# Programmatic and display advertising: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Gane Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "programmatic advertising platform" and as "demand-side platform for display ads", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/programmatic-and-display-advertising/2026-10

This is the permanent record of the October 2026 Edition, published October 1, 2026 and superseded since. The current standing: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/programmatic-and-display-advertising/index.md

**Standing:** StackAdapt leads with 48% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 58 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [StackAdapt](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/stackadapt/index.md) | 48% | 10% | 60 |
| 2 | [The Trade Desk](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/the-trade-desk/index.md) | 10% | 41% | 59 |
| 3 | [Choozle](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/choozle/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 11 |
| 5 | [Demandbase Advertising](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/demandbase-advertising/index.md) | 3% | 3% | 29 |
| 6 | [Amazon DSP](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/amazon-dsp/index.md) | 3% | 28% | 32 |
| 10 | [Meta Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/meta-ads/index.md) | 3% | 40% | 10 |
| 11 | [Basis](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/basis/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 16 |
| 12 | [Google Display & Video 360](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/google-display-video-360/index.md) | 2% | 38% | 32 |
| 16 | [MediaMath](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/mediamath/index.md) | 2% | 45% | 11 |
| 17 | [LinkedIn Campaign Manager](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/linkedin-campaign-manager/index.md) | 0% | 7% | 14 |
| 19 | [6sense](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/6sense/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 21 | [PubMatic](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/pubmatic/index.md) | 0% | 9% | 11 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 91 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: StackAdapt; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Basis, Demandbase Advertising, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- GPT-5.4 mini: The Trade Desk; alternatives Demandbase Advertising
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: StackAdapt; alternatives AdLib, AdRoll ABM, Demandbase Advertising, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Perplexity Sonar: StackAdapt; alternatives Demandbase Advertising
- Grok 4.20: StackAdapt; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Demandbase Advertising, Google Display & Video 360, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Mistral Small: StackAdapt; alternatives 6sense, Demandbase Advertising, LiveRamp RampID
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: StackAdapt; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Basis, Demandbase Advertising
- Llama 4 Maverick: StackAdapt
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: The Trade Desk; alternatives 6sense, Demandbase Advertising, Google Display & Video 360, Spotware
- Kimi K2: StackAdapt; alternatives 6sense, Basis, Demandbase Advertising, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: StackAdapt; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Hey Sid
- MiniMax M2.5: Google Marketing Platform, The Trade Desk; alternatives LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Media.net
- GPT-6 Luna: StackAdapt; alternatives 6sense, Demandbase Advertising, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Muse Glimmer 30B: StackAdapt; alternatives 6sense, AdRoll ABM, Basis, Demandbase Advertising

## Sources the answers cite

74 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- improvado.io: 39 answers, 51 citations
- demandbase.com: 37 answers, 46 citations
- aidigital.com: 34 answers, 41 citations
- madgicx.com: 28 answers, 32 citations
- admanage.ai: 26 answers, 26 citations
- heysid.com: 21 answers, 26 citations
- smartyads.com: 19 answers, 22 citations
- syntermedia.ai: 19 answers, 22 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://aidigital.com/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms (33 answers)
- https://demandbase.com/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms (32 answers)
- https://improvado.io/blog/top-programmatic-platforms (31 answers)
- https://madgicx.com/blog/ad-tech-platform-for-programmatic-advertising (26 answers)
- https://admanage.ai/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms (25 answers)
- https://heysid.com/resources/best-programmatic-advertising-platforms-for-b2b (20 answers)
- https://vibe.co/blog/how-to/programmatic-advertising-platforms (16 answers)
- https://propellant.media/best-programmatic-ad-platforms-2024 (15 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/best-programmatic-advertising-platforms (13 answers)
- https://pipeline.zoominfo.com/marketing/best-demand-side-platforms (13 answers)

## Warned against

- The Trade Desk: 24 of 59 labels negative. "Enterprise DSPs like The Trade Desk ($50K+/month) ... aren't practical for small budgets" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Google Display & Video 360: 12 of 32 labels negative. "($35K–$50K+/month, no self-serve) ... have high thresholds, complex contracts ... aren't practical for small budgets" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- Amazon DSP: 9 of 32 labels negative. "Amazon DSP ($35K+) have high thresholds, complex contracts, and are geared toward large-scale operations" (Grok 4.20, budget prompt)
- DV360: 7 of 15 labels negative. "mid-sized companies rarely have the $10,000–$20,000 monthly minimums required to secure a direct seat with Tier-1 enterprise DSPs like Google’s DV360 or The Trade Desk" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: StackAdapt at 44%.

- StackAdapt: 61% to 44%, −17. Cleared the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 86, unchanged.
- AdRoll: 13% to 4%, −9. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 7 of 86.
- Amazon DSP: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 11 → 6 of 86.
- Demandbase Advertising: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 7 → 4 of 86.
- Basis: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 10 → 11 of 86.
- Google Display & Video 360: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 12 of 86.
- Simpli.fi: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 14 → 13 of 86.
- MediaMath: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 87 → 16 of 86.
- The Trade Desk: 11% to 12%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 3 → 2 of 86.
- Choozle: 4% to 4%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 4 → 5 of 86.
- LinkedIn Campaign Manager: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 17 of 86.
- Adobe Advertising: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 18 → 26 of 86.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, October 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.