HOLLYWOOD, Florida – While programmatic media buying continues to grow rapidly, publishers need to remain flexible with their infrastructure. It’s all about helping advertisers reach the audiences they want, says the SVP and Global Head of Programmatic for News Corp., Chris Guenther.
“It’s just a means of servicing our clients,” Guenther says of programmatic in an interview with Beet.TV during a break at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting.
Private or preferred programmatic advertising buys “are growing rapidly” at News Corp., in addition to open auction buys, according to Guenther. “It varies dramatically” depending on marketers’ needs.
He believes that what’s most important for publishers from an infrastructure standpoint is to be flexible. “Nothing’s set in stone. It’s an evolving space.”
On the topic of server-to-server header bidding, for example, a subject of much conversation at the IAB confab, Guenther notes that the technique “has actually been around for a number of years. We’re going to see how that evolves and I’m sure that will become part of our programmatic mix in the future, too.”
For now, Guenther says News Corp. has been rolling out Prebid.js from AppNexus “and we’ve been very happy” with it.
“The critical thing you need to do as a publisher is to be on top of what’s the most efficient way of delivering advertising and keep modifying your infrastructure as appropriate,” Guenther says.
Another focus of the IAB sessions is combatting digital ad fraud and coming up with ways to tamp down on so-called fake news. “The conversation around fake news aligns with a lot of things we’ve been talking about at News Corp.,” Guenther says. “That’s obviously a very important topic that’s near and dear to us.”
He’s pleased that discussion of fake news has “infused” the gathering. “It feels like every session I’ve been to has brought that up. The need to combat it. How we all play a part in addressing it,” he says.
Asked about online advertising viewability standards, Guenther alludes to remarks by Procter & Gamble Chief Marketing Officer Marc Pritchard, who who at the outset of the IAB event bemoaned “crappy advertising accompanied by even crappier viewing experiences,” as CNBC reports. “This desire within the industry to work toward these goals I think will make things easier and more efficient and help our advertisers and help our users. I think it’s a good trend this year,” Guenther says.
This video is part of a series produced at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting. Beet.TV’s coverage of this event is sponsored by Index Exchange. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
