# Programmatic and display advertising for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 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 small B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/programmatic-and-display-advertising/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** StackAdapt leads with 41% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 59 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) | 41% | 2% | 62 |
| 2 | [Choozle](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/choozle/index.md) | 17% | 3% | 33 |
| 3 | [AdRoll](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/adroll/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 24 |
| 4 | [Google Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/google-ads/index.md) | 5% | 0% | 17 |
| 5 | [LinkedIn Campaign Manager](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/linkedin-campaign-manager/index.md) | 5% | 6% | 18 |
| 6 | [Meta Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/meta-ads/index.md) | 3% | 0% | 14 |
| 7 | [Demandbase Advertising](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/demandbase-advertising/index.md) | 3% | 44% | 16 |
| 8 | [The Trade Desk](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/the-trade-desk/index.md) | 3% | 73% | 55 |
| 9 | [AdLib](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/adlib/index.md) | 2% | 0% | 14 |
| 10 | [Basis](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/basis/index.md) | 2% | 14% | 14 |
| 16 | [6sense](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/6sense/index.md) | 2% | 45% | 11 |
| 17 | [Amazon DSP](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/amazon-dsp/index.md) | 2% | 56% | 32 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 69 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, AdRoll ABM, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- GPT-5.4 mini: LinkedIn Campaign Manager; alternatives StackAdapt
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: StackAdapt; alternatives AdLib, AdRoll ABM, Choozle, Google Ads
- Perplexity Sonar: StackAdapt; alternatives Choozle, Google Display, Hey Sid, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Grok 4.20: StackAdapt; alternatives AdRoll, Basis, Simpli.fi, SmartyAds
- Mistral Small: StackAdapt, The Trade Desk; alternatives 6sense, SmartyAds
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: StackAdapt; alternatives AdRoll, Choozle, Epom DSP, Hey Sid
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: StackAdapt; alternatives AdLib, LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Kimi K2: Choozle, StackAdapt; alternatives Hey Sid, SmartyAds
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Choozle, StackAdapt; alternatives Adlo, SmartyAds DSP
- MiniMax M2.5: Google Ads, Meta Ads; alternatives Bridge Connect, ProData Management, StackAdapt
- GPT-6 Luna: StackAdapt; alternatives LinkedIn Campaign Manager
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Choozle, SmartyAds DSP; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Hey Sid, StackAdapt

## Sources the answers cite

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

- reddit.com: 32 answers, 50 citations
- epom.com: 31 answers, 34 citations
- smartyads.com: 30 answers, 32 citations
- getadlib.com: 23 answers, 29 citations
- demandbase.com: 23 answers, 28 citations
- madgicx.com: 18 answers, 19 citations
- g2.com: 16 answers, 33 citations
- 6sense.com: 16 answers, 17 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://epom.com/blog/programmatic/programmatic-advertising-for-small-business (28 answers)
- https://smartyads.com/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms (25 answers)
- https://demandbase.com/blog/programmatic-advertising-platforms (18 answers)
- https://6sense.com/blog/best-b2b-programmatic-advertising-platforms (16 answers)
- https://magiclogix.com/theories/best-programmatic-platforms (15 answers)
- https://adwave.com/resources/best-programmatic-advertising-platforms (14 answers)
- https://getadlib.com/blog/best-programmatic-advertising-agencies-and-platforms (14 answers)
- https://madgicx.com/blog/ad-tech-platform-for-programmatic-advertising (14 answers)
- https://heysid.com/resources/best-programmatic-advertising-platforms-for-b2b (13 answers)
- https://improvado.io/blog/top-programmatic-platforms (13 answers)

## Warned against

- Google Display & Video 360: 25 of 37 labels negative. "Platforms or Categories to Avoid or Be Cautious About ... (e.g., The Trade Desk, Google Display & Video 360, Adobe Advertising Cloud, MediaMath remnants or similar)" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- The Trade Desk: 40 of 55 labels negative. "Enterprise-Level DSPs (Demand-Side Platforms) with High Minimum Spends (e.g., The Trade Desk...): Why avoid/cautious? These often require $10K–20K+ monthly commitments" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Amazon DSP: 18 of 32 labels negative. "Two immediate disqualifiers worth flagging: DV360 and Amazon DSP both carry high minimum spend thresholds that put them out of reach for most small teams" (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Demandbase Advertising: 7 of 16 labels negative. "Why avoid for small B2B: High minimums, complex implementation, steep learning curve" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, direct prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: StackAdapt at 41%.

- Choozle: 2% to 17%, +15. Cleared the floor by 4 points · rank 8 → 2 of 69.
- Vibe.co: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 5 → 23 of 69.
- Meta Ads: 8% to 3%, −5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 3 → 6 of 69.
- StackAdapt: 43% to 41%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 1 of 69, unchanged.
- AdRoll: 9% to 7%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 2 → 3 of 69.
- Basis: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 22 → 10 of 69.
- 6sense: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 52 → 16 of 69.
- Amazon DSP: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 71 → 17 of 69.
- SmartyAds: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 9 → 19 of 69.
- Google Display & Video 360: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 17 → 69 of 69.
- Google Ads: 4% to 5%, +1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 6 → 4 of 69.
- LinkedIn Campaign Manager: 6% to 5%, −1. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 4 → 5 of 69.

## Record

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