[oliwarner]

The Guardian manages [at least some of their inventory] first-party. Their products and rates are refreshingly transparent.

https://advertising.theguardian.com/

They may well use backup agencies for selling unfilled slots.

[youngtaff]

This is probably The Guardian study I was thinking of https://the-media-leader.com/where-did-the-money-go-guardian...

Says in the worst cases they only saw 30% of the revenue

Recent studies have shown even worse results for other publishers https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/how-much-publisher-revenue-...

[oliwarner]

It says that's the worst case for programmatic buys.

I don't know their business, but I suspect most of their big money ads are direct sales and they pocket the lot. It'd be interesting to break down their income by source.