In this bonus episode, the Middlemen dive into the latest buzz in ad tech circles: the emergence of “SLAP” – Site List as a Product. Sparked by The Trade Desk’s announcement of their premium internet site list (with the exact number still up for debate: SP 100, 500, or even 20,000?), the hosts unpack what this means for advertisers, publishers, and the broader programmatic ecosystem.

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The conversation kicks off with a lighthearted take on the proliferation of industry acronyms and memes, including a Star Wars-themed visual comparing The Trade Desk to the Death Star and publishers to Alderaan. But behind the jokes is a serious discussion about the evolution of site lists. The hosts point out that while “preferred publisher lists” aren’t new—DSPs have long curated such lists—the spotlight on them is intensifying as audience targeting shifts toward more contextual, domain-based strategies.

The episode explores the challenges of optimizing campaigns across thousands of publishers, the cold-start problem for new campaigns, and the renewed importance of transparency and publisher relationships in a post-cookie world.

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