This post was written by Michal Segal, Director of Product at Start.io.
In a world where programmatic advertising is increasingly competitive and performance-driven, publishers need technology that not only connects their inventory to demand but also ensures that every impression has the best possible chance of driving revenue. At Start.io, we’ve developed an advanced throttling engine designed to help publishers deliver top-quality inventory to buyers and unlock stronger, more sustainable revenue outcomes.
Programmatic supply can be unpredictable. Some impressions consistently deliver high value and revenue, while others consume bandwidth, inflate processing costs, and fail to generate meaningful demand or yield. Traditional models treat all traffic equally, making it harder for publishers to distinguish between high-value opportunities and low-yield noise. Our throttling solution tackles this challenge head-on by assessing inventory before it reaches the auction, prioritizing supply with strong monetization potential, and reducing exposure to inventory that tends to underperform.
Our throttling solution evaluates every incoming request in real time and applies decisioning logic to determine whether that opportunity should be made available to buyers. Instead of simple filtering, the system rapidly evaluates a wide variety of data points to assess real performance potential. This enables more precise control of inventory exposure, reducing waste and ensuring that only high-value traffic enters the auction.
What does this mean for our publishers?
First, it means better alignment between inventory and what buyers actually want. By focusing on quality and performance, the thorttling solution increases the value of each request sent to potential buyers, improving fill rates and eCPMs over time. Buyers get a leaner, more targeted supply so they can focus on what they are really looking for. Publishers get higher win rates and greater returns from your most monetizable inventory.
Second, this optimization requires no manual effort on the publisher’s end. Our platform is built to support both advanced adaptive algorithmic throttling. Our system works quietly in the background, automatically learning, adjusting, and maximizing the publisher revenue potential without the need for constant intervention.
Results from this advanced technology have been impressive. We’ve seen significant improvements in profitability, key to evaluating the actual contribution of each request after factoring in all variables. In parallel, by reducing low-value ad requests and focusing on higher-quality supply, our throttling solution helps lower costs and reduce compute power without compromising total revenue or partner access.
Most importantly, our throttling system is built with flexibility for the future. As the programmatic landscape continues to evolve, with signal loss, regulatory shifts, and changes in buyer behavior, publishers need tools that adapt in real time. Whether you’re monetizing through banners, interstitials, native, or video formats, our throttling engine is designed to dynamically optimize across ad formats, traffic types, and much more.
We are committed to delivering not just more demand, but the right demand. We believe in partnerships that scale profitably, sustainably, and transparently. With supply-side throttling, we’re taking another step forward in helping our publishers unlock the full potential of their inventory by focusing on what matters most: yield and quality.
