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What is pre-bid inventory quality? A buyer's guide 22 Jun 2026·5 min read Featured Methodology

What is pre-bid inventory quality? A buyer's guide.

Pre-bid inventory quality scores supply before the bid is placed, not after. What it is, how it differs from verification, what signals matter, and why it's become the spine of programmatic decisions in 2026.

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Measuring Online Video Quality: Labels vs. Signals 6 May 2026·7 min read Methodology

Measuring Online Video Quality: Labels vs. Signals.

Instream doesn't guarantee video ad quality. Behaviour-based signals, viewability, sound, player behaviour, reveal what actually works.

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Signal Washing: The Ad Industry's Greenwashing Problem 5 May 2026·3 min read Industry

Signal Washing: The Ad Industry's Greenwashing Problem.

Signal washing is distorting how inventory quality is measured in programmatic. What it is, why it matters, and how to protect your media spend.

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AI Slop Is Funding Itself With Your Media Budget 21 Apr 2026·3 min read Industry

AI Slop Is Funding Itself With Your Media Budget.

Advertisers are outsourcing quality decisions to frameworks controlled by the platforms selling them inventory. Why that's a problem, and what independent quality data does about it.

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The Open Web's Video Quality Problem 18 Mar 2026·4 min read Research

The Open Web's Video Quality Problem.

Most video impressions don't deliver true value. Why Instream vs Outstream labels fail, and how real player behaviour reveals video quality.

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Introducing Quality Video: The Transparent Way to Buy Video 9 Mar 2026·4 min read Product

Introducing Quality Video: The Transparent Way to Buy Video.

Quality Video is Picnic's signal-led video curation product, evaluating open-web video inventory based on real player behaviour. Buy video with confidence.

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The Age of Quality: hear from the speakers of Inventory Talks 2025 9 Oct 2025·4 min read Industry

The Age of Quality: hear from the speakers of Inventory Talks 2025.

Top experts from OpenX, OMD, Lumen and more take the stage at Inventory Talks 2025 in London. A morning of bold ideas on fixing ad waste and driving real outcomes.

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What happens when your DSP scores the inventory? 16 Jul 2025·4 min read Methodology

What happens when your DSP scores the inventory?

As DSPs begin scoring their own inventory, buyers face new risks. Why independent scoring like PIQ is essential for media transparency and performance.

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What OpenSincera Means for Media Buyers, and What It Doesn't 2 Jul 2025·4 min read Methodology

What OpenSincera Means for Media Buyers, and What It Doesn't.

OpenSincera is a step toward greater transparency in programmatic, but is it enough? Where it helps, where it falls short, and why buyers need independent scoring.

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How digital decay is costing advertisers millions of pounds in wasted ad spend 10 Jun 2025·5 min read Industry

How digital decay is costing advertisers millions of pounds in wasted ad spend.

What digital decay and enshittification mean for advertising, and how Inventory Intelligence helps brands fight back with smarter, high-quality buys.

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Redefining Inventory Quality: The Evolution & Intent of PIQ 21 Mar 2025·2 min read Product

Redefining Inventory Quality: The Evolution & Intent of PIQ.

PIQ is the culmination of over four years of innovation and refinement. Built to measure inventory quality through a comprehensive evaluation of every signal that matters.

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Why inventory quality matters: Driving high-intent page lands 9 Jan 2025·4 min read Methodology

Why inventory quality matters: Driving high-intent page lands.

Clicks don't guarantee engagement. Quality page lands, visits from high-intent users, drive better conversions. How Inventory Intelligence shifts the outcome.

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Top 10 Highest-Quality Publishers for 2024 — Yahoo Tops the List 5 Nov 2024·2 min read Research

Top 10 Highest-Quality Publishers for 2024 — Yahoo Tops the List.

Picnic's inaugural Media Quality Report defines and measures media quality across the UK programmatic market. Here are the publishers that came out on top.

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1 in 3 Domains Fail Media Quality Thresholds 31 Oct 2024·2 min read Research

1 in 3 Domains Fail Media Quality Thresholds.

Significant findings from Picnic's Media Quality Report 2024, powered by PIQ intelligence: the scale of the quality gap, and what it means for buyers.

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The threat of MFA sites: Why quality is key to protecting your brand 16 Oct 2024·3 min read Industry

The threat of MFA sites: Why quality is key to protecting your brand.

The hidden risks of MFA (Made for Ads) sites, and why prioritising quality is crucial to protecting your brand's online reputation.

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49% of Domains are Classified as High-Risk According to New PIQ Intelligence 15 Oct 2024·2 min read Research

49% of Domains are Classified as High-Risk According to New PIQ Intelligence.

Alarming findings from Picnic's latest Media Quality Report, using proprietary PIQ intelligence. Half of the Open Web carries quality risks buyers cannot ignore.

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Breaking the vicious cycle of misaligned metrics 8 Oct 2024·3 min read Industry

Breaking the vicious cycle of misaligned metrics.

How over-reliance on vanity metrics like CTR and viewability is damaging digital advertising. Why brands, media buyers, and publishers must align on outcomes.

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Lessons advertisers can learn from oyster season 31 Jul 2024·5 min read Industry

Lessons advertisers can learn from oyster season.

From quality to sustainability, the surprising parallels between oyster season and running a high-performing programmatic campaign.

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The Ad Waste Buckets: a nuanced approach to defining and measuring ad waste 12 Mar 2024·4 min read Research

The Ad Waste Buckets: a nuanced approach to defining and measuring ad waste.

Up to 43% of digital ad spend goes to waste in some markets. A framework for naming, sizing, and tackling the buckets that actually move the needle.

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Picnic Launches Inventory Intelligence Tool to Drive a More User-Friendly Ad-Funded Web 22 Jan 2024·2 min read News

Picnic Launches Inventory Intelligence Tool to Drive a More User-Friendly Ad-Funded Web

Picnictoday (January 22nd, 2024) announces the launch of PIQ (Picnic Inventory Quality), a first-of-its-kind inventory intelligence platform capable...

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How to tackle ad waste, one impression at a time 27 Nov 2023·4 min read Industry

How to tackle ad waste, one impression at a time.

Ads are the funding mechanism of the open web. Without quality controls, the ecosystem suffers. A practical guide to cutting waste at the impression level.

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Brands Are Wasting Budget on 'Annoying' Ads, New YouGov Survey Finds 15 Nov 2023·4 min read Research

Brands Are Wasting Budget on 'Annoying' Ads, New YouGov Survey Finds.

70% of people find digital advertising annoying and unpleasant. 72% say bad ads damage brand perception. The data that should reshape every buy.

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Picnic Secures Backing from FirstPartyCapital & Industry Heavy Weights to Drive Expansion in the US Market 18 Sep 2023·4 min read News

Picnic Secures Backing from FirstPartyCapital & Industry Heavy Weights to Drive Expansion in the US Market

Picnic announced it has closed a £1m funding round.

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Picnic Named a Flexible Company to Work For, With 89% Verification Score 7 Sep 2023·2 min read News

Picnic Named a Flexible Company to Work For, With 89% Verification Score

Picnic has been certified as a flexible place to work byFlexa, the leading UK verification provider.

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User-First Advertising: A Picnic Manifesto 27 Mar 2023·5 min read Industry

User-First Advertising: A Picnic Manifesto.

A user-first approach isn't a compromise, it works best for everyone, including advertisers. Picnic's five-point manifesto for advertising that puts the user first.

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Picnic Launches BritBox’s Spitting Image with Swipe Right 19 Dec 2022·2 min read News

Picnic Launches BritBox’s Spitting Image with Swipe Right

Streaming service BritBox has worked with Total Media and Picnic Media to drive subscriptions via an entirely new mobile ad format called Swipe Right....

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Say Hello, New Logo 10 Jan 2022·2 min read News

Say Hello, New Logo

Have you noticed things are looking a little different over here? Picnic has had a fresh lick of paint! We are very excited to officially introduce...

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