After using the tool, the adtech firm found that for some clients, 50% of Pluto’s bid requests disappeared. 

Three buyers told ADWEEK they are reallocating money away from Pluto TV. One ad buyer is moving tens of millions of dollars away from Pluto by building a tech solution that limits clients’ exposure. Another buyer source said his firm this year moved hundreds of thousands of dollars away from Pluto. 

“If I’m trying to get the best deal possible for our clients, it just doesn’t make sense to let Pluto run away with the budgets,” the buyer said. 

As programmatic advertising in streaming TV accelerates, ad buyers are starting to encounter an ecosystem similar to the online ad market, which is frustratingly non-transparent. 

But not everyone believes the responsibility is on ad sellers alone to clean up the ecosystem.

“I don’t think it’s Pluto’s job to fix this for us or any of the advertisers,” one brand advertiser said.