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AI agents and so-called “super signal aggregators” are being framed as the saviors of premium publishers and advertisers who prioritize high-quality media. But these technologies could perpetuate programmatic’s worst practices and push premium media brands into a Commoditization 2.0 era. Commoditization 1.0 occurred when quality media brands
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When a major brand's ad budgets end up funding terrorist propaganda or child exploitation, the industry's response is predictably complex: more AI, more algorithms, more “solutions”. But what if the answer has been hiding in plain sight for years? Two decades of added complexity have done
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Because DSPs manage programmatic ad spend, they can be seen as gatekeepers wielding influence over industry standards. DSPs select inventory to bid on, interpret SSP signals and prioritize bids based on historical performance and preferences. However, advertisers, agencies, media owners and technology providers also influence the rapidly evolving programmatic ecosystem.
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That time of the year again, when I spend the first week of January reflecting and getting ready for the new year after making the time between Christmas and New Year just for family and friends. As usual, rather than predicting the future, I'd like to offer some
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The regular drip of reports by watchdogs like Adalytics is normally followed by widespread – more or less genuine – outrage. This pattern reveals two facts about the digital advertising industry. One: The road to (real) accountability is still long and winding. Two: The way most of the industry is tackling the
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The digital advertising industry faces conflicting interests, leading to polarised perspectives on various topics, which slow down its progress and transformation. Media alliances and curated marketplaces are not an exception, both emerging as two of the most promising trends in the aftermath of the near-miss disappearance (for now) of the
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Without a real and engaged audience, a media company would generate no revenue. In the first-party web, where the primary client of a premium media company is its audience, a content strategy plays a crucial role in media monetisation and supports the overarching goal of the company. Beyond Traffic: The
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I call that rabbit hole many media owners find themselves in, the “perpetual cycle of emergency”. It begins with short-term decisions, or a complete lack of them, at key strategic moments in time. It leaves the media brand weaker. It makes them more vulnerable to the consequences of whatever is
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Part of the industry is celebrating Google’s decision to halt the deprecation of third-party cookies. Another group is speculating Google’s next moves, sometimes with subtly implied suggestions that it was all part of a cunning plan (I find it overly conflictive and more akin to a conspiracy theory
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In the multiverse that exists at the intersection between media and digital advertising, reality is perceived and interpreted in various ways, often with opposing viewpoints. It’s normal, it’s human nature. Nevertheless, we must all be fully aware of it, to be able to develop stronger and more effective
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Another Cannes Lions is behind us. The senior advertising execs who convened on La Croisette confidently shared their visions for the future of transparency, AI, attention, identity, privacy and curated marketplaces. I have been writing about these topics for AdExchanger for years and have sometimes been considered naïve and utopian
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There is nothing to joke about when a business is terminating a product or a department, but Oracle shutting down their ad business, with the division generating $300 million last fiscal year, down from $2 billion in 2022, represents a very noisy crash in the collapsing phase of the old