Yahoo Moves Downmarket With DSP Performance Push

Yahoo is building out a range of new AI-powered tools within its demand-side platform, or DSP, for mid-market, performance-focused advertisers. These include automated options for activating and managing media designed to make the DSP more accessible and easy to use for all kinds of advertisers.

The development signals an expansion beyond Yahoo DSP’s core business, which has historically serviced enterprise advertisers facilitating ad buys for brands like Kroger, Arby’s, and Planet Fitness. The new tools could help the platform extend its market penetration, attracting a wider variety of advertisers, such as ecomm platforms and direct-to-consumer brands. 

“AI is enabling us to better support existing customers while making our technology accessible to a broader range of advertisers, and we will share more when ready,” a Yahoo spokesperson said in a statement.

Yahoo is hiring a dedicated team to build out these offerings, according to a source familiar with the matter. 

A job posting for a head of growth accounts for the new project appeared on LinkedIn earlier this month. The range for the role is $217,905 to $473,710 annually, with a core mandate to “drive net-new advertiser acquisition across mid-market brands, with a strong focus on CTV and full-funnel programmatic solutions.”

The company is also seeking out talent to fill strategy and product development roles associated with the new features, the source said. 

Yahoo is in the early stages of building out these new features and is eyeing a launch date for later this year, according to the source. 

Yahoo’s core enterprise DSP business has grown substantially over the last year. The company strengthened its privacy-safe targeting, began testing AI agents within its DSP, and inked a handful of deals likely to bring more offsite retail media dollars onto the platform. Plus, Yahoo became a key beneficiary of advertisers’ disgruntlement with The Trade Desk, which lost millions of dollars last year to rival DSPs. Yahoo’s lower fees have proved particularly appealing to The Trade Desk defectors. 

Now, by folding in more performance-minded features, Yahoo could bolster its competitive edge with advertisers for whom automation, cost efficiency, and accessibility outweigh the sophisticated customization options offered by some other DSPs on the market.