Advertisers are grappling with stricter regulations on data sharing and the loss of tracking technologies that help with audience targeting. These shifts have made first-party data collected directly from consumers more valuable for buyers and sellers of media.
As a sell-side platform (SSP) that represents publishers, PubMatic is a key part of the advertising supply chain. The media marketplace is undergoing a significant transformation as marketers look for ways to reach target audiences while respecting consumer privacy.
“We’re seeing activation of data shift to the supply side as it’s closer to the source, in many cases,” said Kyle Dozeman, chief revenue officer for the Americas at sell-side platform PubMatic, in this conversation presented by Beet.TV. “Our focus has been on building tools that allow publishers and data owners to directly connect their data to media, and share that with the brands that they work with.”
Dozeman recently shared his insights about the changing media ecosystem with Adam Gerber, global chief media officer at Essence, a unit of WPP’s GroupM. The agency’s “Responsible Investment” framework aims to advance brand safety, data ethics, responsible journalism, sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Supporting Diverse Publishers
A key challenge for marketers is finding ad inventory among smaller, independent publications that have relied on advertising revenue to finance their journalism. Dozeman said PubMatic has worked to help access that inventory.
“We use a lot of our partners in different parts of our business in ensuring material portions of our dollars are going to companies that have diverse leadership and strong foundations and principles around equity and inclusion,” he said. PubMatic “is leaning in with buyers who care about this, and helping them get more connected with diverse publishers.”
Environmental Sustainability
Dozeman and Gerber agreed that the digital advertising ecosystem needs to become more mindful about energy use. The computer servers that form the backbone of the digital ad marketplace consume significant amounts of energy.
“We are cognizant of that fact, and we’re going to start evaluating partners and our supply chain – and try to generate some good results,” Gerber said.
Supply Chain Transparency
Advertisers also are demanding greater transparency in the digital ad marketplace, not only to ensure they’re reaching the right audiences, but also to avoid losses to ad fraud. Dozeman said PubMatic is focused on quality publisher partners that are reliable.
“We know that brands need complete confidence,” Dozeman said. “Some vendors catch things that others don’t. We want to make sure we’re honoring whatever a brand uses for their source of truth.”
This video is part of the Global Forum on Responsible Media produced by Beet.TV, GroupM with the 4A’s. This track on cross-screen measurement is sponsored by Nielsen. For more videos on this topic, visit this page.
The entire Forum can be watched on-demand here, and all videos from this project can be found here.
