Lorraine Donelly, Jon Finnie, Maddie Basso.
Yahoo DSP, the demand side platform owned by Yahoo, has doubled down on automation, data and new streaming partnerships as it declares its 2026 strategy - offering advertisers more “control and choice” over how to run campaigns.
Head of Yahoo DSP Australia, Maddie Basso, said time was an important focus for introducing new campaign automation tools.
According to Basso, these tools “automate up to 91% of campaign set-up time”. This includes tasks like campaign packaging, targeting, deal mapping, budgeting and creative uploads.
“With the automation stuff, we know that time is such a valuable commodity now for everyone agency side and everyone brand side,” she told AdNews.
“So we really focused on tools and partnerships and solutions that made everyone’s life as easy as possible when they are booking really strong campaigns, so that’s been the focus.”
Data is another important investment for the platform as the industry increasingly becomes what vice president of international sales, Jon Finnie, calls more “data-centric”.
Yahoo ConnectID, Yahoo’s first-party identity solution, has made waves with publishers embracing the tool globally.
ConnectID has the highest absorption rate globally, according to Lorraine Donelly, head of data, NAUSEA.
“Today is all about one thing - which is identity,” she said.
“And identity is just three simple things. The data you already own. The data you choose to speak with. And then making sure it all speaks the same language across the open-web. You nail that and you’re future-proofed. That’s exactly what we are doing with Yahoo Connect ID.”
“Think of Connect ID as a bridge between your data and the open-web. It lets brands and publishers meet spacially in the middle without anyone falling into the rapid data breach river below.”
Vice president of international sales Jon Finnie said Yahoo has also become very data-centric in their approach to innovation for next year.
“Data is such a hot topic at the moment," he said.
"Privacy-centric. Yahoo owns a tonne of scalable data. So we are very data centric in our approach to that. It’s Q4 so approaching you know the holiday season so commerce is front and centre.”
Finnie recognised the success of partnerships in Australia with the announcement of MixIn data partnership and Yahoo DSP’s success with the Afterpay media network, with the intent to expand to the global market.
“So media and retail is exploding. That’s why the partnership with MixIn Media has been fantastic to announce. The things we are beginning here, the genesis here with like the Afterpay media network, we are looking to expand to international markets,” said Finnie.
Yahoo is strengthening data partnerships and improving targeting and measurement capabilities for marketers.
Advertisers can run campaigns through the DSP and access MixIn’s data network, allowing advertisers greater insight into online and offline purchases.
Finnie said Yahoo’s retail partners are the main spenders on DSP particularly leading into the holiday season.
“We are seeing a huge surge in retail media networks and commerce in general because there’s such interesting and unique data segments there and that’s helping to power and forge a lot of investment in that area,” he said.
“People have access to that data, so retail CPG. It may not be an increase in investment holistically, but a shift towards where they can see the results. Because we can have a closed loop strategy with our DSP - we can see what’s performing, what’s delivering. We can see a shift over towards ourselves.”
Yahoo DSP has also invested in its “supply partnerships” for audio and video streaming platforms like Spotify, Netflix and ESPN on Disney+.
This is a response to the growing audiences across streaming.
“We very much leaned into all the different channels that are growing hence why we have all these big partnerships with Netflix with ESPN through Disney+,” said Basso.
“So it’s been our big focus to kind of move where the industry is going and kind of where we are seeing more audiences pop-up,” she said.
Finnie said Yahoo’s omnichannel approach, which is supported by its data capabilities and privacy-first safeguards, is a huge draw card for advertisers and marketers.
“We are truly global DSP,” said Finnie.
“We are omnichannel, that’s your work across multiple channels. We have access to a large proprietary data set. We are privacy focused.
“You saw from today we have a ConnectID strategy, so we handle data in a very secure and safe environment. We are partner friendly. We are happy to work with anybody.
“Our approach to give our advertisers and clients the choice and control to access campaigns and how they see fit rather than how we see fit. We feel those priorities have stood the test of time and will continue to do so.”
As for what sets the platform apart from its competitors, Basso said it's how Yahoo balances its positioning as a leader of innovative “big tech” while maintaining the “care and fluidity” of an independent platform.
She also credits Yahoo’s owned data pool.
“I think we sit at Yahoo in this perfect middle ground between a big walled garden, big tech and we have the capabilities of big tech, but we also have the care and fluidity of an independent platform,” said Basso.
“So we can kind of sit in this really beautiful piece in between the two and that interaction means we have our own data which makes us really unique against other DSP’s in the space.
“But it also means innovation - the way that we create products, we put ourselves at the forefront of constantly evolving, constantly innovating for the needs of the market, so I think that fluidity is a really big thing as well.”
Finnie also recognised the global impact of Yahoo DSP while recognising its distinct place in the Australian market.
“It’s like a global company with little local nuances,” he said.
“Agencies say that we are easier to work with. Partners trust that we will help them navigate the online eco-sphere. And that mix - that perfect mix of global scale and local strength is what set's us apart.”
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