Programmatic guaranteed: how reserved deals work and when planners use them
Part of Curated deals and PMPs
The short answer
Programmatic guaranteed is a deal in which a publisher reserves an agreed volume of impressions for one buyer at a fixed price, and the buyer's platform commits to bid on them. It works like a traditional direct buy, with the order and delivery automated through the buyer's platform and a deal ID instead of ad tags and manual trafficking.
Key takeaways
- The IAB's 2013 framework called it Automated Guaranteed: reserved inventory, fixed price, one seller and one buyer, at the same ad server priority as other direct deals.
- In OpenRTB the guar field marks a guaranteed deal that the bidder must bid on; the Deals API asks for units and total cost whenever a deal is guaranteed.
- The publisher controls pacing, and the price, volume, dates and formats are fixed in a proposal both sides accept.
- In Display & Video 360, the formats, rate type and creative requirements of a guaranteed deal with an exchange cannot be renegotiated, and shortfalls are handled through makegoods.
- Planners use it when the date, the publisher and the volume matter more than flexibility: launches, sponsorships and seasonal peaks.
What is a programmatic guaranteed deal?
Definition
- Programmatic guaranteed (PG)
- A deal in which a seller reserves a set quantity of inventory for one buyer at a negotiated fixed price, with the buyer committed to buy it, and delivers it through programmatic pipes identified by a deal ID.
The IAB's 2013 paper Programmatic and Automation: The Publishers' Perspective (opens in a new tab) named this transaction Automated Guaranteed and listed programmatic guaranteed, programmatic premium, programmatic direct and programmatic reserved as other terms for it. In its definition, the deal is negotiated directly between buyer and seller, the inventory and pricing are guaranteed, and the campaign runs at the same priority as other direct deals in the ad server. What makes it programmatic is the automation of the request for proposal and of campaign trafficking.
IAB Tech Lab's OpenDirect (opens in a new tab) page, last updated in July 2024 with version 2.1, uses the same description and adds that the RFP and trafficking are automated within the technology platform. OpenDirect is the API specification written to support that process between buyer and publisher systems.
IAB Canada's revenue surveys do not report guaranteed deals on their own. Its 2024 revenue survey (opens in a new tab), published in October 2025, put programmatic assisted buying, which then included private marketplace and guaranteed deals, at 47.8 percent of Canadian internet advertising revenue by buying method for 2024, based on direct responses from service providers that offered these options. The newer 2025 edition (opens in a new tab), released in June 2026, labels that category private marketplace and does not mention guaranteed deals.
How is a programmatic guaranteed deal negotiated and set up?
Google's Display & Video 360 documentation (opens in a new tab) describes the buyer's side of the process. Negotiation begins when the publisher sends a proposal, or the buyer sends a request for proposal. The proposal passes back and forth until both agree. The negotiable fields it lists are allow pausing, rate, daypart, units, start and end dates, audience list and demographics. Once the buyer accepts, the deal is configured: advertisers, a campaign, creatives, conversion tracking and the partner's revenue model.
Two timing details matter for planners. Inventory, such as a fixed volume at a fixed price, can be secured months ahead even before creative is ready, by accepting the deal and configuring it later. The same page advises configuring at least one to two days before launch in case of problems.
What does guaranteed commit the buyer and the seller to?
Guaranteed works in both directions. In the OpenRTB 2.6 specification (opens in a new tab), the Deal object's guar field set to 1 indicates that the deal is of type guaranteed and the bidder must bid on the deal. The seller's side of the promise sits in the terms: IAB Tech Lab's Deals API specification (opens in a new tab) says the number of units and the total cost should be provided whenever a deal is guaranteed, and that a price must be given for fixed price deals, especially programmatic guaranteed ones.
| Term | Seller's commitment | Buyer's commitment | Where it is documented |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory | Reserves the agreed impressions for this buyer only | Takes the reserved impressions | Google Ad Manager Help: inventory designated only for that buyer at that price |
| Price | Holds the fixed CPM agreed in the proposal | Pays that price for delivered impressions | Deals API: a price must be provided for fixed price deals |
| Bidding | Sends bid requests carrying the deal ID | Bids on every eligible request | OpenRTB guar set to 1: the bidder must bid |
| Volume and cost | States units and total cost for the flight | Budgets for the full contracted amount | Deals API Terms object: units and totalcost |
| Pacing | Controls the rate of delivery | Leaves pacing to the publisher | Display & Video 360 Help: publishers control pacing |
| Overdelivery | May serve slightly past the cap | Is invoiced only for the contracted amount | Display & Video 360 Help: contracted quantity |
How are programmatic guaranteed line items priced and billed?
Sellers book guaranteed deals as one of a few line item types, and each counts delivery differently. Google's Ad Manager comparison page (opens in a new tab) lists the quantity each type is negotiated on.
| Line item type | Quantity negotiated | What the buyer should know |
|---|---|---|
| Standard CPM | Contracted quantity: impressions reserved for the dates and terms | Booked against a goal; overdelivery is not invoiced |
| Sponsorship CPM | Impression limit: the most the buyer will pay for | Cost is the rate times impressions served, up to the maximum; totals show at the end |
| Sponsorship CPD | Billing threshold per day: the minimum that must be exceeded | No charge for a day under the minimum; the daily rate applies once it is passed |
Sponsorships, sometimes called share of voice, give a buyer exclusive access to inventory on a site or app for a period. Display & Video 360 is explicit that cost per day sponsorships do not guarantee the buyer's ads will be the only ads shown: when a creative cannot serve, for example in an unsupported browser, a contending ad fills the impression. It says such sponsorships should not be sold as a 100 percent share of voice guarantee.
What can change after a guaranteed deal is signed?
For guaranteed deals with third party exchanges, Display & Video 360 lets the seller start a renegotiation, which the buyer accepts or declines. What may change depends on the phase of the flight.
| Phase | Start date | End date | CPM | Impression target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-flight, 24 hours or more before start | Can move later, or earlier but not before now | Can increase or decrease | Can increase or decrease | Can increase or decrease |
| Pre-flight, under 24 hours before start | Can move later only | Can increase or decrease | Can increase or decrease | Can change, except in the monthly billing window |
| In flight | No changes | Can extend, or shorten to a date after now | Can increase or decrease | Can change, except in the monthly billing window |
| Post flight | No changes | No changes | No changes | No changes |
Formats, rate type and creative requirements cannot be renegotiated at any phase. When a deal does not meet its agreed terms, the platform's makegood process (opens in a new tab) lets either side request extra delivery. A makegood runs like a regular guaranteed deal and carries programmatic fees, but the buyer is not charged media cost for its impressions.
When should a planner choose programmatic guaranteed?
A guaranteed deal trades flexibility for certainty. It suits a plan where a specific publisher, date and volume are the point of the buy, and suits it less when the plan is still learning which sites work.
| Planning need | Programmatic guaranteed | Non-guaranteed deal (preferred or private auction) |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting a fixed date such as a launch | Strength: inventory is reserved for the dates | Weakness: delivery depends on bids winning at the time |
| Price certainty | Strength: one fixed CPM for the flight | Mixed: preferred deals fix the price, private auctions do not |
| Budget flexibility | Weakness: the buyer commits to the full contracted amount | Strength: the buyer can bid less or stop |
| Testing many sites | Weakness: negotiated publisher by publisher | Strength: easy to add, pause or drop sites |
| Mid-flight changes | Weakness: formats and creative requirements are locked | Strength: targeting and bids stay in the buyer's control |
| Exclusive placements | Strength: sponsorships and share of voice are possible | Weakness: no reservation, so no exclusivity |
Before signing a programmatic guaranteed proposal
- The publisher's sites have been reviewed for fit, page quality and the selling path, not chosen by name alone.
- The units, total cost, CPM, currency and flight dates in the proposal match the media plan.
- Creative formats, sizes and durations are agreed, since some platforms do not let them be renegotiated later.
- Any audience or geographic targeting is in the proposal, so the publisher's forecast includes it.
- The team knows who configures the deal in the buying platform, and when, before launch.
- Someone is named to watch delivery against the contracted quantity and to request a makegood if needed.
What does a guaranteed buy look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A spring launch for an Atlantic Canada tour operator
A fictional Halifax tour operator opens bookings for its summer coastal tours on one fixed date in March and wants to be visible in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador that week, in English. Its agency shortlists two regional travel and lifestyle publishers whose readers in those provinces match the brief.
The agency sends each publisher a request for proposal with the dates, units, a CAD fixed CPM, display and video formats and geography. After one round of changes, both proposals are accepted six weeks ahead. Creative arrives later, and the trader configures both deals three days before launch.
During the flight one publisher falls short of its contracted quantity because a video creative was not supported. The agency requests a makegood, and the extra impressions run the following week at no added media cost.
How does PlacementGraph help choose publishers before a guaranteed buy?
Frequently asked questions
Can a programmatic guaranteed deal use audience targeting?
It can. Display & Video 360 says buyers can target or exclude first or third party audience lists and Google affinity and in-market lists in guaranteed deals with publishers on Google Ad Manager, agreed during negotiation. The publisher's forecast then counts only matching inventory, so a narrow audience shrinks what can be reserved.
Can a frequency cap apply to a programmatic guaranteed deal?
In Display & Video 360, yes. A guaranteed deal can pass on bid requests once the campaign frequency cap is reached, but the platform first prioritizes meeting the spend amount in the deal terms and then optimizes to the cap with the inventory available. A tight cap on a small publisher can therefore conflict with full delivery.
Can programmatic guaranteed run on YouTube?
Yes, through Display & Video 360's guaranteed instant deals, which reserve a targeted number of impressions at a fixed CPM for a set budget and flight dates without a negotiation. Google says their primary goal is to spend the budget by the end of the flight, and that pacing may not be even throughout.
Can several publishers share one programmatic guaranteed deal?
The IAB's 2013 framework described automated guaranteed as one seller and one buyer. The OpenRTB guar field and the Deals API terms can describe any guaranteed deal, so ask any seller offering a multi-publisher guarantee who carries the delivery risk and how makegoods work.
Sources
- Programmatic and Automation: The Publishers' Perspective (opens in a new tab)IAB, September 2013
- OpenDirect (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- OpenRTB 2.6 specification (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab, OpenRTB repository
- Deal Sync API Specification, version 1.0 (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab, deal-api repository
- Programmatic Guaranteed deals (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- Makegoods for Programmatic Guaranteed deals (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- Added Reach Measurement for Programmatic Guaranteed deals (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- YouTube Programmatic Guaranteed via instant deals (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- Programmatic Guaranteed and Preferred Deals (opens in a new tab)Google Ad Manager Help
- 2025 IAB Canada Internet Ad Revenue Survey and 2026/27 Forecast (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada, June 2026
- 2024 IAB Canada Internet Ad Revenue Survey and 2025 Forecast (earlier edition) (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada, October 2025
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.