How I'd Rework Magnite's Messaging: A Case Study

Magnite's headline on their site is "Helping you win across every screen, everywhere." Forgettable and undifferentiated. Their most recent earnings call suggests they can do better.

CEO Michael Barrett's remarks on their Q4 2024 call were strong. I'll identify three differentiators for Magnite based on those remarks — and then we can consider how to weave together those differentiators into a sweeping narrative that positions Magnite at the center of the industry.

Magnite’s differentiators (and narrative pillars)

1. CTV-native technology. 

CTV is the future of the open web (broadly conceived). Yet most SSPs are just reselling CTV inventory. Magnite, through its acquisition of SpringServe, has its own CTV ad server and direct relationships with every major streaming platform other than YouTube. As a result, Magnite should position itself as the portal to performance outside the walled gardens.

2. Direct access to premium inventory.

Magnite offers the most direct path to premium inventory through proprietary agency marketplaces enabled by ClearLine and SpringServe. GroupM and Horizon are already using these marketplaces to ensure more of each ad dollar goes to working media — and to differentiate themselves from competitors to provide a better service to brands.

3. AI solutions (in progress).

Magnite is reportedly developing AI solutions to, among other things, allow buyers to quickly and easily identify the optimal audiences to meet their marketing goals while improving match rates. As of now, this category seems nascent, but Magnite said they'll be making more announcements in 2025, and AI-driven products will be central to any successful SSP going forward. Specifically, I’d encourage Magnite to focus on what its unique assets (CTV-specific technology and direct access to premium CTV inventory) enable it to do with AI. AI’s value is to a large extent a question of the assets you feed it. So, Magnite can argue that it is in a unique position to develop sell-side advertising products for the AI era.

The next question is what to do with these differentiators.

Your differentiators should be synthesized into a narrative

Like most adtech companies, Magnite is currently enumerating its differentiators almost as if they were unrelated to each other. The company needs to weave them together into a broader narrative about where the digital marketing industry is heading — in a way that positions Magnite as the industry leader, the trusted shepherd who can bring advertisers and publishers into the future.

For example, if we take the idea of the Outcomes Era as an anchor, Magnite might argue: "We're in an Outcomes Era in which the ability to drive the highest number of incremental sales for each ad dollar has never been more critical. We believe there are three capabilities an ad platform needs to meet that standard: CTV-native tech (because CTV is the no. 1 outcomes channel), direct access to premium inventory (to boost efficiency), and AI (which is driving efficiencies across the supply chain and surfacing the best opportunities for both buyers and sellers). Magnite is the leader on all three of these categories, making us the no. 1 SSP — if not the no. 1 overall ad platform — in the AI-driven Outcomes Era."

Magnite’s talking points no longer sound like a discrete list of assets. They are a comprehensive narrative about where the industry is headed — and a case for Magnite as the top SSP, perhaps the top overall ad platform, to bring advertisers and publishers to the promised land. 

(The correct actual story may not be about outcomes, and to arrive at an actual answer, we’d need to hear from the folks at Magnite and their customers. But I think the overall point remains instructive: you need to have a clear sense of your differentiators, and you need to synthesize them with an analysis of the industry to arrive at the most powerful version of your brand narrative and sales pitch — a version that makes you sound indispensable to where the industry as a whole is heading and therefore to any brand or publisher that wants to win the future.)

The narrative is the basis of all your content and communications

Whenever I work with a company, I create a brand narrative in the first month. This covers the company’s overall narrative, market opportunity, competitors, the people they’re championing, what's wrong with the status quo, who's responsible for the status quo, how they’re trying to change the industry, and how the narrative helps them win.

I don’t believe in strategy docs for the sake of strategy docs, and with AI, the strategy doc can become the real basis of all your content and communications (because it becomes an input as your marketing team is using AI to create any asset, be it a website, LinkedIn post, case study, or anything else).

After creating their new brand narrative along the lines I’ve suggested, the next step for Magnite would be to expand it to all their content and communications. Start with the website, which is how you tell virtually everyone who interacts with your company what you stand for.

The vague website headline — "Helping you win across every screen, everywhere" — gets replaced with something like, "The only SSP built for the Outcomes Era." 

And instead of the current subhead, "The world’s top media owners rely on Magnite to connect with advertisers on their terms," which any SSP would say, you get something like, "Driving outcomes requires CTV-native tech, direct publisher connections, and AI-driven buying. Magnite is the only SSP to offer all three."

This is just a start. Obviously, you’d want to tweak this story with input from the people who know Magnite’s business best (its leaders and customers). But in the age of AI, it’s never been easier to iterate on messaging, content, and communications. There’s no excuse for a website that fails to capture the special sauce of the world’s largest SSP.