Independent agencies struggle to negotiate lower fees and direct access with The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP
TLDR
Independent agencies report that major DSPs impose high fee barriers and moving goalposts for direct access, even after reaching promised spending thresholds.
Digiday reports that smaller and mid-sized independent agencies face persistent fee structures and gatekeeping from The Trade Desk and Amazon DSP, despite claims that hitting spending benchmarks would unlock direct relationships at reduced rates. A 15-person New York agency that cleared The Trade Desk's $100,000 monthly threshold still pays 17% to the DSP plus 12% to its reseller and has largely abandoned the platform in response; media buyers describe a pattern in which the path to direct access and fee relief keeps shifting, leaving independent shops paying dual-layer fees with no clear exit.