with contribution from Robert Webster
When I first broke into the digital advertising industry, I was excited by what appeared to be an industry thriving with innovation — one on the cutting edge of the communication evolution between advertisers and consumers. The possibilities and potential were truly endless, or so I thought.
Slowly my eyes were opened to a world that was failing on its promise and, in many ways, was not what it appeared to be. The promise of reaching the right user at the right time was replaced by a world of arbitrage, bot traffic and highly questionable websites that I had never heard of. I quickly learned that the oft repeated mantra of doing right by our clients was nothing more than just words. Fast forward to today, and we are at a crossroads, with the walled gardens threatening to swallow whole what is left outside of them.
The Triopoly of Google, Facebook, and the newest member, Amazon, is continuing to grow exponentially, driving increased revenues YoY, with no end in sight. There are many reasons for their continued success, starting with performance and efficiency, and many others that cannot be argued with. But now the marketing world is finally waking up to the fact that an industry dominated by 3 companies is not a healthy one. At the same time, we marketers are to blame for the success of these behemoths.
HOW WE GOT HERE
Our industry’s continued mismanagement and lazy practices around programmatic display have caused many advertisers to mistrust the channel and develop a negative opinion of it. Causing them to flee to the higher performing, less risky, and all too welcoming open arms of the Triopoly. It is time for our industry to unite and change our approach around media buying to one that brings out the best of what the digital media ecosystem has to offer, and drives true value for advertiser clients. If we fail to do this, then the very health of the internet is at stake — which could very well result in our own demise.
Quality display inventory has made the internet one of mankind’s greatest innovations. Advertising is what allows the free flow of ideas found on the internet to remain free while putting food in the mouths of the content creators who form its creative foundations.
It’s no secret that publishers have been struggling to survive for years now. The onset of COVID-19 has only accelerated their demise, with news around media layoffs coming out almost every day, and budgets continuously being slashed. Before the global pandemic, we were proudly showing off the increased YoY media budgets flowing into digital pipes. Yet with spending having reached an all time high, how is it that the state of the media ecosystem has never been worse?
HOW WE CHANGE OUR COURSE…
