Finding local Polish inventory through a global DSP sounds simple. Until you actually try it.
A programmatic agency in Poland had just signed an e-commerce brand selling fitness equipment. First, the company tried launching programmatic campaigns that bid on global traffic, limiting their targeting to standard GEO options. On paper, the campaign was live.
Then the first report arrived.
"Switching to Epom allowed us to tell our advertisers that we can reach anybody, not just our user base. That was a tremendous help."
Every ad placement meant opening the CMS, finding the right section, and manually inserting HTML code. Reporting was another layer of work — exporting every campaign to the spreadsheet looked like a stressful chore rather than an efficient measurement.
"We opened it together with the client. They looked at the list of sites and said, "Those are renowned global brands, but we wanted Polish names," — recalls the head of programmatic at an agency. — "Our clients in e-commerce want clicks. They want sessions. If users bounce in one second, impressions don't matter."
Why Standard SSPs Didn't Work for Local Campaigns
For a brand selling resistance bands in Kraków, "global" meant "invisible". This is the hidden problem of small markets. Global SSPs operate at enormous scale, but local Polish publishers — sports portals, lifestyle magazines, niche e-commerce directories — are underrepresented or entirely absent.
Most local publishers in CEE sell inventory through direct deals or regional ad networks. Many don't have the setup to connect to global SSP auctions at all. So when a DSP buyer targets Poland, the bid requests come from international sites. Local supply never enters the auction.
Our client needed to solve two things at once. First, find local publishers that a Polish advertiser would recognize by name. Second, deliver traffic the client could verify in their own analytics — not just impressions, but visits that stay on the page for a reasonable period of time to make a purchase.
Epom DSP gave their agency access to local Polish premium inventory — sites their clients would actually recognize — through local publisher connections. But brand presence alone wasn't enough. Their clients also needed \real on-site engagement.
Building a Two-Layer Strategy: Brand Presence & Measurable Traffic
Once local inventory was live, the company didn't stop there. They built a two-layer buying strategy that solves two distinct client problems altogether.
Layer one is brand presence. CPM banner campaigns on local premium Polish sites. The client opens the report and sees names they trust.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Average CPM | $1.00 |
| Polish publisher domains | 100+ |
| Notable placements | rmf24.pl, onet.pl, wp.pl, bankier.pl, interia.pl, gazeta.pl |
| Monthly impressions | 1.2M |
| Viewability rate | 62% |
Layer two is performance. CPC campaigns optimized for clicks and session quality, bringing clients thousands of visits. This is what proves the budgets are working.
Here our client tracks one key signal: sessions lasting more than 3 seconds. This simple metric helps filter accidental clicks and low-quality traffic.
“The banners give us the story. The pop and push ads run on CPC give us the numbers. In our reports, clients clearly see proof of both reputation and performance,” mentions the agency’s Head of Programmatic
Holding 68% Session Retention Across All Campaigns
Any DSP can deliver clicks. The question the agency's management kept hearing from clients was different: "Are these real people?"
To answer that, they set a simple rule. A click counts as a real visit only if the user stays on the advertiser's site for more than 3 seconds.
"Three seconds is our quality line. When you hold a 68% session retention rate across all campaigns, you're showing the client something they can trust." — Head of Programmatic, Polish agency
The result: CPC campaigns through Epom DSP consistently deliver sessions that hold up in the client's own analytics.
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Average CPC | $0.01 |
| Monthly clicks per advertiser | ~45,000 |
| Sessions >3 seconds | 68% |
| Average session duration | 12 seconds |
| Bounce rate improvement | -22% |
Reaching 4 Markets Across Eastern Europe with One Platform
They started with Poland. But their e-commerce clients also sell in Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Expanding didn't mean switching platforms or starting over.
"Poland was the proof of our hypothesis. Once the two-layer model worked, we just added new geos. Same logic, but on the new markets." — Head of Programmatic, Polish agency
Epom DSP's geo-targeting at the country and region level lets the agency replicate the strategy across CEE. The banner layer adapts to local supply in each country. The CPC layer scales with bid adjustments.
Why CPM + CPC Mix Works for Brand Advertisers
The key is not choosing between premium and performance. It's combining them. Premium banners place the brand on sites the client trusts, while CPC traffic drives real users to the client's site.
"When a client sees their banner on a top Polish site and 45,000 clicks in analytics the same month, there is no debate about renewing the budget," says the head of programmatic at the agency.
The fear around CPC traffic stems from running it in isolation, without context. When a client only sees clicks from unknown sources, they question everything. But when those same clicks sit next to premium placements in the same report, they become proof of scale.
After six months of our client delivering this strategy to their e-commerce clients, not one advertiser has left.
