Pool Strategy for Platform Partners

Context: Platform partner with 20+ supply sources wanting to make the most of the 11 pre-provisioned pools, attract premium demand sources, maximise fill rate, and give demand sources clear targeting options.

Your pools are already created

When your partner account is provisioned, Praevis automatically creates 11 pools — you don’t need to create them. Your job is to assign supply sources to the right pools and invite demand sources.

Why pool structure matters

Demand sources choose which pools to subscribe to. A well-structured assignment strategy:

• Helps demand sources find the inventory they want
• Lets you set appropriate floor prices per segment
• Protects premium supply sources from low-CPM remnant demand
• Gives you a clear upsell story when selling demand source access

Pool 1: Anonymized Pool — your main pool

Start here for every new supply source. Supply source IDs are hidden from demand sources (the YouTube model), which consistently yields 4.3× higher revenue than transparent pools because buyers bid on content quality rather than brand recognition.

Assign when:

• General-purpose CTV, mobile, or display supply
• No specific PMP or direct-deal requirement
• New supply sources before establishing history

Invite demand sources: RTB buyers, Delegate demand sources running broad strategies, volume buyers.

# Assign a supply source to the Anonymized Pool
PUT /api/supply/pools/{anonymized-pool-id}/assign
X-User-Partner-ID: {PARTNER_UUID}
{
  "publisher_id": "pub-uuid"
}

Pool 2: Transparent Pool — direct deals

Supply source IDs are visible to demand sources. Use for PMP arrangements and direct deals where the buyer specifically needs to know which app or site they’re buying.

Assign when:

• Supply source has an existing direct relationship with a specific buyer
• Buyer is running a whitelist campaign requiring known source IDs
• app-ads.txt verified, strong brand identity

Invite demand sources: Buyers with specific whitelist requirements, agency trading desks running PMP deals.

Pool 4: PMP Pool — premium invite-only

Private marketplace with a $2.00 floor and first-price auction. Only demand sources you explicitly invite can access this pool.

Assign when:

• Top-tier CTV supply sources, consistently high fill rate, genre-tagged, verified
• You have demand source relationships that pay $5–12 CPM

Invite demand sources: Streaming demand sources, CTV-specialist buyers, MENA-focused demand. Do not open to all demand — scarcity supports the floor.

{
  "rules": [
    {
      "name": "Partner PMP",
      "conditions": {
        "pool_id": "{pmp-pool-uuid}",
        "device.devicetype": "3"
      },
      "bid": {
        "base_cpm": 7.00,
        "max_cpm": 12.00,
        "min_cpm": 2.00
      },
      "priority": 1
    }
  ]
}

Pool 5: Programmatic Guaranteed — fixed-CPM deals

Fixed-price auction at $3.00 floor. Used for contractual guaranteed delivery — the demand source pays a fixed CPM regardless of competition.

Assign when:

• You have a signed guaranteed deal with a specific buyer
• Delivery commitment is contractual

Invite demand sources: One demand source per guaranteed deal. Do not share this pool broadly.

Pool 7: Geo-Specific Pool — regional focus

For supply sources whose traffic is dominated by a specific region (US, EU, APAC). Demand sources targeting geo-specific pools can set regional bid strategies without needing geo conditions in every rule.

Assign when:

• 70% of impressions from a single region

• Supply source has meaningful scale in that region

Invite demand sources: Regional specialists, performance buyers with geo budget allocations.

Pool 8: Brand Safety Pool — strict content filter

Extra-strict IAB category filtering (IAB1, IAB9 only — news and entertainment). Demand sources here are buying a brand-safety guarantee.

Assign when:

• Supply source has clean, brand-safe content with a track record
• No UGC, no grey-area categories

Invite demand sources: Premium brand advertisers, enterprise demand sources with strict brand safety requirements — these buyers pay a $1.00+ floor premium for the guarantee.

Pool 6: Floor Testing Pool — A/B floor experiments

Use this pool to test floor price changes before applying them to your main Anonymized Pool. Assign a subset of supply sources here, change the floor, and compare eCPM after 48 hours.

Workflow:

1. Assign 10–20% of supply sources to Floor Testing
2. Set a different floor (e.g. $0.75 vs $0.50 in Anonymized)
3. Run for 7 days, compare eCPM and fill rate
4. If eCPM improves without fill loss, apply the new floor to Anonymized and move supply sources back

Assigning supply sources — criteria checklist

Before moving a supply source to a higher-value pool:

• app-ads.txt verified
• Fill rate >60% over last 7 days
• Genre tagged (for CTV)
• At least one of: UAE, UK, US, DE, APAC traffic
• Device type confirmed

# Check fill rate and eCPM before promoting
GET /api/supply/pools/{pool_id}/stats?period=7d
X-User-Partner-ID: {PARTNER_UUID}

Monitoring pool performance

GET /api/supply/pools/{pool_id}/stats?period=7d
X-User-Partner-ID: {PARTNER_UUID}

Check per-pool:

• Fill rate — Anonymized Pool should be >65%, Remnant-type pools >80% at low floor
• eCPM — if consistently near floor, either floor is too high or not enough demand sources subscribed
• Active demand source count — if zero demand sources subscribed, the pool gets no demand regardless of supply quality

Revenue optimisation loop

Run this monthly:

1. Identify underperforming supply sources (fill <40%, eCPM near floor) → move to Anonymized Pool or reduce floor
2. Identify premium performers (fill >70%, eCPM well above floor) → move to PMP or Brand Safety, raise floor 10%
3. Invite new demand sources to PMP and Brand Safety when they have capacity
4. Review pool floors — if demand sources consistently win far above floor, raise it
5. Use Floor Testing Pool before applying any floor change to Anonymized

The goal: every supply source in the right pool for their actual market value, with demand sources competing at or above floor.

Testing with sandbox pools

Before going live, use sandbox pools to verify your integration:

1. Create a supply source with "sandbox": true
2. Create a demand source with "sandbox": true
3. Subscribe the demand source to Sandbox Anonymized
4. Assign the supply source to Sandbox Anonymized
5. Send a test bid request — confirm win/loss, impression tracking, and metrics appear in the Sandbox tab

→ Full sandbox walkthrough