Calling the current digital ad buying process “opaque and inefficient,” Publicis Groupe Media says its partnership with marketing tech company Rapt Information Services will lead to a greater degree of clarity. The two are collaborating on a system that combines data from historic and forecast revenue. Publicis and Rapt will also examine supply and value across different content categories, industry segments and product types.

The program promises to give ad sellers an objective measure of their ad inventory’s value intended to guide pricing for online ads. For example, a publisher will be able use Rapt’s analytics to get a better sense of demand levels for, say, video advertising. The hope is that media buyers - such as those in Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest Group, ZenithOptimedia Group and Digitas units - will at least have an agreed-upon starting point for negotiating the company’s $1.5 billion cross-internet ad spending with website publishers. Additionally, an ad recession typically brings greater demands for ROI accountability from marketers, so Publicis is promoting this service to ensure their clients keep spending. Release