Sprouting from just a laptop and a little bit of code in 2015, AMA, previously known as A Million Ads, has grown into the leader in dynamic creative for digital audio advertising. And by using data to make each listener’s experience more contextually-aware and personalized, they create a more compelling experience for listeners and deliver better outcomes for advertisers. 

Whether listening to podcasts on Spotify, iHeart, or Audacy, the ad experience can now be enhanced and personalized by AMA’s ability to dynamically serve the most relevant ad for each listener. 

What does AMA mean by dynamic? Dynamic is the ability to change the voiceover, music, and sound effects of the audio ad based on data about each listener, such as the time of day the user is listening, the device they’re using, the weather, the pollen count, or any other data the creative ad platform can access in a privacy-compliant way.

“Our studio tool is a platform for scriptwriters, producers, and creatives to design and build these dynamic ads”, said Steven Dunlop, CEO and Founder of AMA. “We have a serving infrastructure that can serve dynamic ads into platforms like Spotify, iHeart, and Pandora, automating the process of serving the right message to the right user, all through a single tag.”

Yakira Young: Are selling ads on podcasts a struggle? What are the main challenges that publishers and advertisers face in the space?

Steven Dunlop: The podcast industry is growing but not evenly. For podcast creators, if you’re a new podcast that no one knows about yet, it’s tough to get monetized because you don’t start to see any money coming in until you reach a critical mass or a scale that’s interesting, so it is a game of marketing and SEO to get known.

For advertisers, the biggest challenge with podcasts is effectively spending money on the channel. It’s tough for big advertisers with big budgets because the inventory is fragmented, and the format is difficult to scale.

These are symptoms of the first phase of podcast monetization, and we are approaching the tricky transition between the first phase of podcasts and monetization and the second phase.

Phase one:

The first phase was characterized by a few hit podcasts being sponsored by a similar type of advertiser, brands like Casper mattresses, Squarespace, Better Help, Hello Fresh, and other Direct -to -Consumer (D2C) businesses that are prepared to try different types of advertising.

Podcasters were often famous people who would turn to podcasts, often names you’d recognize or coming from prominent publications like NPR, BBC, and the Economist, places where listener trust and audiences would naturally migrate, and then the ad creative itself was host read.

The host would go from discussing a True Crime Murder in a sleepy suburb to telling you about Casper mattresses. That was the first phase of podcasting. Not a lot of ad tech or technology involved. 

The podcast ecosystem has been built around that, gathering up a lot of the podcasters into groups so they can be managed and sold collectively. But then also applying ad tech to the scenario rather than the baked-in-host read ad.

Phase two:

The second phase is about being able to buy and sell programmatically, like all other forms of digital advertising. This does not include baking in content linked to that host or that podcast.

This allows more budget to be spent across many different podcasts. So rather than just Squarespace sponsoring five podcasts, Squarespace can buy based on the podcast’s audience, topic, or genre rather than just the title.

Say you have a discussion format podcast whose first topic is about science news, the second story is about sports results, and the third might be about politics. With topic-based programmatic ads, an advertiser could pick and choose where to place their ad based on the content of that segment, whether they want to buy just that sports segment, science, or all three. 

YY: What does this mean for the creative?

SD: In this second phase, there’s an opportunity to build a new, more flexible creative format.

Imagine you’re a podcast network with 1,000 podcasts in your catalog. Getting all 1,000 hosts to read the script for one advertiser is already labor-intensive. But, more likely there are 100 different advertisers, so now you’ve got 100 times 1,000 different scripts to read, which is an incredible organization and logistical challenge. 

So, the answer isn’t making everybody do a live read. The answer is finding a creative format that can fit in the middle, with some of the benefits of live reads, like the authenticity, but can scale to the kind of dimensions that the bigger podcast networks are working at. 

YY: How important is it for an ad to relate to the content? I attended the IAB podcast upfront, and one takeaway is that listeners prefer when the ad flows into what’s already being discussed.

SD: When people think about programmatic advertising on podcasting, they immediately associate it with a particular type of creative; the 30-second ad is trying to sell air conditioning.

This makes people nervous in the podcast industry because we all hark back to radio, where there are 18 minutes of ads an hour, which doesn’t make for a great user experience in podcasting.

So there’s a strong and justified fear of a race to the bottom in the podcast industry. The lowest common denominator is that we all get programmatically delivered spots. I encourage everyone to see programmatic as a way of trading the creative, the payload that goes once you’ve won the bid in the programmatic auction. It can be host-read or the middle ground.

NPR has announcer voices for all of their commercial spots so that announcers could know it’s being placed in this podcast and therefore reference it. It feels like it’s native content.

Native content is prevalent on many websites, newspapers, and radio stations. ​​In radio, they call it the live read, which is the presenter opening up the mic in the middle of their show and reading a script.

That concept is a huge opportunity for podcasting and solves the multidimensional 100 by 1000 logistical challenge. It gives the premium feel that a host- read ad would get but avoids the fear that everyone has of these lowest-common-denominator spot pods.

YY: What are the main differences between podcast advertising and other forms of digital advertising? How do you see these differences impact the buying and selling process?

SD: It’s about where podcasting has come from, which is that first phase. I was a radio producer in 2007 and worked on a breakfast show at a rock music radio station in Manchester. I made the breakfast show podcast, and we got about 100 weekly downloads. It was a complete labor of love.

And then we had a Serial effect if you remember the Serial podcast from This American Life. That first series brought podcasting onto the front pages and into everyone’s media consumption diet.

Back when I was making podcasts for radio stations, there was no advertising technology or a thought of monetization. It wasn’t until much later that podcast sponsors came along. Now it’s that transition from the first phase into the second phase that’s the main difference.

Display advertising has been around since 1996, and video advertising has been around for a long time. Now, with businesses like Google and Facebook pushing the envelope and all of the advertising technology built around display and video — those formats are further ahead than podcasting. Podcasting is playing catch-up, and it will get there because everyone is incentivized to bring more money into the industry. These creative challenges are just a growing pain. Ad tech is already there and working, there are lots of vendors who are already making podcasting an equivalent digital channel.

There are some issues around measurement. If you have a plan that includes TV, CTV, social, display, search, and podcast, sometimes it’s hard to compare metrics across all of those channels because other digital formats have better attribution metrics or click-through rates.

Podcasting is getting there, but it’s not quite that simple if you’re in an agency and trying to plan a cross-media campaign and want to check a box for podcasting. There are still growing pains in the planning and buying phases, from an agency perspective as podcasting is going through this transition. 

The post AMA CEO Reveals Podcasting and Ad Tech’s Seamless Future  appeared first on AdMonsters.

But publishers are not without controls to keep the bottom at bay — flooring, the process of setting a minimum price for ad inventory, empowers publishers to keep inventory pricing competitive with other channels (e.g., direct sales).

Flooring is a simple concept: a publisher sets the minimum CPM they are willing to accept for an ad placement, and an advertiser must pay this amount or higher to display the ad. Publishers using Google Ad Manager (GAM) set their CPM floors for the open exchange using Unified Pricing Rules (UPRs), ensuring that any bids accepted from their programmatic demand partners meet their minimum pricing requirements.

This is where the simplicity ends and the anxiety begins. Set your floors too low, and you miss out on revenue from advertisers who are willing to pay more. Set them too high, and you miss out on fill.

Continuously establishing the right CPM floors to earn the highest revenue for your ad inventory without sacrificing fill rate is simply impossible to do manually. But it is possible to automate through dynamic flooring.

A Floor-Shifting Odyssey

The holy grail of yield management is that sweet spot that maximizes both CPMs and fill rate — but this sweet spot is a constant-moving target. CPM variations occur based on content, traffic source, seasonal spending trends, macroeconomic factors, user data, tech variables like device type, browser, operating system, and every combination of these CPM “ingredients.”

Some publishers dedicate hours, full days, and even team members to analyzing CPM data and updating UPRs. They spend a lot of time and effort on a process that results in low and untraceable success. Other publishers prefer to “set and forget” their UPRs. They may not be sacrificing time and mental sweat equity to maximize yield, but they are leaving money on the table by not passing optimal floors.

Even if you could manually set floors effectively, GAM limits the number of UPRs you can create. To achieve optimal CPMs, you’d want to pass custom floors at a granular level. Each page on your site earns differently, so you want a unique floor for every URL and all the other CPM variables.

Dynamic Flooring to the Rescue

Dynamic flooring is a way to intelligently and proactively adjust your floors based on real-time data from every pageview. With each impression, a dynamic flooring solution learns and improves its ability to create the right floor at the right time. It will automatically generate a real-time floor based on a smart prediction of the value of the current pageview.

Several variations of dynamic flooring have appeared over the years, and they are not all created equal. Many publishers have even grown wary of the term dynamic flooring as providers have not optimized revenue but instead, shuffled it among partners. This favors one or more demand partners to others’ detriment and fails to drive incremental revenue.

Ultimately, dynamic flooring is not about getting your UPRs right. The way to achieve the ideal flooring system is to control the win rate of your SSPs. Doing this will create pricing pressure on your whole revenue stack.

An ideal flooring system should:

• Set an infinite number of granular floors based on page content, user data, traffic source, technical specs, and other variables;
• Continually adjust floors based on the latest data (this might mean that floors are adjusted every few minutes);
• Pass the optimal CPM floor for every ad placement on every pageview; and
• Automate your flooring optimization.

When you implement smart publishing tech that accesses the latest, granular data from every pageview, it’s like having 50,000+ UPRs simultaneously working for you and automatically updating in real-time.

Finding the Right Solution

Dynamic flooring solutions are springing up faster than identity partners. Look under the hood, before you sign the vendor with the lowest price and biggest promises, Ask them these questions:

• How does your technology create optimal floors for every pageview?
• How recent is the data you’re using to set floors?
• How can you prove that your solution makes me more money and isn’t just shuffling my revenue?

If they can’t show their work, work with someone who can!

Dynamic flooring is one of the best tools to earn more from the open exchange, which is especially important when strange economic circumstances stymie the flow of direct-sold campaigns. However, picking the right solution requires more than a price-tag check—be sure you’re prepared to tell the difference between revenue shuffling and true dynamic flooring.

The post What Is Dynamic Flooring? appeared first on AdMonsters.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times folks working in revenue operations have told me that they didn’t end up here on purpose. For instance, take Pilar Prassas, Vice President, Revenue Operations at PGA Tour, who after studying journalism in college intended to move to Belize to become a travel writer but ended up working in ad ops and now here they are 20 years deep in the game.

To move up the ranks in rev ops, Prassas advises that attending AdMonsters’ conferences and taking part in the community is a must. It’s not only for the learning that people show up to the AdMonsters’ Publisher Forums and Ops events, the networking is invaluable. In their case, building long-lasting relationships at the conferences landed them in their current gig.

As PRIDE month comes to a close, I wanted to learn more about Prassas’ career ascent, their film In Sickness and in Health about same-sex couples fighting to marry their partners, how hooping in college taught them the importance of team building, their advice for young LGBTQ+ women looking to get on the leadership track in ad tech, and what PRIDE means to them.

Lynne d Johnson: You spent about 19 years at Reuters, consistently moving through the ranks of revenue operations to now leading revenue ops at PGA Tour as the VP of Advertising Revenue Operations. Can you tell us a little bit about your career trajectory and what you’re responsible for in your role at PGA Tour? And how did what you do at Reuters prepare you for what you’re doing now?

Pilar Prassas: I was planning to move to Belize to be a travel writer after studying journalism at Boston University. I booked a one-way ticket and with the support of my older sister, Kelly, a technical recruiter in NYC at the time, she found me a temp job working for Reuters to save money before my move to Central America. After five months, Reuters offered me a full-time position in Ad Operations as a junior trafficker.

I was part of the original six-person consumer team who decided to make Reuters.com a commercial offering. We contacted Double-click, got the ad server up and running, and we were off to the races creating thousands of line items and uploading hundreds of creatives for our clients. Every two years, Reuters organically presented me with my next opportunity and my trajectory from entry-level to executive began to take flight.

By the end of my run at Reuters, I was the Global Head of Revenue Operations. I oversaw our Ad Ops, Programmatic Ops, Ad Tech, Yield & Pricing & Business Development teams. My favorite part of the job was managing people across the globe. I love building connections and trust with my employees no matter the difference in culture or distance. There was never a dull moment and I always thrived on being pulled into a fire drill. Reuters gave me the most incredible foundation that I will always carry with me and all it cost was an unused ticket to Belize.

An essential MUST DO when pursuing a career in Ops is to attend AdMonsters Conferences and I attended all of them. It’s about networking with your peers and ten years ago, I sat down for dinner next to Raef Godwin, and we became fast friends. Whenever our paths would cross at these events, we would discuss trying to work together. Last August, Raef made that happen and I joined the PGA TOUR team.

As the VP of Advertising Revenue Operations, I oversee a broad portfolio of owned, operated, and partner platforms, including PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, GolfWRX, Tomorrow Golf League, and USGA ShotCast.  I lead ad product research, decisioning, integration, optimization, and measurement. I also ensure the insights and analysis related to our products and platforms prepare the Sales teams for client conversion and retention.  I create intelligence around pricing and packaging, and inventory management that leads us to full revenue recognition. The PGA TOUR business is very complex, so I am lucky to be surrounded by an incredibly supportive team that has been helping me get my bearings this last year. For me, it always comes down to the people.

LdJ: I heard that you recently screened and discussed your film, In Sickness and in Health, a documentary that chronicles the lives of seven same-sex couples fighting to marry the partners they love, with your Employee Resource Group, PRISM. First, why was it important to make this film? And what did it mean to you to bring this film to work and share it with your colleagues?

PP: In 2002, I started filming what I thought would be a historical documentary chronicling the fight for gay marriage within this country. I came out of the closet a few years earlier so there was something inside me screaming to pick up my camera and start filming. I was living in NYC working for Reuters and I saw my best friend’s Mom (Marilyn Maneely) and her partner on the cover of the newspaper. There were seven same-sex couples who joined up with Lambda Legal to sue the state of NJ for the right to marry. I don’t think any of us knew this would be the start of a five-year journey for civil rights.

During the pursuit, Marilyn was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). This fight became one against the clock. They needed the rights of marriage in place to protect their family and their shared assets. Unfortunately, we lost Marilyn before gay marriage was legalized but my hope is that her legacy continues to live on through my film. She dedicated her entire life to this cause.

In Sickness and In Health was released in 2007. It traveled across the film festival circuit and even won Best Documentary in Philadelphia, New Mexico, and Washington DC. The film was picked up by the distributor Women Make Movies in NYC and it had a beautiful run in the educational market — screening in many colleges and universities across the country.

Sixteen years later, PRISM asked to screen my film at the PGA TOUR headquarters, which was exciting but elicited questions to me as a filmmaker: Would audiences today connect with the struggle for marriage equality? Would the film hold up over time and have an impact? I was nervous but the organization was beyond supportive, and the screening room was completely packed with colleagues and leadership. The feedback I received reminded me of why my instincts were telling me to pick up my camera and start shooting.

My goal in making this film was to humanize a civil rights struggle. The resurgence reminded me that this story still has a place in educating viewers about the importance of the rights gays were not afforded before this fight began. One person from the audience told me that if I didn’t have dates listed throughout the film, they would have thought it was happening right now. Sadly, the country’s political divide continues to place these rights at risk. My goal is to continue to share this story as a reminder of what we are fighting for, which for Marilyn, was to protect her family.

LdJ: Let’s change tracks a little bit. I did some sleuthing and learned that you played women’s varsity basketball during your days at Boston University. What are some things you learned during those years playing basketball and being part of a team that you still carry with you today both in life and at work?

PP: Growing up with three siblings and an extended family with 27 grandchildren, 36 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, it’s no surprise I love being part of a team. I started playing competitive basketball at five years old and I would spend long hours working on my ball handling. I loved the concept that the harder I worked individually, the more it would collectively bring up the entire team. All my teammates had the same mentality, and we were determined to be successful together. Between hard practices, long road trips to away games, and the balancing of our schoolwork — our bonds ran very deep because of our shared experiences. My teammates became family. We were there to support each other on and off the court.

When I started my career, I carried that same mentality to my Ad Operations team. I built a team of people who wanted to work hard and support each other. It has always been important to me to build trust and relationships with my team members. Knowing and understanding their experiences outside of work helped me better understand their individual needs at work. I listen to and guide people to shape the work-life for each person, so they thrive as individuals and then collectively as part of the team.

LdJ: What advice do you have for young LGBTQ+ women looking to embark upon a leadership track in such a male-dominated field as ad tech?

PP: First and foremost, find a mentor. If you don’t have one, I would love to be that for you. I love helping people navigate their careers and understand their value within an organization.

The most important thing is for you to always have a voice at the table. Be curious and always ask questions. Even when you are first starting your career, proactively step up and share ways to improve the process. Try and keep that same mentality as you progress in your career once you have a more holistic viewpoint. You will become a valuable asset to any team.

My second piece of advice is to KNOW YOUR WORTH. As awkward as it can be to bring up compensation, you NEED to be your strongest advocate. No one is going to go to your boss and say, “So and so should get a raise!” This has to come from you.

Think about where you want to be two years from now and start planting the seeds now. Expose yourself to all the different teams around you so that if an opportunity arises, you don’t miss out. Know where you want to move next and what your expectations are on compensation. You should bring up compensation every six months at a minimum with your boss. I am happy to help you practice these conversations, so it becomes more natural for you.  I do this with all my team members.

Folks in the queer community are used to having difficult conversations. Lean into your strength in this area and use your voice to propel your career forward.

LdJ: What does PRIDE mean to you?

PP: PRIDE means to show up as my authentic self, unapologetically, so I can contribute toward progress, for our community. For me, it’s being a storyteller. I believe that every person has the power to make an impact big or small.

The post PGA Tour’s Pilar Prassas On PRIDE, People Power, and Partnership appeared first on AdMonsters.

Predictably, the economy, the growth of attention metrics, and cookie deprecation are top worries for publishers. What is surprising is just how low supply path optimization (SPO) is on their priority list. Only 30% of publishers say it’s important for them.

Despite less than a third of marketers ranking it high in priority, some see SPO as more of a concern for a buyer than a publisher. “SPO is a buy side issue and publishers are concerned about how it’s impacting them but the other issues are bigger concerns, SPO will always be there,” explained Jana Meron, the founder of Lioness Strategies and seasoned digital media monetization and data strategy leader. In other words, SPO is a persistent, but low-grade issue.

But others believe publishers have a vested interest in promoting SPO. The open programmatic markets can be convoluted at best and, for buyers keen to stay within a specific price range, they may be dissuaded from purchasing quality inventory if it has multiple intermediaries demanding a piece of the CPM paid. And all those commissions mean that publishers collect a smaller percentage of revenue for their inventory. 

What’s more, by focusing on SPO, publishers have more direct access to gaining insights into the demand for their inventory, potentially improving transparency in the bidding process.  All of this begs the question: why aren’t more publishers dedicating resources to ensuring the exchanges have direct access to their inventory?

Why Aren’t Publishers Concerned about SPO?

Another possible interpretation of the survey results is that SPO means different things for different types of publishers. Discussions of SPO tend to focus on unintended consequences, such as publishers losing access to buyers if an ad exchange opts to eliminate suppliers as part of its SPO initiative. 

But according to Scott Messer, ​​Principal and Founder of Messer Media, legitimate publishers shouldn’t worry about that as supply path optimization is a correction coming first for the most egregious of publishers.

For instance, In early April, Digiday ran a series of articles about declining prices in the open RTB markets due to ad tech vendors reducing the number of auctions they “listen to.”  At issue: low-quality publishers were initiating an excessive number of concurrent auctions for the same impression, hoping to get the best possible price. Wary of competing against themselves, advertisers flocked to the safe havens of private and curated marketplaces.

“Complicating your supply path is a tactic to drive higher yields,” said Messer. Reputable publishers with genuine value propositions have little need for ploys, which is why he believes publishers are moving towards curated marketplaces. “The average publisher on the good side isn’t worried about SPO because, if anything, it will actually drive more dollars into their pockets. Closing cluttered paths make it harder for the less worthy.”

Messer is an advocate of curated marketplaces, and deal creation as a service (DCaaS). In these scenarios, platforms create a custom marketplace for an individual buyer, one that is free of the low-quality publishers that exist for the express purpose of selling ads.  In this respect, curated marketplaces offer buyers a faster and more transparent path into SPO.

The survey data, however, was surprising when considering Messer’s perspective. The survey found, in fact, that large publishers are more than eight times more likely than small publishers to report having at least 10 monetization partners. And high CPM publishers, perhaps the best proxy for what Messner refers to as “reputable”, tend to have more monetization partners than low CPM ones.

Another theory behind why publishers may not be prioritizing SPO: they simply lack the resources to do more than acknowledge its importance. “I believe that Supply Path Optimization is one of those catchphrases like the cookieless Future.  We are all talking about it, but no one has really figured out what to do about it,” explained Terry Guyton-Bradley, a programmatic strategist who co-founded MediaZinc and spent many years working for multiple publishers running their programmatic operations.

“Unfortunately, most publishers don’t have the resources or time to truly analyze their programmatic partners in order to make meaningful changes to their programmatic stacks. As you can see from the survey results, the economy is having a significant impact on our industry and causing drastic cuts to investment in technology and personnel.” 

Guyton-Bradley warns his partners not to make any business decisions without data to support their assumptions. In his view, the benefits of SPO to publishers are still a hypothesis. Things may change once there’s real data to back up the SPO advocates claims. 

SPO is a Hot Topic for Many

Although Emodo’s survey found that only 30% of publishers consider SPO a hot topic, it’s still a top priority for companies like Emodo, which sees it as much more than simply cutting out middlemen to find the shortest path to inventory. “What it really means is eliminating redundancy by offering unique value and providing the most direct route to that value,” Damian McKenna, COO at Emodo, told Street Fight. 

Emodo also aligns with Messer’s point about curated marketplaces as an essential strategy for buyers and publishers and has a team dedicated to actively creating and optimizing Emodo Curated Deals.

The post Why Aren’t Publishers Concerned about Supply Path Optimization (SPO)? appeared first on AdMonsters.

With billions flowing through programmatic channels worldwide, the incentive for fraudsters to ply their craft was just too great.

Finally, the industry had enough. In 2014, the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) was established to cultivate confidence and trust in digital advertising by facilitating collaboration among players across the supply chain to uphold quality and brand safety standards.

On June 21, TAG released its fifth consecutive fraud benchmark report for Europe, and for a fifth year in a row, IVT rates in TAG Certified Channels were below 1%.

Some Channels More Problematic Than Others

At least in Europe, some channels are more problematic than others. For instance, desktop display and video have IVT rates of 1.54% and 1.30% respectively. CTV isn’t far behind with 1.28%.

CTV Improved Steadily throughout 2022

Throughout 2022, CTV IVT rates exhibited a downward trend in each quarter, but it is important to note that this pattern may not necessarily reflect future trends as it could be influenced by other factors within the CTV marketplace.

Mobile in-app video and display formats consistently maintained lower IVT rates throughout the quarters, exhibiting stability over time.

The Caveat

It’s not as if all campaigns in the European markets studied show low rates of IVT. The report takes pains to point out that less than 1% fraud is only attainable in campaigns that run through fully TAG Certified Channels. These are channels in which every entity — publisher, ad tech platform, agency — have achieved TAG Certification Against Fraud.

The post What 5 Years of Minimal Fraud Should Tell the Market appeared first on AdMonsters.

According to a webinar hosted by Comscore, 2023 State of Programmatic, programmatic spend has experienced exponential growth, doubling over the past four years. Data shows that over 91% of $148 billion in digital display dollars are transacted programmatically. Where does this leave the state of programmatic? 

The short answer is that the automated supply chain is flourishing, but signs indicate an ad spend slowdown. The further context suggests that since programmatic accounts for nine out of ten digital ad dollars, the market is reaching a state of saturation rather than stagnation. 

On the other hand, these statistics only apply to display advertising. Mediums such as CTV, video, mobile, and audio utilize the programmatic supply chain to buy and sell ads. But we don’t have to tell our readers that programmatic touches almost every side of digital advertising. 

To get to the bottom of programmatic in 2023, Proximix by Comscore surveyed industry professionals about how they perceive programmatic advertising outside of what headlines suggest. 

Digital Is King of the Programmatic Court

The agencies surveyed said that marketers would most commonly use digital media channels this year. Eighty seven percent of executives surveyed asserted they would use digital in their media mix. Digital will keep its crown intact. 

While headlines proclaim the domination of channels such as CTV and audio, most brands keep it traditional. CTV comes in second in the ranking, but alongside digital, most don’t expect much growth out of these two categories in 2023. 

Publishers and advertisers expect podcasts and audio to show significant growth this year. This channel is expected to experience the most significant boost compared to last year, so there is a chance that publishers and advertisers will increase more time and investment in the medium. 

Research from this year supports this trend, with a significant number of Americans listening to online audio and podcasts.  Brands are relying on digital this year, but it is possible that audio has stock in the game of thrones next year. 

Data Investments in the Programmatic Supply Chain Is Mixed

The types of data publishers and advertisers are investing in on the supply chain vary widely based upon what works best for their business and the changing landscape with privacy. 

First-Party Data: They expect to allocate a significant portion of their spending towards first-party modeled audiences, emphasizing the value they place on first-party data. 

• This data set is vital as brands work toward building audiences without the use of third-party cookies. Google just announced they will go away in the 2nd half of 2024. 

Third-Party ID-Based Segments: Third-party ID-based segments are also important, with approximately 43% of the budget allocated to this area. Demographics remain a crucial component of third-party ID-based data.

• 24% of the budget will focus on innovating demographic data 
• 19% of this budget will focus on third-party behavioral data. Yet, this data will most likely be a thing of the past after 2024. 

Contextual Data: Brands will direct a third of the budget towards idealist contextual segments, which involve traditional contextual topic targeting or newer third-party behavioral, contextual audiences.

• Over half of buyers and sellers expect their use of contextual data to increase this year compared to a mere 3% who indicate that usage will decrease.

The webinar’s moderator explicitly pointed out that this analysis does not consider the cost of each type of data. ID-less contextual data tends to have lower prices compared to ID-based targeting. Contextual targeting represents a smaller portion of the budget. It may result in a higher volume of impressions overall in the campaign delivery.

Privacy Radically Changed Programmatic: “Step Your Cookie-less Game Up”

The consumer data privacy reckoning on the ad tech industry has affected every aspect of the advertising ecosystem, including the programmatic supply chain. 

For example, when Apple rolled out its iOS 14.5, it allowed users to block tracking at the app level. The update also required brands to get permission to collect and share consumer data. Based on proximity by comScore data, the implications were that up to 70% of us programmatic mobile ideas vanished overnight.

So how are publishers and advertisers dealing with the signal loss?

Many marketers have started to move away from cookie-based targeting. They are represented in the chart by our men in blue. Only 13% of businesses surveyed said they exclusively use cookieless targeting, but many publishers and advertisers have migrated to have cookie-free targeting in their inventory. 

For those using the programmatic supply chain, this is the smart move. According to the IAB’s state of data report, 50-60% of programmatic inventory no longer has a User ID. 

That 18% represents the man in yellow, you are behind the curve, but you still have a year to “step your cookies up” as Google’s third-party cookie deprecation deadline looms closer. A great place to start testing is on Safari and Firefox have been cookieless for over three years. They hold a significant inventory, about 22% of browser traffic globally. 

The post The State of Programmatic Advertising in 2023 appeared first on AdMonsters.

Michelle Kim emphasizes that she has often encountered preconceived notions about her leadership style. Overcoming these barriers has necessitated her adoption of diverse approaches tailored to different individuals. As her career advanced, this experience nurtured her innate capacity for empathy and collaboration, enabling her to cultivate a more harmonious and cooperative work environment.

We’ve all come face to face with not realizing our greatness, and Kim is living proof that there is nothing but positivity on the other side of those thoughts. By stepping out of her cultural comfort zone and into a management role, she realized she needed to be vocal and celebrate her accomplishments to better serve herself and her team of direct reports.

According to Kim, being a leader means ensuring every team member understands the value of their work and that they’re truly making a difference. Learn more about Michelle and her leadership journey in the Q&A below.

Yakira Young: How have your experiences as an Asian American impacted your career, both positively and negatively?

Michelle Kim: I used to find it challenging to vocalize my accomplishments because I grew up believing that success and recognition came from putting your head down and working hard. I was expected to tackle every situation humbly, and praise and reward were not a given.

I’m not saying to start going on a roadshow with every single accomplishment, as there is always a time and a place. But I’ve learned that it’s important to stand by your work and not assume that someone is championing your wins for you. I recognized that taking pride in a job well done isn’t boasting and needed to exercise this muscle.

On the flip side, being Asian American has had an immensely positive impact on my career. It has helped me become adaptable. There has often been a preconceived notion of my leadership style. Breaking those barriers sometimes requires different approaches with different people. It’s helped me become more empathetic and collaborative as my career progressed.

YY: What advice would you give to Asian American individuals pursuing a career in programmatic and analytics?

MK: It’s never too late to get into programmatic. It’s a constantly evolving, fast-paced industry, and there’s definitely a learning curve. But what I love most about it is that you’re always learning, and there’s a genuine collaborative spirit with your peers across the industry to find solutions to major challenges in real time together.

The world of data, CTV, and programmatic is always changing and growing, and it truly is an exciting space to be in. This environment sometimes comes with situations where making an important business decision is accompanied by a lack of precedence. Leveraging analytics and business intelligence to make the best data-driven decision truly puts you at an advantage.

YY: How do you balance your identity as an Asian American with your role as a Vice President in a predominantly non-AAPI industry?

MK: Balance is the operative word here. Good leadership isn’t being aggressive and pushy. It’s about shifting that paradigm and fighting the narrative that I am just a hard worker lacking confidence or ambition. That stereotype is not who we are; that leadership model is not who we must strive to be.

YY: How have you seen the AAPI community evolve and grow in the ad tech industry throughout your career?

MK: When I joined the ad tech industry eight years ago, I struggled to find Asian representation amongst my peers, let alone in leadership positions. As time passed, I saw a noticeable growth in numbers and a concerted effort to make networking easier and more organized in the Asian American community.

I’m also grateful to my non-Asian peers and mentors for the introductions they’ve made. The willingness to help make that connection is greatly appreciated because they recognize the value of connecting people who will benefit from it and can relate in more ways than just work.

YY: What are some of the proudest moments of your career, and how have they shaped your perspective on being an AAPI leader?

MK: It sounds cliché, but my proudest moments are when I can be a sounding board to other Asian Americans in the workplace and be someone they can relate to. The obstacles won’t always mirror each other, but I hope that bringing a level of empathy and listening to anyone who is having a challenging time in the workplace as an Asian American is helpful. I was lucky enough to have incredible mentors and peers to talk through situations with, and seeing the community’s growth is encouraging.

The post Celebrating AAPI Month: NBCU’s Michelle Kim Cracks the Code on Shattering Self-Doubt appeared first on AdMonsters.

• Do bad ads prompt users to leave a news site or app? Do they report those poor experiences to the publisher?
• What is the impact of a bad ad on the consumer’s propensity to return to that site, recommend it to others, or make a purchase on it?
• Do bad ads send users a message that publishers care more about making money than they do about their safety?

To gain that understanding, we surveyed 250 consumers about the impact of a “bad” advertisement on their perceptions of a website or app. We defined a bad ad to survey takers as “any advertisement — including the web page or app that clicking on it brings you to — that you find unpleasant, inappropriate, untruthful, or has some kind of computer virus associated with it.”

Then we talked to publishers to hear their reactions to the data, and also learn some pro tips that we could pass on to our readers.

Enter your email below to download your free copy of How Bad Ads Affect Consumer Perception of Publishers! 

This playbook, created in partnership with GeoEdge, will dive into the results of our survey, highlighting both the challenges and solutions. 

[download-link]Download your copy of the How Bad Ads Affect Consumer Perception of Publishers playbook by clicking on this link now![/download-link]

The post AdMonsters Playbook: How Bad Ads Affect Consumer Perception of Publishers appeared first on AdMonsters.

For those that enjoy sailing, that statement is a quaint reminder that adjustments are required for the skipper and crew to properly sail toward their destination regardless of how the wind is shifting.

Metaphorically speaking, that adage can also be applied to businesses.  Leaders and managers must prepare to react to changing economic conditions beyond their control to properly navigate their company toward its strategic goals.

To wit, it has been a full year since we wrote about “Navigating the Great Resignation,” the term used to define the post-pandemic phenomenon of employees leaving their jobs at record rates while companies were left scrambling to retain and replace talent. 

But what a difference a year makes. Changing market conditions have seen the FOMC raise interest rates ten times since March 2022, thus moving from a regime of quantitative easing to quantitative tightening. These rate increases are meant to tamp down inflation, which peaked at around 9% last June, by increasing the cost of borrowing and driving down consumer demand.

Are these rate hikes working? The results seem to indicate that they are. Inflation is down to around 5% and consumers have been spending less overall.

However, to adjust for higher borrowing costs and decreasing consumer demand, businesses have had to lower their expenses considerably, which typically begins with headcount reduction. These personnel cuts have resulted in over 186,000 layoffs in the global ad tech sector over the first four months of 2023, according to Layoffs.fyi. The prevailing explanation for why we are seeing this Great Layoff is that companies who over-hired and hoarded talent last year during the Great Resignation now must reduce their headcount totals and pause or scrap non-strategic initiatives.

Maintaining Equilibrium

Those that race sailboats will tell you that finding your equilibrium when sailing upwind can be difficult, but once you and your crew balance everything, forward progress will come rapidly!

In a December 2022 White Paper published by OAO, we discussed the rising tide of economic uncertainty facing digital publishers as we headed into 2023, such as higher operating costs due to rate hikes, the tight labor market for skilled and experienced talent, reductions in ad spend, and a hodgepodge of new state data privacy regulations going into effect. 

In the White Paper, OAO champions five strategic advantages publishers can achieve by partnering with the right outsourced ad operations provider. Regardless of the reasons for outsourcing certain roles or tasks, the key takeaway is that any publisher who works with the right outsourced partner as part of their corporate strategy is well positioned to attain the proper equilibrium for cutting through these shifting economic headwinds. 

When the economy is strong and growing, outsourcing tasks and roles to skilled and experienced specialists enables publishers to expand their capacity and grow their operations quickly. During tighter cycles, publishers can ramp down their use and cost of working with an outsourced partner without worrying about rehiring risk or business continuity disruptions.

Top 5 Strategic Advantages Gained by Outsourcing Ad Operations

1. Focus on core competencies

Publishers can allocate more time and resources to manage their core competencies without getting distracted by the nuances, technical complexities, and increasing costs of running an in-house ad ops team.

2. Access to skilled and experienced talent

With skills and expertise spanning many facets of ad operations, an outsourced ad ops partner can fill a gap on a publisher’s team or step in to manage the bulk of their ad operations.  Leverage your ad ops partner’s technology relationships to improve your business operations further.

3. Save on labor and overhead costs

Hiring talent is time-intensive and expensive, especially considering recruiting costs, salaries, benefits, payroll taxes, onboarding, training, and career path management. The right outsourced partner can be a budget-friendly complement to an in-house ad ops team that can expand their skills and capabilities or fill any vacant roles.

4. Workflow optimization

An experienced outsourced ad ops team should be able to plug in seamlessly with a publisher’s existing workflow and be willing to offer suggestions and insights for optimizing it to drive greater efficiencies, faster turn-around time, and better results.

5. Redundancy and business continuity

Outsourced ad ops providers should have strong documentation and record-keeping capabilities that enable publisher teams to easily access historical and current information around process, ad tag architecture, trafficking rules, and other important material. With the right partner, publishers can also scale up or down their operations with ease and without the worry, cost, or emotional stress around headcount management or brain drain from employee departures.

In this manner, a solid outsourced ad ops partner is like an experienced yacht racing crew — working with publishers to balance their operational needs without changing course or slowing down — enabling forward progress to come rapidly!

About OAO

OAO is a U.S.-based, full-service ad operations agency and Google Certified Publishing Partner (GCPP), built by seasoned ad operations professionals and guided by our mission of being the premier white glove ad operations services and solutions provider for digital publishers.

OAO prides itself on providing high-touch, white-glove ad operations services, solutions, and support ranging from standard campaign management and reporting to platform integrations, software solutions, migrations, monetization services, and much more. We can be counted on to act as your full-service ad ops team or serve as a complement to your in-house team, filling in any existing skill gaps.

When working with OAO, publishers can expect to have the support of an ad ops team that is composed of industry experts who continually stay apprised of current trends, emerging technologies, and best practices. We are always expanding on our offerings, evaluating new technology, and developing new skills that enable us to provide our clients with the highest possible level of service and support.

Learn more about OAO:

• Services
• White Papers 

The post Navigating the [Not so] Great Layoff appeared first on AdMonsters.

Transparency in the programmatic supply chain is one such challenge prevailing in the industry. With so many parties involved in the supply chain, it has become even more difficult to keep track of ad spend and quality. That is why the industry needs Supply Path Optimization (SPO). 

Supply Chain Optimization is a process of increasing transparency and efficiency in the programmatic supply chain by cutting down the number of intermediaries that are not adding significant value. 

Why Is Transparency Needed?

Transparency in the supply chain involves a lot more than just making information available to all parties. It involves creating an environment of trust where all stakeholders feel confident that they are receiving fair and honest information.

This includes details about ad placements, ad inventory, and pricing. Ensuring transparency is important because it promotes better communication and helps build strong working relationships between publishers and advertisers.

Benefits of SPO

It is often perceived that SPO only benefits advertisers, but that is simply not true. Both the supply side and demand side can greatly benefit by optimizing supply path efficiencies:

• • Increased Transparency: SPO provides better visibility and insights about the ecosystem — the intermediaries involved, exact ad spend on impressions, etc. It enables advertisers to tackle the issue of bid duplication and enables publishers as well as advertisers to identify and eliminate unnecessary or fraudulent players. 
• • Brand Safety for Advertisers: With SPO, advertisers feel more confident about their brand image and safety. They can eliminate the SSPs who do not follow their brand safety guidelines. 
• • Increased Revenue Opportunities: Streamlining SPO can ensure that publishers receive the highest bids possible for their ad inventory ultimately increasing ad revenue.
• • Reduced ad fraud: SPO can help publishers reduce ad fraud by ensuring that their ads are only displayed on legitimate websites.
• • Increased Efficiency: SPO can help publishers and advertisers improve the efficiency of their programmatic advertising inventory and ad campaigns by reducing latency and improving transparency.

How does SPO work?

To make sure that SPO works in the most optimum way, advertisers need to come up with certain strategies to apply. One of the ways advertisers could reclaim control and optimize the path is by limiting the number of SSPs and ad exchanges they work with and work with a select number of partners. They would also need to focus on cutting off resellers from the market and opt for bids that offer them the best chance of winning. It is always important to make sure that every bid must bring a unique value attached to it in an auction-themed environment.

Implementation

One of the best ways to implement SPO is to make sure that multiple routes are being avoided to buy or sell inventory. The lesser the paths, the less the chances of duplication.

According to recent studies more than 60% of buyers currently think that SPO has reduced the chances of fraud while the buying power has also been enhanced for at least 30% of the buyers in the landscape, along with this roughly 20% of them have seen a more transparent Fee structure due to the same.

SPO Implementation steps include:

• Assessment:

Developing a thorough grasp of your programmatic supply chain is the first step in deploying SPO. This includes the process of figuring out all the intermediaries who are buying and selling your ad inventory. 

• Evaluating and consolidating intermediaries: 

Once all the intermediaries have been identified, evaluate the ones which are unnecessary or ‘bad actors’, the ones adding costs and latency to the page load time.

Based on the evaluation, consolidate the significant ones and eliminate the ones not adding value to the supply chain. 

• Monitoring the results: 

SPO is an ongoing process and it needs to be measured regularly. This will help in analyzing the efforts if the goals are being achieved or not. Based on the analysis, those efforts can be streamlined and optimized. 

This can be a complex process at times and can be achieved by having the right resources in place. Also, working with an SSP or DSP partner can be considered to simplify the process. 

What Are the Best Practices for Buyers and Sellers to Facilitate Supply Path Optimization

There are several best practices for buyers and sellers to facilitate supply path optimization. These include the use of ads.txt, sellers.json, a lesser number of SSPs, and adherence to industry standards including brand safety and relevance. 

Ads.txt and sellers.json are text files that are placed on a publisher’s website, which allows buyers to verify the identity of the seller and ensure that they are buying ad inventory from authorized sources. Reducing the number of SSPs can help optimize the supply path by reducing the complexity of the supply chain, which can lead to better efficiency and transparency.

Uses of AI for SPO

The use of AI for SPO is becoming increasingly common in the ad tech industry. AI algorithms can help automate the process of analyzing data, identifying inefficiencies, and optimizing the supply path. This can help buyers and sellers make better decisions, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.

With the growing changes in the current landscape, it is expected that AI tools will also be able to help in the execution of policies to optimize the supply path and can also aid inventory management issues.

Measurement and Enhancement of SPO Efforts

Measurement and enhancement of SPO efforts are essential for ensuring that the supply chain remains transparent and efficient. Regular monitoring and analysis of data can help identify areas for improvement and enable stakeholders to make data-driven decisions. 

By enhancing SPO efforts, buyers and sellers can optimize their supply chain, reduce costs, and improve their ROI.

Recent Industry Developments

Recent industry developments, such as the implementation of the OpenRTB 2.6 draft, Ads.txt 1.1, and Transparency Center, have further advanced the cause of supply chain transparency and optimization. 

The OpenRTB 2.6 draft includes new features that make it easier to detect and prevent fraud. Ads.txt 1.1 includes a new field that allows publishers to specify their direct relationships with advertisers, making it easier for buyers to identify authorized sellers. The Transparency Center provides a centralized location for buyers to view information about ad inventory and verify the identity of sellers.

Next Steps for Buyers and Sellers

Supply chain transparency and optimization are essential for the ad tech industry to thrive. Buyers and sellers must work together to create a transparent and efficient supply chain that benefits all stakeholders. By following best practices, utilizing AI, and embracing recent industry developments, the ad tech industry can continue to evolve and drive growth in the digital advertising space.

The post What Is Supply Path Transparency & Optimization? appeared first on AdMonsters.