They decided not to build the thing you want
Broadstreet helps a local publisher run ads with a human in the loop, from $299 a month. They have publicly explained why they will not build self-serve advertiser buying. Pyrobid is built around it, from $29.99.
We don't think we can completely and consistently automate sales in the foreseeable future.From their article "Does Broadstreet Offer a Self-Serve Advertising System?", accessed 16 September 2026
What that means in practice
Broadstreet advertisers can get logins, but as Advertiser Administrators: view-only by default, and optionally able to create campaigns that are automatically paused pending your approval.
That is a review and reporting portal. It is not a place where a stranger signs up, funds an account and gets a campaign running on their own.
The sale still runs through you.
Where we disagree with them
Relationship selling, the six-figure annual sponsorship, still has a human in it, and nothing here gets in its way.
But most publisher ad revenue is not six-figure sponsorships. It is a local business that wants a banner for three months and gives up when the process takes a week.
You do not have to automate all of it. You have to stop being the bottleneck on the small ones.
Where Pyrobid wins
Almost entirely about whether an advertiser can complete a purchase without you.
Advertisers can actually buy
They register, fund an account, build a campaign and upload creative. You approve before anything runs. Broadstreet has publicly decided not to build this.
A tenth of the price
$29.99 against $299 at entry. For a small publication that difference is the whole question of whether to try direct sales at all.
A free trial you can just start
Fourteen days, card up front, cancel anytime. Broadstreet publishes no trial on their pricing or features pages.
Your own branded portal
Your logo, your name, your subdomain. Broadstreet publishes no white-label or custom-domain capability outside their call-us Enterprise tier.
Published volume terms
Our allowances are published and soft: go past yours and we keep serving, with no metered overage bill. Broadstreet publishes no impression limits at all.
Restricted verticals, stated
Crypto, cannabis and gambling publishers are supported and we say so. Broadstreet publishes no acceptable-use policy we could find.
What your advertisers see
Your brand, on your own domain. They sign up, fund an account and build a campaign in five steps. You approve the artwork before anything runs.
Illustration of step one of the advertiser campaign builder, on your own domain under your branding.
A screenshot is still only a picture. The demo is the running product, read only, with the login published and nothing to install.
Side by side
Broadstreet figures below are quoted from broadstreetads.com/pricing and their public help centre, accessed 16 September 2026.
$29.99/mo
|
Broadstreet$299/mo | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Advertised entry price | $29.99/mo | $299/mo |
| Next tier | $99.99/mo, up to 5M | $399/mo, limited availability |
| Impression limits | Published, and soft | Not published |
| Free trial | 14 days | Not published |
| Managed ad ops service | Not offered | $15 per 15 minutes |
| Self-serve | ||
| Advertisers buy and pay themselves | ✓ | Not offered, by their own statement |
| Advertiser logins | Full self-serve account | View-only, or create-and-await-approval |
| Your own branded portal | Included | Not published below Enterprise |
| Your own domain | Pro plan, $99.99 | Not published |
| Capability | ||
| Newsletter and email ad serving | Not offered | Yes, across major ESPs |
| Native CMS integrations | Paste a tag anywhere | WordPress, Newspack, MetroPublisher |
| Your existing ads kept as fallback | ✓ | Not published |
| Restricted verticals | Supported and stated | No published policy |
Broadstreet once ran a self-serve widget called Selfie with a 20% commission, but the page describing it dates from 2014 and contradicts their current help-centre position. We have treated it as discontinued rather than quoting a figure that appears to be a decade stale.
Your network keeps what you do not sell
Every ad request runs down a chain. Your direct deals get first refusal at your price. Anything unsold falls through to what you run today.
Choose Pyrobid if
- ›You want advertisers to buy without waiting for you
- ›You are testing direct sales and $299 a month is too big a bet
- ›You want a branded portal advertisers log into
- ›Your inventory is web rather than newsletter
Common questions
Is it fair to say Broadstreet has no self-serve?
It is their own position, published in their help centre, and we quote it directly above. Their advertisers can have logins with approval-gated campaign creation, but the advertiser still cannot fund an account and start a campaign without you. We think that distinction matters more than the label.
Broadstreet is much more expensive. What am I getting for it?
Newsletter ad serving, deep CMS integration and human ad ops billed at $15 per fifteen minutes. What the price does not buy is a way for your advertisers to fund an account and start a campaign without you, which is the part Pyrobid is built around, from $29.99.
Can I run both?
Yes. Pyrobid runs the self-serve portal and the slots on your website, and whatever ad code you run today can sit inside each slot as the fallback.
What about the 20% Selfie commission I read about?
That page is from 2014 and contradicts their current published position that they offer no self-serve system, so the figure is not used here.
What the advertiser actually touches
The screen on the left is the real product, on a live tenant. The right is what an advertiser gets from Broadstreet.
Broadstreet
They have publicly decided not to build self-serve advertiser buying. Advertisers can be given logins and can create campaigns that sit paused for your approval. What they cannot do is fund an account and start spending without you in the room.
Let advertisers buy while you sleep.
Your existing ads keep running underneath as the fallback, so nothing comes down while you try it.
Start free trial14 days free. Your existing ads keep running. Cancel anytime.
Broadstreet details were taken from broadstreetads.com/pricing and information.broadstreetads.com on 16 September 2026 and are quoted as published.