“Our more accurate predictions find users that will have a higher likelihood of converting at the right price,” he added.

In other words, if an advertiser was getting 10 conversions on a campaign at $100, Blueprint Performance, thanks to its AI boost, can guarantee 20 conversions at the same cost.

This means more conversions at lower costs, reducing cost per action, whether that’s clicks, conversions or purchases, said Roodman.

Ultimately, higher-performing campaigns should lead to more ad budgets flowing through Yahoo’s DSP.

Smarter bidding leads to increased ROAS

Advertising agency PMG was testing Blueprint Performance in May, focussing on performance and direct-response key performance indicators for its client. The agency saw a 50% decrease in CPA and nearly an 80% increase in return on ad spend compared to the previous month, Jon Malooly, director of programmatic at PMG, told ADWEEK.

Several of PMG’s clients have tested Blueprint Performance, and it plans to transition more advertisers over.

“Blueprint Performance shows a trending graph with a variety of dimensions, from line to ad size and location, and understanding the bid requests or impressions coming in,” he said. “The biggest win is that it’s using AI and machine learning to make the make smarter bidding.”

A counter to PMax

Yahoo’s stance on giving advertisers more transparency, similar to The Trade Desk’s Koa, is counter to the approach taken by PMax and Meta Advantage+, said Gupta.

“One of the big things that marketers hate about PMax and Advantage+ is that they’re black boxes,” he added.

Broadly, PMax doesn’t allow for granular channel-specific controls and has minimal reporting, so advertisers don’t understand where their campaigns perform well, or if ads are served next to harmful content.

With Blueprint Performance, buyers can dictate where they want ads to be delivered, how often and at what price, and they have the ability to adjust campaigns, seeing how they perform at the publisher level, Yahoo said.

This puts Yahoo in an advantageous position.

“You’re going to see more of the industry do this, especially catering to the mid-tier brand advertisers,” said Michael Ouellette senior vp, marketer, agency and tech strategy at Prohaska Consulting.