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September 2026 Edition, expanded tier · The six flagship models on every category, as published . The public index runs on the standard tier; this record is what the Expanded Edition Pack delivers on one category. The category page →
Index › GTM › Marketing › Programmatic · September 2026 Edition

Programmatic and display advertising

Asked as “programmatic advertising platform”, and as “demand-side platform for display ads”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B software company. 24 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, six models each.
Standing · first-choice share
58%
StackAdapt
Clear leader
58StackAdapt08Meta Ads04AdRoll29others

58% of first choices, clear leader.

ShowinginAll 112 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all six models, for a mid-market B2B software company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrantSince September 2026
01StackAdapt58%4%25endorsed leadernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 58% now.
02Google Display & Video 360 Lab in the set4%27%11criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 4% now.
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
05DV3600%60%10criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
06The Trade Desk0%58%26criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
04Amazon DSP0%27%11criticized challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.
03Demandbase Advertising0%18%11accepted challengernewNew since September 2026: not ranked then, 0% now.

The floor is 12 points of share, measured: how far the models move a leader on their own when the same questions are asked twice with nothing changed. A larger change is movement; a smaller one can't be told apart from repeat variation, and both are shown. Each index measures its own floor from its own repeat, over its own categories, so the floor differs from one index to the next. How the floor is measured

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.

Google Display & Video 360 is made by Google, whose model Gemini 3.1 Pro is in the set. On the four share prompts that model made it the first choice zero times of 4; the other five models one time of 20. Lab treatment is defined on the method page; the row is marked, not excluded.

Head to head
StackAdapt vs Google Display & Video 360

One product takes 58% of first choices here, so the chart would put five markers in one corner and one at the far edge. The two measurements it plots are columns in the standing above: share, and the negative label rate. Four products carry a negative rate above 25% in this category.

What they warned about

Four of six models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Opus 4.8 and Gemini 3.1 Pro changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
The Trade Desk
58%
15 of 26 labels negative · 6 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid enterprise platforms such as DV360 or The Trade Desk” GPT-5.6 Sol, budget prompt
DV360
60%
6 of 10 labels negative · 4 of 6 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid enterprise platforms such as DV360 or The Trade Desk” GPT-5.6 Sol, budget prompt
Amazon DSP
27%
3 of 11 labels negative · 3 of 6 models
“Be more cautious when your primary objective is neutral open-web buying or cross-platform measurement.” GPT-5.6 Sol, negative prompt
Google Display & Video 360
27%
3 of 11 labels negative · 3 of 6 models
“high monthly minimum spends (often $10,000+) and strict contracts required by major Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) like Google DV360 or The Trade Desk” Gemini 3.1 Pro, budget prompt

What they cite

Six of the six models returned a source list in this edition: six return the pages they cited.

Sites the answers cite

28 of 36 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 6 of 6 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 398 links across 199 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page. None of the 36 answers across every segment cited this index's own page for the category.

improvado.io
vendor site · Improvado11 answers · 20 citations · 3 models
stackadapt.com
vendor site · StackAdapt9 answers · 13 citations · 3 models
demandbase.com
vendor site · Demandbase8 answers · 8 citations · 5 models
reddit.com
vendor site · Reddit7 answers · 12 citations · 2 models
taqtics.com
7 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
vibe.co
vendor site · Vibe.co7 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
admanage.ai
vendor site · AdManage7 answers · 7 citations · 2 models
aidigital.com
6 answers · 8 citations · 3 models
directiveconsulting.com
vendor site · Directive Consulting6 answers · 6 citations · 3 models
ana.net
5 answers · 7 citations · 4 models
epom.com
vendor site · Epom5 answers · 6 citations · 3 models
getadlib.com
5 answers · 6 citations · 3 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

improvado.io/blog/top-programmatic-platforms
11 answers · 3 models
admanage.ai/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms
7 answers · 2 models
vibe.co/blog/how-to/programmatic-advertising-platforms
7 answers · 3 models
directiveconsulting.com/blog/the-top-5-programmatic-platforms-leading-the-w…
6 answers · 3 models
taqtics.com/answers/programmatic-advertising/programmatic-advertising-platf…
6 answers · 3 models
heysid.com/resources/best-programmatic-advertising-platforms-for-b2b
5 answers · 3 models
aidigital.com/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms
4 answers · 1 model
inbeat.co/articles/top-programmatic-advertising-platforms
4 answers · 2 models
stackadapt.com/industry-solutions/b2b
4 answers · 2 models
6sense.com/blog/best-b2b-programmatic-advertising-platforms
3 answers · 2 models

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best programmatic advertising platform”, “programmatic advertising platform”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
StackAdapt stackadapt.com58%3938,10016726,512$18,665393
Google parent site
Google Display & Video 360 4%, Google Ads 4%, Google Display Network 4%, Google Search 0%		12%201550,00015,818
Meta meta.com
Meta Ads 8%		8%19549,5001,5049,891,853 company$5,46049
AdRoll adroll.com
AdRoll ABM 4%, AdRoll 4%		8%2042,9005052,27318
Basis basis.com4%5827,10018,0599,941$14115
LinkedIn parent site
LinkedIn Campaign Manager 4%		4%11811,100,00077,031
Choozle choozle.com4%48720122,161$13513
Demandbase Advertising demandbase.com0%6242,53134
Amazon DSP amazon.com0%13922,2001,4981,681,997,879$106,1251155
6sense 6sense.com0%61849,500316108,788$1,209120

Google's top ten for the two searches hold 15 sites; 5 of them are among the sites the models cited here (directiveconsulting.com, improvado.io, reddit.com, stackadapt.com, vibe.co). The first result for “best programmatic advertising platform” is mediajel.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
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ModelDirect“What is the best programmatic advertising platform for a mid-market B2B software company?”Paraphrase“Which demand-side platform for display ads would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B software company?”Comparative“What are the top programmatic advertising platforms and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best programmatic advertising platform for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a programmatic advertising platform. What should we look at?”Negative“Which programmatic advertising platforms should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Opus 5StackAdapt
Three alternatives6sense, AdRoll ABM, Demandbase Advertising
StackAdaptHeld
Three alternatives6sense, AdRoll ABM, Demandbase Advertising
against: DV360, The Trade DeskThe Trade Desk
Five alternativesAmazon DSP, Basis, Criteo, Google Display & Video 360, StackAdapt
against: Yahoo DSPGoogle Ads, Meta Ads
Two alternativesAmazon DSP, StackAdapt
against: Adwave, DV360, Starti, The Trade Desk, ad:personamno first choicenothing named
Claude Opus 4.8LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Four alternatives6sense, Demandbase Advertising, Google Display & Video 360, StackAdapt
against: The Trade DeskBasis, StackAdaptChanged
One alternativeLinkedIn Campaign Manager
against: The Trade Deskno first choiceGoogle Display & Video 360, Meta Ads
Three alternativesBasis, Simpli.fi, StackAdapt
against: The Trade Deskno first choicenothing named
GPT-6 AstraStackAdapt
Two alternativesAdRoll ABM, Demandbase Advertising
StackAdaptHeld
One alternativeDemandbase Advertising
Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
Five alternativesAdRoll, Basis, Criteo, StackAdapt, Yahoo DSP
against: Microsoft InvestGoogle Display Network
One alternativeStackAdapt
no first choiceagainst: Google Display & Video 360, InMarket, Microsoft Invest, Mobilewalla, The Trade Desk
GPT-5.6 SolStackAdapt
Six alternatives6sense, DV360, Demandbase Advertising, Google Search, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, The Trade Desk
StackAdaptHeld
Three alternativesAdRoll ABM, Demandbase Advertising, The Trade Desk
Amazon DSP, Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk
Seven alternativesAdform DSP, Basis, MNTN, Roku, Simpli.fi, StackAdapt, Viant
against: Microsoft InvestChoozle
Three alternativesAdRoll, Google Ads, Quantcast
against: DV360, The Trade Deskno first choiceagainst: AdRoll, Amazon DSP, Criteo, Google Display & Video 360, Kochava, Microsoft Invest, Mobilewalla, Taboola, Teads, The Trade Desk
Gemini 3.1 ProStackAdapt
Three alternativesAdRoll ABM, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Metadata.io
against: 6sense, DV360, Demandbase Advertising, The Trade DeskAdRoll ABM, StackAdaptChangedagainst: Demandbase Advertising, The Trade Deskno first choiceAdRoll, StackAdapt
Two alternativesQuantcast, SmartyAds
against: Google Display & Video 360, The Trade DeskStackAdapt
Two alternativesBasis, Choozle
against: DV360, The Trade Deskagainst: Amazon DSP, Google Display Network, Google Performance Max, Meta Ads, Meta Advantage+
Perplexity Sonar ProStackAdapt
Four alternativesAdRoll ABM, DV360, Demandbase Advertising, The Trade Desk
StackAdaptHeld
One alternativeDemandbase Advertising
against: The Trade Deskno first choiceagainst: Google Ad Manager, LinkedIn Campaign ManagerStackAdapt
One alternativeGoogle Display Network
against: Adobe Advertising, DV360, The Trade Deskno first choiceagainst: Amazon DSP, Basis, Simpli.fi, StackAdapt, The Trade Desk
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency.
Thirty-six rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:31yes3053 s
Direct recommendationClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:32no022 s
Direct recommendationGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 18:50yes430 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 18:52yes437 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:22yes943 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:32yes205 s
ParaphraseClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:35yes1958 s
ParaphraseClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:36no019 s
ParaphraseGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 18:53yes422 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 18:54yes624 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:00no024 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:36yes205 s
ComparativeClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:39yes2654 s
ComparativeClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:40no020 s
ComparativeGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 18:56yes942 s
ComparativeGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 18:59yes1149 s
ComparativeGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:01yes1030 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:40yes2011 s
Budget constrainedClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:43yes2858 s
Budget constrainedClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:44no016 s
Budget constrainedGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:00yes419 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:01yes319 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:02yes1028 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:44yes205 s
Scale constrainedClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:47yes4457 s
Scale constrainedClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:48no029 s
Scale constrainedGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:02yes436 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:04yes358 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:03no025 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:49yes206 s
Negative framingClaude Opus 5claude-opus-52026-09-09 17:51no020 s
Negative framingClaude Opus 4.8claude-opus-4-82026-09-09 17:53yes2646 s
Negative framingGPT-6 Astragpt-6-astra2026-09-09 19:07yes562 s
Negative framingGPT-5.6 Solgpt-5.6-sol2026-09-09 19:10yes672 s
Negative framingGemini 3.1 Progemini-3.1-pro-preview2026-09-10 17:26yes13104 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonar Prosonar-pro2026-09-09 17:53yes208 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

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Category-scoped readings
Adform read as Adform DSP
Adobe read as Adobe Advertising
Amazon read as Amazon DSP
Demandbase read as Demandbase Advertising
Demandbase One read as Demandbase Advertising
LinkedIn read as LinkedIn Campaign Manager
LinkedIn (as a complement, not a pure DSP) read as LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Meta read as Meta Ads
Unresolved, counted raw
None awaiting human review.
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in marketing

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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