PMP negotiation: which deal terms can a buyer shape before launch?
Part of Curated deals and PMPs
The short answer
In a PMP negotiation a buyer can shape far more than price: the auction type and floor mechanics, currency, formats and placements, markets, flight dates, buyer seats, any publisher data, exclusivity, reporting and how changes are approved. The goal is a written set of terms both sides can check against the live deal, with nothing left to memory.
Key takeaways
- Price is one term among many; formats, markets, dates, seats, data, exclusivity and reporting decide delivery.
- Each negotiated term should map to something the seller can set, such as a deal field, placement or report.
- Reporting terms protect the buyer when they name the dimensions, the cadence and the reconciliation window.
- After agreement, write the terms down with the change rules, because Display & Video 360 requires approval for later changes to accepted deals.
- Walk away when a term the campaign depends on cannot be stated, measured or confirmed.
What terms can be negotiated in a PMP deal?
Platforms expect negotiation. Display & Video 360's negotiation guide (opens in a new tab) says buyers can negotiate deals "with an inventory seller offline," or send a request for proposal through the platform, and that the publisher "may further negotiate or comment on parts of your deal," naming "the CPM, timeframe, Ad units, or terms." This page covers the terms behind those headings and gives no advice on price levels.
| Term | What the buyer is agreeing | Where it is set or seen |
|---|---|---|
| Auction type and floor | First price, second price or a fixed deal price | OpenRTB Deal at and bidfloor; Deals API pricetype and dealfloor |
| Currency | USD or CAD for the floor and billing | Deal bidfloorcur, which defaults to USD; Deals API cur |
| Formats and placements | Sizes, video lengths, native or audio | Deals API adtypes; the seller's placement list |
| Markets | Countries and regions the deal sells | Deals API countries; requests' geo fields |
| Flight | Start and end dates, or an open ended deal | Deals API startdate and enddate |
| Buyer eligibility | Which seats and advertisers may bid | Deal wseat and wadomain |
| Inventory changes | Whether sites can be added or removed after launch | Deals API dinventory |
| Data | Any publisher or third party data applied, and its fee | Deals API auxdata |
| Exclusivity | Whether other buyers or advertisers are kept out | Written terms, enforced through seats or advertiser lists |
| Reporting | Dimensions, cadence and access | Written terms and report schedules |
The field names come from the OpenRTB 2.6 specification (opens in a new tab) and IAB Tech Lab's Deals API (opens in a new tab), finalized on February 6, 2026 to standardize how deal terms move from the system that created a deal to the receiving system. A final specification does not mean a given platform has implemented it, but its field list is a useful checklist of what a deal can say.
What should a buyer ask a publisher for?
Ask for what makes the campaign executable, in the order the trader will need it. Google's best practices for setting up deals (opens in a new tab) list signals to confirm with the publisher, including country codes, extra geographic detail for region or city targeting, domain names, user IDs, environment, position, and content labels and sensitive categories. Requests that lack the signals a line item targets on cannot deliver.
Seven asks for a publisher or curator
- The inventory, named. The domains or apps in the deal, the placements and whether the list is fixed or may change after launch.
- The volume estimate and its basis. Expected available requests by market and format, and the period behind the estimate.
- The price mechanics in writing. Auction type, floor, currency and whether the floor is guidance or a fixed price.
- The signals. Confirmation that the requests carry the geography, domain and other signals the line item will target.
- The creative rules. Sizes, durations, review requirements and any advertiser domain limits.
- The data terms. Whether any data layer is applied, who supplies it, whether a fee comes with it and whether it can change mid-flight.
- The reporting. Which report the seller will share, how often, at what level of detail and for how long after the flight.
Which harder terms, such as exclusivity and data, need extra care?
The OpenRTB implementation guide's deal use cases show how different deals can be. One describes a direct option deal with an advertiser that offers "Private/exclusive inventory," is "Limited to a set list of advertiser names," and expects caps on the bidder side. Another describes a deal ID that "represents some combination of private first-party data from the Publisher." Both terms need a definition the two sides share, because neither means the same thing from one deal to the next.
| Term | Questions to settle | How it is enforced |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusive inventory | Exclusive from whom: other buyers, other advertisers or the client's category? For which placements and dates? | Seat and advertiser restrictions on the deal, plus written terms |
| Category exclusivity | Which competing categories are kept out, and how does the seller classify them? | The seller's own blocks; the buyer cannot see them directly |
| Publisher first-party data | What the data is, how it was collected, and whether consent covers advertising use | Written terms and the seller's privacy disclosures |
| Third party data layer | Who supplies it, the fee, and whether it can change after launch | The Deals API auxdata value, if the seller supports it |
Data terms carry legal facts the buyer should know. Canada's privacy commissioner, in its guidelines on online behavioural advertising (opens in a new tab) (modified August 11, 2025), says information used for that purpose "will generally constitute personal information" and that collection or use of browsing activity "must be done with that person's knowledge and consent." In California, the Attorney General's CCPA page (opens in a new tab), updated August 28, 2026, says consumers may ask businesses to stop selling or sharing their personal information, where sharing "refers specifically to sharing for cross-context behavioral advertising."
How do reporting terms protect the buyer?
Reporting is the proof that the negotiated terms happened: that the deal ran on the reviewed sites, in the agreed markets and formats. Agree the report before launch, in the terms the buying platform uses, so both sides can join their data.
Display & Video 360's report dimensions (opens in a new tab) give a vocabulary to borrow: Inventory Source ID (External), "The seller's (i.e. a publisher or exchange) identifier for a deal used in their systems"; Inventory Commitment Type, guaranteed or non-guaranteed; Media Type, such as display, video or audio; and the exchange. Timing belongs in the terms too. Google's data freshness page (opens in a new tab) says impression and click data "is updated every 3-4 hours" and that the platform "can update data for up to 31 days," so set reconciliation after that window, not on the last day of the flight.
Reporting terms to agree before a PMP launches
- The seller's deal ID and the exchange appear on both sides' reports.
- Delivery is reported by domain or app, so it can be compared with the approved list.
- Delivery is split by country and region, and by format.
- The cadence is stated, such as weekly during the flight.
- A reconciliation date is set after the platform's revision window.
- The seller agrees which count controls if the two sides' numbers differ.
- Access to the data lasts long enough for the client's own review.
What should be written down after a negotiation?
Write the agreed terms in one dated record, with who agreed them and how changes will be handled. Display & Video 360's deal management article (opens in a new tab) says changes to an accepted deal "will require approval for the following: CPM amount, approved impression volumes, delivery dates," as well as archiving or adding line items, ad sizes and additional terms. The negotiation guide adds that "Changing a negotiation may require an additional review." A record that names the approver for each kind of change gives every later change a known route.
Keep this record apart from the later check that the live setup matches it, covered in the deal terms checklist. Where a signed insertion order governs the deal, see the insertion order guide.
When should a buyer walk away from a deal?
The test is whether a term the campaign depends on can be stated, measured and confirmed. These lines are judgment calls, not rules from a standard. A term that cannot be written down is a hope, not a deal.
| Signal | Why it matters | What to try first |
|---|---|---|
| The seller will not name the inventory | The buyer cannot check the sites against the approved list | Ask for the domain list or a sample; decline if refused |
| No domain level reporting | Delivery cannot be reconciled with the plan | Offer a weekly report at a coarser level |
| Currency or auction type left vague | A CAD floor read as USD changes what the bid must be | Ask for both in writing before accepting |
| Data with no stated source or consent basis | The buyer cannot assess the privacy facts | Ask for the seller's disclosure, or take the deal without the data |
| Inventory may change without notice | Sites outside the approved list can enter mid-flight | Ask for notice and a right to remove sites |
| Signals the campaign targets on are missing | Targeting removes the requests and the deal cannot spend | Change the targeting, or decline |
What does a PMP negotiation look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A kombucha brand negotiating with a New Mexico publisher group
A fictional kombucha brewer wants display and native beside food, wellness and local events coverage in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces, in USD. A regional publisher group proposes a private auction across its sites, with a first-party audience segment included.
The buyer asks for the domain list, a fixed list for the flight, an advertiser restriction to the brand's domain and weekly delivery by domain and format. The group agrees to all four. It declines category exclusivity against other beverage advertisers, which the brand accepts.
The buyer takes the deal without the audience segment, because the brief is contextual and the group could not yet state how the segment's consent was collected. The dated record lists each term, the change approvers on both sides and a reconciliation date.
How does PlacementGraph help a buyer prepare for a negotiation?
Frequently asked questions
Who can accept a negotiated deal in Display & Video 360?
Google says the user needs access to the partner or advertiser that owns the deal and the Admin, Standard or Planner role, and must add at least one email address to accept, propose changes or message the seller. Accepted deals then appear in My Inventory, where they can be assigned to line items.
Is a floor in a private auction a promise of delivery?
No. In the Deals API the deal floor is guidance to buyers unless the price type is fixed, and OpenRTB marks a guaranteed deal separately with guar. A floor sets the lowest acceptable bid; volume commitments belong to guaranteed deals, where the Deals API says units and total cost should be provided.
Should a buyer negotiate one deal per market or one for both the US and Canada?
Settle it by currency and reporting first. OpenRTB's deal floor currency defaults to USD unless stated, and a cross-border deal needs reports split by country to reconcile. Separate deals make CAD pricing and Canadian reporting explicit; one deal works when both sides agree how currency and country splits are handled.
Can terms change after the deal is live?
Yes, with approval. Display & Video 360 requires approval for changes to an accepted deal's CPM, impression volumes, dates, line items, ad sizes and additional terms, and a changed negotiation may need another review. Name the approver for each kind of change before launch.
Sources
- Negotiate a deal in Display & Video 360 (opens in a new tab)Google, Display & Video 360 Help
- Manage your deals (opens in a new tab)Google, Display & Video 360 Help
- Best practices for setting up deals (opens in a new tab)Google, Display & Video 360 Help
- Dimensions in reports (opens in a new tab)Google, Display & Video 360 Help
- Report data freshness and availability (opens in a new tab)Google, Display & Video 360 Help
- OpenRTB 2.6 specification, Deal object (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab, OpenRTB repository
- OpenRTB implementation guide, section 7.3 PMP and direct deals (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab, OpenRTB repository
- Deals API specification, version 1.0 (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab, deal-api repository
- Guidelines on privacy and online behavioural advertising (opens in a new tab)Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, modified August 11, 2025
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (opens in a new tab)State of California, Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, updated August 28, 2026
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.