Ad-tech has seen some tough times recently.
Undoubtedly, this has been most recently driven by accusations that programmatic placements on a global scale have accidentally funded terrorism, featuring hate speech and promoting other inappropriate content.
This new episode follows last year’s controversy when online ads for U.S. presidential candidates appeared next to terrorist content. YouTube and Google faced a lot of negative coverage, leading many major brands to pull their ad spending. Since then, Google has focused on enhancing its policing policy to better align with brand safety standards and avoid similar issues in the future. It remains unclear if this will truly be effective.
Add to this the fact that ad-tech funding has dropped by around $1 billion compared to last year, and many are declaring the industry’s demise. The numbers are clear, too, as funding fell by 17% since 2015. It might look like the end for ad-tech as we know it, but I prefer to see it differently: having spent several years in the industry, I’ve witnessed how things shift and develop, always adapting to the fast-changing advertising landscape. Despite the recent negativity, I believe there’s a chance to demonstrate that ad-tech is a vital tool in tackling some of the biggest challenges in the industry and society.
Ad-tech’s reputation isn’t too far gone – it can still be restored by focusing on what it does best: creating and utilizing technology to improve the ever-evolving user experience. Right now, people are fixated on brand safety and rightly so. Ad-tech is leading the way in trying to fix placement issues through identifying and flagging keywords and IAB categories on websites, making sure that the appropriate content is placed and avoiding embarrassing snafus like those experienced by YouTube and Google. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now the primary power to achieve this and I believe, revolutionize brand safety through the scope and scale of its reach. It can analyze and provide detailed data on hundreds of thousands of web pages instantly. This information, provided in real-time, means that brands and ad-tech suppliers and brands can take control of campaigns and make changes if necessary.
AI isn’t just great for advertising – it can also address the ever present controversies surrounding “fake news” and the serious complications it continues to cause. “Fake news” questions the legitimacy of online content and destroys trust between advertisers, brands, agencies, ad-tech suppliers and ultimately, consumers. Using AI to monitor and protect brands can restore and strengthen these relationships while putting a stop to the current flow of misinformation.
It is also worth noting the current environment the digital advertising industry finds itself in. The simple fact is that agencies rely heavily upon ad-tech to successfully run campaigns. This is evident when looking at the relationship between ad-tech and media agencies who, rather than adversaries, see each other as partners – one cannot exist without the other. As ad-tech has integrated, agencies have become increasingly able to understand their clients, their markets, and therefore their needs through analytic data provided by ad-tech. It’s this level of service that allows agencies to be agile and dedicate more time to creative strategy using insights and intelligence.
When looking at things from this perspective, it’s clear that agencies are best equipped to understand and interact with client’s needs while ad-tech partners are best positioned to help with delivery. Agencies recognise this, as 90% of agency marketers feel they have a close relationship with their ad-tech partners.
Undoubtedly, this year ad-tech has gotten off to a rough start, but the value and insight the industry can provide to the cannot be ignored – if anything, its ad-tech’s time to shine.