At Tatari, we do things differently. While the industry has increasingly moved toward programmatic CTV buying, we’ve maintained a different approach: more than 80% of our media is transacted through direct publisher relationships, with less than 20% running programmatically.
Why? Because CTV supply is fundamentally different from digital display. On average, roughly 90% of CTV impressions come from just 10 publishers. This concentration of supply means direct media execution isn’t just preferable, it’s the most efficient path. The programmatic infrastructure that made sense for fragmented digital inventory (DSPs, SSPs, complex bidstream optimization) becomes unnecessary overhead when supply is this concentrated. Brands don’t need more intermediaries; they need technology that moves them upstream, closer to the source.
That’s where the best inventory lives: premium placements, guaranteed access, transparent supply paths, and the strategic partnerships that drive performance for our 400+ brand clients. But there’s been a problem hiding beneath that success, and today, we’re announcing the solution.
The Hidden Operational Burden
Over the years, as we’ve scaled to work with hundreds of brands buying CTV through direct publisher relationships, we realized something: the operational burden on our publisher partners was becoming unsustainable.
Publishers generate the majority of their revenue from direct sales, yet it’s the most operationally intensive part of their business; hundreds of insertion orders, manual trafficking, hours of billing, all limiting how much they can scale.
As a company built on direct publisher relationships, we felt responsible for solving this problem. Not just for us, but for the entire CTV ecosystem.
Building the Infrastructure Our Partners Need
Three years ago, Infra TV (Tatari’s parent company) acquired TheViewPoint, a CTV-focused SSP. We grew the SSP in the years following the acquisition, but learned there was limited opportunity to drive either innovation or monetization in this commoditized business. Meanwhile, we held on to our strategic belief in direct media execution and doubled down on the business to build a direct sales automation infrastructure (i.e., in parallel to the SSP). It eventually became clear that we should make this the sole flagship product; today, we’re announcing this supply-side technology under a new name: Upstream.
Upstream automates direct-sold campaigns through native integrations with publisher ad servers. This isn’t header bidding or SPO or another programmatic optimization layer. This is ad-server level integration that automates IO execution, trafficking, and delivery while preserving everything publishers value about direct sales: control over pricing, inventory, brand safety, and premium relationships.
What This Means for Advertisers
You might be wondering: “Why does this matter to me as an advertiser?” Here’s why:
Better economics and performance. By connecting directly to publisher ad servers through Upstream, we eliminate traditional DSP and SSP intermediaries, significantly reducing costs and fees commonly referred to as the “ad tech tax”. That means cleaner supply paths, better CPMs, and more of your media dollar going toward actual inventory which translates to better performance.
More scale. Publishers can now handle more direct demand without proportionally scaling their operations teams. That means we can onboard more brands, launch campaigns faster, and scale successful campaigns more efficiently. Premium inventory that was operationally constrained is now more accessible.
Access to the best streaming inventory. The automation doesn’t change what you’re buying—it’s still premium, reserved, direct-sold inventory.
Zero fraud risk, guaranteed brand safety. Direct publisher connections mean your ads run on verified, premium streaming or CTV apps which means eliminating the bot traffic, device spoofing, and counterfeit inventory that plague programmatic CTV buying. With direct sales, there’s no question about which app served your ad or whether a real person saw it.
As Philip Inghelbrecht, CEO of Tatari, explains: “By automating direct sales—the most valuable but operationally intensive part of publisher revenue—we’re not just optimizing the supply path, we’re fundamentally shortening it. Publishers shouldn’t have to choose between premium direct relationships and operational efficiency. With Upstream, they get both.”
Publishers Are On Board
We didn’t build this in a vacuum. Over the past two years, we’ve been working closely with leading streaming publishers to operationalize this technology at scale. Upstream’s platform now fully automates direct-sold campaigns through native integrations with publisher ad servers, including NBCU, Paramount, Tubi, and Warner Bros Discovery, in addition to Disney through its technology stack.
Here’s what they’re saying (read full press release here):
Michael Reidy, SVP SMB Growth, Advertising & Partnerships, NBCUniversal: “The industry has needed a more modern approach to direct sales for some time. Automation that reduces operational friction while preserving the value of direct relationships is essential to how premium publishers scale, and platforms like Upstream are helping move the ecosystem forward.”
David Futterman, VP, Paramount Advertising: “Upstream’s technology delivers significant value, and the platform’s evolution to enable direct sales automation is a key advancement to reduce operational complexities and drive greater long-term efficiency.”
Peter Graseck, Senior Vice President of Sales at Tubi: “We partnered with Upstream because they understand that automation shouldn’t mean commoditization. Upstream preserves Tubi’s premium positioning and direct relationships while reducing friction, enabling brands to connect more effectively with our 100-plus million monthly active users, especially younger, hard-to-reach audiences.”
Marisa Crocker, VP of Programmatic Operations and Partnerships, Warner Bros Discovery: “As an organization, we have embraced efficiency and automation, and we are excited to partner on Upstream. We value our partnership with Tatari and have seen strong results thus far.”
Programmatic and Direct: Both Automated
An important clarification: this doesn’t mean we’re abandoning programmatic. Both channels serve important purposes.
Programmatic offers dynamic optimization, flexible inventory access, and broad demand connectivity. Direct sales offer guaranteed access, premium partnerships, and strategic relationships. Our clients benefit from having both options available, and we’ll continue to leverage both channels based on campaign objectives.
What’s changed is that automation is no longer exclusive to programmatic. Publishers can now operate efficiently across both channels, and we can transact in the way that best fits each campaign’s goals without forcing publishers to choose between premium relationships and operational simplicity.
This is about creating a healthier, more balanced multi-channel marketplace where both programmatic and direct sales can operate at peak efficiency.
What’s Next
This evolution has been two years in the making, and we’re just getting started.
We’ve launched with five of the largest publishers, covering the majority that represent roughly 90% of all CTV impressions. But more publisher integrations are in the works.
For our brand clients, this means the direct publisher relationships that have driven your performance are about to get even better: faster activation, greater flexibility, better economics, more scale, and the same premium inventory access you’ve come to expect from Tatari.
Welcome to a new era of CTV advertising—one that operates upstream.
Learn more at www.upstream.tv
