Lessons/Programmatic 101/Lesson 2
Vol. I, No. 2 · Programmatic 101
Buy side vs. sell side: who sits where
Every company in this industry is paid by someone, and who pays them tells you whose interests they serve.
By Brandon Mina·CEO, BrandPilot AI·Updated November 2026
Lesson 2 of 9
SyllabusAll 9 lessons
Programmatic 101 · course overview- 01The life of a programmatic impression
- 02Buy side vs. sell side: who sits where
- 03Auctions: first price, second price, and floors
- 04Waterfall vs. header bidding
- 05The four ways to buy programmatically
- 06How data and identity reach a bid
- 07Supply path optimization and supply chain quality
- 08Measuring programmatic: from impression to incremental outcome
- 09Where programmatic is going
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson, you can:
- Sort any adtech company onto the buy side or the sell side.
- Understand what agencies and trading desks add, and what they cost.
- Define the "ad tax" and why it matters to both advertisers and publishers.
The lesson
Buy-side tools help advertisers spend; sell-side tools help publishers earn. The exchange sits in the middle. Each hop between the advertiser's budget and the publisher's bank account can take a fee, which is why "how much of my dollar reached the publisher" is the first question I'd ask of any media plan.
The exchange sits in the middle.
Lesson 02 · Buy side vs. sell side: who sits where
What's the Big Idea? Key takeaways
- Who pays a company tells you whose side it is on.
- The exchange sits between buy-side and sell-side tools.
- Every hop can take a fee, so ask how much of each dollar reaches the publisher.