers usually need your seat ID first, so they can target the deal to you. The seat ID says who can buy, and the deal ID says on what terms.
Deal IDs with AdGeeks
AdGeeks gives brands and agencies seat-level access to DV360, Amazon DSP and Adform, so publishers can target deals to your seat. Our senior traders help request, activate and troubleshoot deals, and report on each one so you can see which publishers earn more budget.
