Paul Bannister dropped some serious knowledge bombs on LinkedIn and Twitter, giving us the lowdown on how different DSPs spend with Google's Protected Audience API (PAAPI). It's clear from the data that everyone's scrambling to figure out their game plan for a post-third-party cookie world. Most DSPs are playing it safe, dabbling with around 1% of their ad spend to test the waters. Amazon, the notorious latecomer, only started spending in March, but even their minimal spend might be enough to pivot swiftly when the cookies finally crumble.

The real stars of this report are the "paradigm shifters" like AdRoll and Audigent. These guys are not just tiptoeing around; they're embracing PAAPI like it's their golden ticket to innovation. Audigent, for instance, has built Component Buyer technology without even running a DSP. This leapfrog move could position them as major players in the new ad tech landscape. And let's not forget the complexity of getting large advertisers on board. Google's DV360, for example, is lagging behind Google AdWords in terms of PAAPI spend, highlighting the intricate dance required to shift big advertisers to new tech.

Now, let's zoom out and put this into perspective. PAAPI, as one of Google's answers to the impending cookie apocalypse, stores user interest groups locally and runs on-device auctions, aiming to maintain the delicate balance of targeted advertising while beefing up privacy. For publishers, this means navigating a whole new ecosystem where they swap the usual third-party cookies for a more privacy-centric approach. However, the journey is not without its bumps. Publishers need to keep their Prebid.js updated and brace themselves for a workflow still in its infancy, missing some familiar components like comprehensive revenue reporting in Google Ad Manager (GAM) — at least, that was the case at the time we initially took a deep dive into PAAPI's technical aspects.