Can DSPs Save Publishers? Keith Petri and Rich Hyden on Viant Publisher Solutions, Identity, and the Future of Monetization

Signal & Noise ExclusivePublishers create the content. Publishers build the audiences. Publishers bear the costs.Yet somehow, after two decades of digital advertising innovation, many publishers capture only a fraction of the value they create.In this Signal & Noise exclusive, Rio Longacre and Brett House sit down with Keith Petri, SVP of Data, Identity & Supply at Viant, and Rich Hyden, SVP of Publisher Solutions at Viant, for a deep discussion on one of the most important questions facing the open internet:Can publishers reclaim their economic future—or are the economics of digital media fundamentally broken?This conversation coincides with Viant's major announcement of Viant Publisher Solutions, a new suite of capabilities designed to improve transparency, signal quality, monetization, identity activation, and supply-path efficiency for publishers while simultaneously improving advertiser outcomes. It represents one of the most significant publisher-focused initiatives launched by a major DSP in recent years.But this episode goes far beyond a product launch.Together, Keith and Rich unpack the realities of modern publisher monetization, the hidden inefficiencies inside today's programmatic supply chain, why signal quality increasingly determines revenue, and how identity has become one of the most valuable assets publishers possess.The discussion explores how technologies such as SupplyIQ, Direct Access, Household ID, and IRIS_ID aim to create a more direct relationship between buyers and sellers while reducing friction, duplication, and information loss throughout the advertising ecosystem.Along the way, the conversation tackles some of the biggest debates in advertising today:Why premium publishers continue to struggle despite creating enormous valueWhether supply-path optimization helps publishers—or hurts themThe role of identity in driving publisher revenueWhy signal quality may be the new currency of digital advertisingHow CTV is reshaping publisher economicsThe growing power of walled gardens versus the open internetWhy contextual intelligence is becoming increasingly importantHow AI and agentic media buying may transform programmatic advertisingWhether DSPs can play a meaningful role in helping publishers thriveWhat the future of publisher monetization looks like over the next decadeKeith and Rich also share a fascinating perspective from inside one of the industry's most innovative DSPs, explaining why better advertiser outcomes and healthier publisher economics may no longer be competing objectives.For anyone working in digital media, ad tech, publishing, identity, programmatic advertising, retail media, CTV, measurement, or AI-powered marketing, this is a conversation packed with practical insights and big-picture thinking.The future of the open internet may depend on whether buyers and sellers can become more aligned.This episode explores what that future could look like.GuestsKeith Petri, SVP Data, Identity & Supply, ViantRich Hyden, SVP Publisher Solutions, ViantHosted ByRio LongacreBrett HouseTopics CoveredPublisher Monetization • Programmatic Advertising • Supply Path Optimization (SPO) • CTV • Identity Resolution • First-Party Data • Household ID • Contextual Targeting • Publisher Data Strategy • AI Advertising • Agentic Media Buying • Open Internet Economics • Ad Tech Infrastructure • Signal Quality • Media Quality • Digital Advertising#SignalAndNoise #AdTech #ProgrammaticAdvertising #Viant #PublisherMonetization #CTV #IdentityResolution #DigitalAdvertising #RetailMedia #AIAdvertising #OpenInternet #MarketingTechnologyEnjoy!