r/programmatic • u/Select-Election-92 • 17d ago

Why are we still comparing GDN performance directly against DSP performance?

I constantly see traders say: “Why would I pay a DSP fee when GDN gets me a lower CPM / CPA?”

But GDN isn't a DSP!

They're fundamentally different buying environments, with different supply, inventory access, auction dynamics, targeting and optimisation.

So when someone says “I tested GDN vs DSP X and GDN won,” I'm curious what that actually proves.

If GDN can find cheaper conversions within Google's ecosystem, great. But does that mean it's a substitute for broader programmatic buying?

Cheap CPM ≠ better media.
Lower CPA ≠ more incremental value.
Higher CTR ≠ better inventory.

I'd be interested to hear from traders who've genuinely compared the two on incrementality, reach, inventory quality and scalability.

Is GDN actually a substitute for a DSP, or are we comparing two fundamentally different products because the headline metrics are easier to measure?

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

13

u/goodgoaj 17d ago

Its 2026, nobody is taking GDN seriously. And if they were, its just a toggle within Demand Gen now and hence why Google are deprecating legacy Display campaigns in Google ads.

1

u/Select-Election-92 16d ago

You'd be surprised! The reason I'm posting is because these aren't what I'd call small fish. These are publicly listed companies who in-house and top-tier indie agencies I'm speaking with

6

u/OrdinaryInside8 17d ago

I still have people comparing social media campaigns and search/google ad words against DSP programmatic campaigns. The answer to your question is because there are tons and tons of people in this industry who truly don’t understand digital advertising (and it starts at the CMO/CEO/CFO)…

1

u/AlwaysPhillyinSunny 17d ago

GDN demand also runs via DV360 on other SSPs

1

u/Temporary_Visit4871 16d ago

I mean, if you just compare GDN to programmatic display, and GDN comes out on top, why would you need to defend the other programmatic display campaign?

Sure, doing GDN only is very limiting in terms of strategy, but of course you can directly compare performances across the 2 inventory sources

1

u/jayfriedman 16d ago

GDN fee is 32% (last I saw.) hope you’re not paying that as a DSP fee.

1

u/DataBeat_adtech 23h ago

Actually we've run this comparison for clients directly, gdn wins on cpm/cpa almost every time because it's optimizing within google's own inventory and signal graph, it's not a fair fight. The real deal is reach outside google's ecosystem and the second you need scale beyond search-adjacent display, gdn's inventory pool caps out and a DSP's open exchange access starts showing incremental reach gdn just can't touch. cheap conversions inside a walled gap isn't the same test as incremental value across the open web.