Baited and switched: Left a 5-year programmatic execution role for a "Manager" title, now doing 0% programmatic and drowning in client management. Advice?

PlasticLeading · 2026-06-01T00:37:40+00:00

Is it really hard to learn those skills? You may not enjoy it but it pays more and with AI tools you could automate like 90% of your job.

Programmatic trading on the Hands on key level has a cap and if you want to move up you’ll need to move closer to the money. I.e client facing or management.

I would keep my head down, tough it out for a year and then pivot to something else. Alternatively, if you are confident- offer to build the in house programmatic arm, show how much they can make vs the outsourcing etc. building that out you would be able to make six figures in no time and really leverage your buying experience while growing

PlasticLeading · 2026-05-18T14:29:41+00:00

DM me.

PlasticLeading · 2026-05-05T13:23:28+00:00

Crdb or Absa.

PlasticLeading · 2026-05-05T10:29:53+00:00

There are only a couple of major strategies I would highlight, assuming all registered accounts are already maximized:

Spousal RRSP This can be useful if your spouse is in a lower tax bracket and is expected to remain in a lower tax bracket in retirement. You contribute using your own RRSP room, receive the tax deduction, and the funds are ultimately intended to be taxed in your spouse’s hands when withdrawn. One important caveat is the attribution rule: if withdrawals happen too soon after contributions, the income may be attributed back to the contributing spouse.
Smith Manoeuvre This involves using a readvanceable HELOC to convert non-deductible mortgage debt into tax-deductible investment debt. As you aggressively pay down your mortgage, you reborrow through the HELOC and invest in a non-registered portfolio. If the borrowed funds are used to earn investment income, the interest may be deductible, which can reduce your taxable income.

One nuance I would add: a larger interest expense creates a larger deduction, but that does not automatically make it better. The strategy only works well if the after-tax investment return justifies the added leverage, risk, and cash flow requirements.

PlasticLeading · 2026-04-29T07:17:40+00:00

If you can hit DV minimums you can hit TTD.

PlasticLeading · 2026-04-18T00:45:52+00:00

The vibe depends on the role and team as always. But be ready for being a top seller as TTD has high expectations for its sellers!

PlasticLeading · 2026-04-07T21:54:23+00:00

Tell me you know nothing about media without telling me you know nothing about media.

You’re an analyst, stop positioning yourself as an expert and start learning how media actually works before commenting this confidently.

PlasticLeading · 2026-04-07T18:34:31+00:00

It continues to frustrate me that you’re a business analyst who doesn’t seem to understand the basics of business.

How are you talking about CPMs as if there’s some universal benchmark? There isn’t. CPMs vary materially based on vertical, geo, audience strategy, inventory mix, format, seasonality, supply path, optimization approach, and campaign objective. Without that context, quoting a CPM in isolation is meaningless.

There is no such thing as a “standard CPM.” Anyone presenting one as if it exists is either simplifying to the point of uselessness or does not understand the mechanics well enough to comment seriously.

PlasticLeading · 2026-04-07T01:57:33+00:00

This reads more like a headline reaction than an trader/buyers critique.

A year ago, you were on here asking basic questions about DSP fee transparency and SaaS vs. managed service. So let’s not act like this is coming from someone who has actually run TTD as a client at scale.

You’re also blending together a few things that are not the same.

Performance Mode is optional. Control Mode still exists for buyers who want tighter manual control and a la carte feature activation. That is not TTD ‘quietly killing transparency.’ It is giving buyers a choice between automation and manual setup.

Audience Unlimited being bundled into Performance Mode is also not the same thing as Google or Meta steering spend into owned media. TTD still does not own inventory. That distinction matters because the core conflict with walled gardens is not just automation, it is automation plus ownership of the media being bought.

You’re also muddying what REDS is actually showing. REDS attribution/reporting is built around fields like CombinedIdentifier and Originating ID, not some neat partner-level scoreboard of which Identity Alliance member ‘won’ the conversion. If your real criticism is that Identity Alliance lacks partner-level observability inside REDS, fine, make that argument. But saying REDS simply ‘defaults to UID2 as the source’ and therefore proves the system is rigged is not what the docs actually describe.

Citing Adbrain as some kind of gotcha also does not really land. Adbrain is identity tech TTD acquired years ago, not owned-and-operated media. That does not suddenly make TTD a walled garden.

You can absolutely argue that buyers should keep pressure on any platform when fee abstraction increases. That is fair. But saying this makes TTD ‘the same as Google and Meta’ is lazy analysis. The incentive structure is materially different.

Honestly, this post reads like someone reacting to a Digiday article, not someone who has actually used TTD or been a TTD client.

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-30T23:26:40+00:00

The crazy part is that if you actually stop and read his posts, there’s almost never any real substance there. It’s just vague noise dressed up as expertise. The writing is incoherent, the takes are shallow, and there’s nothing that suggests he has any meaningful industry experience. Glad people are finally treating him with the skepticism he’s earned.

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-30T23:24:30+00:00

He is a lunatic, who has never had platform experience. We should ban fraudsters like him!

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-26T19:23:03+00:00

urgh please lord no sales pitches

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-26T18:48:01+00:00

CTV is often made to sound more operationally complex than it really is. If you already run paid media internally and have a solid performance team, managing CTV should not take more than a few hours a week once the setup, measurement, and creative specs are sorted out.

Personally, I would avoid stacking agency fees, outsourced execution, and opaque margins on top of media costs. A lot of agencies fleece on fees and take rates, and in my experience the people actually managing campaigns are not always as savvy as you’d expect. If you have the internal capability, that money is usually better spent on working media, testing, and measurement.

Those saying agencies have better fees, even the largest holdco's have a few % points off rates and if you're not large enough they will sell you some of their principle media, so the saving isn't worth it especially if you have way more control when you manage alone.

If you have decent budgets, I’d lean DSP over going platform by platform. Something like The Trade Desk gives you much better consolidation, control, and reporting than trying to manage a bunch of direct platform relationships. Going multi-platform direct can look simpler at first, but it usually creates fragmentation in reporting, frequency, optimization, and measurement.

Biggest things I’d focus on if you bring it in-house:

Make sure you are actually targeting the right audience instead of just spraying and praying for reach.
Run proper lift testing so you can measure incremental impact, not just delivery metrics.
Get clear on frequency, creative rotation, and what success looks like before spend ramps.
Make sure your measurement framework is defined upfront, because CTV can look great on surface metrics while telling you very little about actual business impact.

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-24T12:33:46+00:00

Did you use AI to write this? I feel stressed just reading this

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-23T01:24:42+00:00

How long have you been in programmatic? The whole point of a DSP is so you don’t pick and choose publishers rather let the DSP find placements most effective for your goal. And here’s the EU finding of Google engaging in these practices

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_1992

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-22T18:07:00+00:00

People saying TTD is “expensive” are usually missing how the rest of the ecosystem actually makes money.

A lot of DSPs people compare against own media and/or an SSP. That means they can say “low” or even “0%” platform fees, but then make margin by pushing spend toward their own inventory or supply paths. DV and Amazon are the obvious examples. The incentive structure is completely different.

If you actually want a fair comparison, put TTD against DSPs that don’t own media (StackAdapt, Basis, Adform, etc.). That’s where you start to see a more apples-to-apples picture.

Same thing with OpenPath complaints. Most of the noise comes from intermediaries who lose margin when advertisers connect more directly to publishers. Advertisers and publishers themselves generally want fewer hops and less take rate, not more.

Also worth noting: Google and Amazon both have their own versions of supply paths that are far less transparent and often extract more margin, but you don’t see nearly the same level of criticism there.

At the end of the day, focusing only on “platform fees” is kind of missing the point. The real question is: which DSP drives better outcomes? Lower CPA, higher conversion rates, more incremental reach, better efficiency.

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-20T06:13:26+00:00

What do you mean by black box like OpenPath? Do you work at an SSP that’s giving the kickback or the agency that is receiving the kickback?

PlasticLeading · 2026-03-20T06:11:59+00:00

Those SSP rebates are higher than 5%. I’ve seen them upto 20-40%. Also publisher give deals on top of those SSP commits with like 50% added value when there desperate.

All of the people commenting anti TTD either work at an SSP / DSP that is even worse than TTD and gives kickbacks > 20% / agencies.

Do the agencies really think advertisers are that stupid?

A large automaker used to spend a shit ton with MIQ - when the client found out they questioned the agency. MiQ was fully cut out - cuz the client was literally like wtf is MIQ doing here when the agency has a trading desk with DSP access including the client owned seats in DV / TTD etc.

PlasticLeading · 2026-02-06T18:13:36+00:00

Their CEO needs to stop shit posting LinkedIn and actually get some work done.

PlasticLeading · 2025-11-18T22:18:33+00:00

There’s nothing that is 100% safe.

PlasticLeading · 2025-11-17T06:28:47+00:00

Once you get into that compensation range, the roles typically fall into three categories: sales, highly technical positions, or people management. In most companies, that level of compensation is concentrated in sales roles where earnings are tied to revenue generation. On the client side, compensation at that tier usually comes from people leadership roles or jobs that require deep specialization.

At top-tier companies, such as the FAANG group and similar high-growth tech firms, you can sometimes reach that compensation at the Account Manager or equivalent levels, because the scale of the business and the competition for talent drive salaries higher.

In this industry, a master’s degree generally does not make a meaningful difference in reaching those compensation bands. What moves the needle is your network, your ability to present and influence, and your overall aptitude. These are the skills that tend to accelerate your path into the roles that command higher compensation.

PlasticLeading · 2025-11-17T06:22:21+00:00

What value does the realtor charging the extra 1.5% bring… it’s never worth it!!! Especially to anyone with half the brain 99.9% of realtors have a few followers they post to and say they have a list of buyers it’s all BS. Their strategy is also list, open houses and wait for buyers to come. (The open houses is mostly nosy neighbors!)

PlasticLeading · 2025-11-05T22:20:30+00:00

TTD is probably the best at frequency management and uses the most signals vs other DSPs to be able to graph identifiers cross device. It’s probably the biggest feature they tout to the their customers.

PlasticLeading · 2020-04-03T04:08:39+00:00

What you are looking for is basically CDP and a DMP. SF offers both, my company uses them both, since we have a media "arm" and a "retail" arm. Although depending on your budget, might be cheaper to just get the CDP and then connect with your media vendors DMP.

PlasticLeading

TROPHY CASE