Media measurement is at a critical juncture, with the industry racing to adapt to new technologies, shifting consumer behaviors, and evolving regulatory frameworks. 

As TV and video consumption splinters across devices and platforms, the need for consistent, reliable identity resolution (IDR) has become increasingly urgent. The complexities of audience fragmentation and data loss have forced companies to rethink how they approach identity and measurement at scale.

To that end, CIMM, in collaboration with OpenAP, launched a strategic review of the identity resolution ecosystem to address the challenges of stitching together data across disparate identity spines. 

David Levy, CEO of OpenAP, has been at the forefront of these efforts, emphasizing the importance of durable, privacy-safe identity solutions that can serve both buyers and sellers in the advanced TV landscape. OpenAP’s commitment to this project reflects its broader goal of establishing a more transparent and interoperable marketplace, ensuring that IDR evolves to meet the growing demands of advertisers and consumers alike.

Dennis Buchheim, Managing Director of ThinkMedium, shared that while identity resolution has made strides, the current environment is “fragmented and inconsistent,” calling for data quality and interoperability improvements. He emphasized the need for more transparency, saying, “The industry must work together to create an adaptable, privacy-safe identity ecosystem that can evolve with changing regulations and consumer expectations.”

At the recent CIMM Summit, sessions provided a look at the industry today with a roadmap for what lies ahead as data quality, transparency, and interoperability dominate the conversation.

5 Big Ideas We Took Away From CIMM Summit

Insight 1: Identity Resolution Is Still Fragmented — But Progress Is Being Made

The complexity of identity resolution continues to challenge the TV and video marketplace, but significant advancements are being made.

• Fragmentation Issues: The TV identity ecosystem is fragmented, with different identity spines and providers offering disparate solutions, making it difficult to track audiences across multiple screens and devices.
• Comcast’s Solution: Comcast’s deterministic signal authentication offers a promising privacy-safe solution to unify fragmented audience data, yet broader industry standardization remains elusive.
• Data Quality Challenges: The lack of data quality in some identity resolution practices is a consistent concern, with many speakers calling for more transparency and better labeling of data sources.
• Need for Buyer Education: As identity solutions evolve, marketers need more education around data quality and transparency, ensuring that they understand the signals they are working with and how those signals influence campaign outcomes.

Insight 2: Fragmentation of Media is Both a Blessing and a Curse

The rise of programmatic buying and connected TV (CTV) is transforming how media is bought and sold, but the growing complexity is a double-edged sword for buyers.

• Opportunities for Personalization: In the session Building the TV Ad Market of the Future, speakers like Freewheel’s Mark McKee and LG Ad Solutions’ Michael Hudes pointed to opportunities that media fragmentation offers. McKee described how personalization across fragmented content creates new touchpoints for audience engagement.

• Challenges in Measurement: As content spreads across different platforms, buyers face the growing challenge of managing reach and frequency. As Katie Klein noted, the difficulty lies in tracking audiences across a fragmented media landscape while delivering meaningful performance metrics.
• The Role of LG Ads Innovation Lab: Hudes emphasized that behavioral and emotional cues are critical to surfacing relevant content, making personalization even more integral to managing fragmented content across multiple devices.

Insight 3: The Shift to Multi-Currency Measurement is Gaining Momentum

Multi-currency measurement is quickly becoming necessary in advanced TV, but implementation is still in its early days.

• Enabling Optionality: During Ready or Not, The Advanced TV Ad Market Is Here, panelists like Paramount’s Michele Stone stressed that offering measurement flexibility — allowing buyers to transact based on the currency they’re comfortable with — is critical to the future of advertising. As agencies work with multiple measurement providers, they are increasingly focused on aligning these metrics to serve both buyers and sellers effectively.

• Growing Complexity: Publicis Media’s Sam Armando highlighted the complexity agencies face when dealing with multiple currencies during major events like the Super Bowl, where several measurement systems must work together. The challenge lies in ensuring consistency across these systems while maintaining accuracy.

Insight 4: AI’s Role in Measurement is Just Beginning

AI-driven media measurement is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to revolutionize how media is planned, bought, and measured.

• AI for Personalization and Automation: In the session Into the Future of Media Measurement, panelists discussed how AI will drive more personalized and immersive experiences by 2030. Automating content delivery and optimizing audience engagement is seen as a major benefit.

• Ongoing Challenges: AI also introduces challenges. As Sonata Insights’ Debra Aho Williamson pointed out in the AI-Driven Roadmap to 2030, questions around transparency, data ethics, and the accuracy of AI-driven insights remain unresolved. CIMM”s Tameka Kee stressed the importance of industry-wide collaboration to address these issues and ensure AI can deliver on its promises.

Insight 5: CTV’s Growing Influence on Performance Metrics

Connected TV (CTV) now plays a bigger role in performance-based advertising, offering brands opportunities to drive outcomes that were once difficult to measure with linear TV.

• Impact of Live Audiences: IPG Media Brands’ Maureen Bosetti noted that while linear TV still offers significant reach, CTV complements it with advanced performance metrics. Brands are increasingly using CTV’s flexible formats to deliver both brand-building and performance-driven campaigns.

• Cross-Screen Attribution: As highlighted by the panelists in Building the TV Ad Market of the Future, the ability to track audience behaviors across multiple screens is improving, with programmatic buying allowing advertisers to optimize reach and frequency in previously challenging ways.

Navigating these growing complexities — identity resolution, audience fragmentation, and measurement standardization — requires collaboration across the sell-side, buy-side, and tech platforms. 

The future of media measurement depends on the industry’s ability to adopt multi-currency frameworks, embrace AI-driven solutions, and improve the cross-screen attribution model to reflect today’s fragmented viewing habits. As AI integration advances and CTV continues its rise, the next steps will involve finding ways to unify fragmented data ecosystems and develop scalable solutions for cross-screen measurement.

Moving forward, the industry must keep pace with technological innovations and regulatory shifts to ensure that identity resolution and media measurement evolve together to support advertisers, publishers, and viewers alike.

The post 5 Big Ideas We Took Away From CIMM Summit — Identity Resolution Was the Biggest appeared first on AdMonsters.

Fresh out of college as a computer science student, Jon Schulz knew that he wanted to be a marketer, and from day one of his 12-year stint at Ford, he did just that. Throughout his career ups and downs, Jon strategically navigated climbing up the corporate ladder to achieve career success.

Fast-forward and Jon is now CMO at Viant Technology, a role he never expected to hold for 16 years. A background in information technology made the transition into ad tech smoother than expected, especially now with advertising completely reliant on technology.  

“It translated pretty well because it was pre-internet when I got all my training. So I took classes like DOS, D-Base, and Qobuz, which are archaic today. But coding languages tend to be pretty consistent,” Jon explained. 

Nowadays, he’s shifted his focus to sustainability. While some question whether digital advertising has a real environmental impact, the data says otherwise. Digital ads are an invisible yet significant polluter. The advertising industry accounts for 3.5% of global carbon emissions, a percentage destined to climb without changes.

Digital Ads Pack the Carbon Punch of Thousands of Global Flights

Yes, you read that right. Although that ~3.5% sounds small, there is more than meets the eye. When it comes to factories, airlines, and all other aspects that produce carbon, the waste digital advertising produces is not traditional. It’s like seeing a car driving down the road and emitting harmful fumes. It can be hard to understand.

Ad tech uses a lot of electricity, and much of that energy is fossil fuel-driven. 

“Everything’s shifting to digital, and digital requires electricity,” Jon explained. “That’s where the carbon comes from. The evolution of AI is even hungrier for processing and computing. It uses even more electricity.” 

A recent report by The Times entitled “Making AI Less Thirsty” reveals that the latest Big Tech sustainability reports show double-digit increases in water consumption by Google (17 percent), Microsoft (22.5 percent), and Meta (17 percent). What’s worse? ChatGPT and other Gen AI platforms need four times more water to respond to queries than previously presumed. You may be wondering how AI and water are connected, but the water is used to cool down the data centers. This demand is growing as AI is only getting more advanced. 

The environmental impact extends far beyond electricity. Production costs associated with the many events and conferences we attend also contribute to the carbon footprint. Giveaways also have an effect. 

“I was at a Detroit Lions game where they handed out electric wristbands to the crowd,” Jon says. “By the end, about 60,000 were discarded on the ground. That’s a lot of unnecessary waste.”

Signage and creative also play key roles in stifling sustainability. Production, travel, and logistics for advertising campaigns also contribute to the waste. “Every time we shoot an ad, whether in LA or Poland, the travel and resources add up,” Jon points out. “We can’t erase it overnight, but we can start being more mindful.”

The Road Ahead: Balancing Profit and Planet

Very few companies are acting on sustainability efforts, despite widespread interest. According to Viant research, 70% of advertisers express interest in sustainability, but only 10% take real steps to implement changes. Viant’s Adtricity initiative aims to shift this by rewarding advertisers with renewable energy credits for every dollar spent, helping decarbonize the entire programmatic supply chain.

“Green inventory is already a reality,” Jon explains. “Publishers have started adopting carbon-free practices, and we’re empowering the industry to make more sustainable choices.”

While many companies are eager to adopt sustainability practices, the challenge lies in maintaining them when revenue metrics start to dip. “The real test comes when sustainability efforts impact the bottom line,” shares Jon. “Will companies stick with it?”

There may never be a perfect solution, but the industry is moving in the right direction. The push for greener practices in ad tech is just beginning, and while it may be a slow process, progress is being made.

“We can’t change everything overnight, but small, conscious steps will drive us toward a more sustainable future,” Jon explains.

The post The Unseen Environmental Cost of Digital Advertising and the Push for Sustainability appeared first on AdMonsters.

Are advertisers afraid of the news? That’s the question Jana Meron, VP of Revenue Operations and Data at The Washington Post, asked at Programmatic IO. 

For many brands, the answer seems to be a resounding “yes,” especially during politically charged election cycles. But Meron had a different take. She argued that this fear-driven approach is outdated and costs advertisers big opportunities.

Just a few months earlier, she spoke to publishers at AdMonsters Publisher Forum in Boston, focusing on how publishers can balance brand safety with revenue using smarter, more nuanced solutions that respect journalistic integrity. 

Both advertisers and publishers should rethink what it means to be “brand safe” in the fast-evolving news world. So what lessons did we learn from Meron about why it’s high time to move beyond fear? 

A Tale of Two Audiences: Advertisers and Publishers
At Programmatic IO, Meron talked directly to advertisers, addressing their fears of placing ads near news content, especially political coverage. Armed with data, she made a compelling case for why this fear is misguided. 

For instance, she revealed that ads next to political and opinion pieces on The Washington Post see a 55% higher click-through rate than other parts of the site. That’s right—people are paying attention, and these are the valuable, engaged audiences that brands dream of reaching.

At AdMonsters Publisher Forum, Meron spoke to publishers about how they can proactively address brand safety concerns without sacrificing high-quality news content. She explained how The Washington Post uses AI and machine learning to analyze context, sentiment, and risk level of news content — creating a nuanced taxonomy allowing advertisers to set their omfort levels.

This move away from the old “sledgehammer” approach, towards a data-driven strategy, opens up more ad inventory without sacrificing journalistic integrity.

Why Are Advertisers Still Afraid?

Let’s get into the numbers. According to the 2024 Madison and Wall Ad Spend Forecast, 83% of US marketing executives expressed concern about advertising during elections. In fact, some advertisers blocked more than 40% of WaPo’s inventory this year to avoid “risky” content. This, Meron argues, is a shortsighted move.

The Washington Post reaches 10.9 million election-specific readers, 43% of whom are retail investors and many are decision-makers. These news consumers — particularly those engaging with political content — are some of the most valuable readers out there. These aren’t casual readers; they’re engaged, informed, and don’t mind ads.

The Brand Safety Double Standard

So, what’s the problem? Meron says it’s the old-school brand safety rules treating all news content the same way. The brand safety tools that once acted as a necessary shield against fraudulent or harmful content have morphed into blunt instruments, blocking swathes of legitimate news inventory.

The fear is that ads appearing next to controversial topics will hurt the brand’s image. But Meron pointed out that these worries don’t hold up. Most news consumers understand that ads don’t endorse the story next to them. In fact, they often see brands in news as more trustworthy.

Meron calls for a smarter approach. Instead of broad keyword blocklists, we need tech that can differentiate between high, medium, and low-risk content. The Washington Post uses AI to do just that, unlocking 15-25% more ad reach for advertisers. It’s proof that you don’t need to sacrifice quality for safety.

Tech Has the Answers—If We Use It Right

What’s the big takeaway from both of Meron’s talks? The tech is here to help us handle brand safety better. AI and machine learning can understand the context of news, including sentiment and bias. That means we can stop treating all news as risky and start making more informed choices.

“The fear that news is too risky is understandable but doesn’t make sense,” she said at Programmatic IO, emphasizing that modern tech can identify sentiment, bias, and context in ways that past tools could not.

At AdMonsters Publisher Forum, she pushed publishers to educate advertisers on this new reality. “It’s not the year of mobile or whatever,” she said. “It’s time to actually do something.” Publishers can use these tools to show advertisers that news content isn’t something to fear — it’s an opportunity.

Facing the Fear: Time to Rethink Brand Safety

It’s time for both advertisers and publishers to face facts and stop letting fear dictate brand safety strategies. Meron made it clear: advertisers are missing out by avoiding news content. Ads next to quality journalism have higher engagement and reach valuable audiences. Meanwhile, publishers should embrace advanced tools to offer nuanced brand safety solutions that align with their content’s integrity.

News Is Good News for Your Business

Brand safety in 2024 doesn’t mean avoiding news and risk entirely — it’s about understanding, navigating, and harnessing it to capture highly engaged, valuable audiences. And, publishers, for their part, must continue to advocate for smarter, more nuanced brand safety measures that respect the integrity of news.

The tools and strategies are there; it’s time for the industry to use them. The audience is waiting. As Meron said, “News is good news for your business.” The sooner we face the facts and acknowledge that, the better off the entire ad tech ecosystem will be.

The post Rethinking Brand Safety: Lessons from Jana Meron on News Advertising in 2024 appeared first on AdMonsters.

In the world of digital media, Generative AI sparks both excitement and concern. This is especially true among publishers and independent content creators.

Last week, creators took a stand in New York City with the launch of Raptive’s ‘Keep It Real’ campaign, an advocacy effort designed to raise awareness about the impact of AI on their livelihoods.

As I sat in the room, listening to stories from food bloggers, designers, and country music aficionados, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between their challenges and the ones publishers face.

Digital media and advertising is grappling with a shifting landscape where AI threatens to commodify human creativity and diminish revenue streams. And if creators are rallying together to protect their work, shouldn’t publishers do the same?

Setting the Stage: The Creator’s Call to Action

ABC News anchor Linsey Davis was the surprise host of the day, opening the event by celebrating creators’ work as the “heart and soul of the internet.” Her words resonated throughout, highlighting the core message: creators — and, by extension, publishers — are the lifeblood of the web, facing challenges that deserve urgent attention.

But creators’ work is now threatened by the rise of generative AI, which scrapes content to deliver quick answers, often at the expense of the nuanced stories they bring to life.

Creators vs. AI: Navigating the SEO Shake-Up

The ‘Keep It Real’ campaign centers on a simple but powerful message: AI should innovate responsibly without exploiting the creators who pour their hearts into their work. Creators shared how generative AI scrapes and repurposes their work without consent or compensation. This issue hits home for publishers who have spent years building quality content to engage audiences.

Scott Messer‘s analysis of the latest SEO challenges for publishers sheds light on how Google’s introduction of AI-generated summaries and features like Search Generative Experience (SGE) alters search engine results pages (SERPs). This shift pushes traditional organic results further down the page, impacting CTRs for top organic positions. For creators, this means that even high-quality, nuanced content risks being overshadowed by generic AI outputs, threatening their visibility and revenue.

Kaitlin Leung of The Woks of Life illustrates the value of discoverable, human-created content: “We slowly but surely started to attract people who were so thankful and grateful to have found us because they were also looking for a similar platform to be able to learn about their heritage more, and cook recipes that kind of were always the domain of their parents or their grandparents or their aunts or their uncles.”

However, with AI-driven search results potentially limiting such discoveries, creators like Kaitlin worry that these meaningful connections between content creators and their audiences may become increasingly rare. It’s clear that AI poses threats, but some publishers are exploring ways to unlock AI opportunities that can preserve revenue and drive growth.

The Economic Impact of AI on Creators

Like creators, publishers rely on nuanced, human-generated content to attract audiences, which opens up the gates to advertising dollars. But with generative AI serving up bland, one-size-fits-all information, creators and publishers risk losing their unique voice — and, ultimately, their revenue.

Michael Sanchez, CEO of Raptive, puts this threat into stark perspective: “Let’s put this in human terms for Raptive creators, this is their livelihood. They do this full-time. It is the primary way they feed their families. There are 1000s of creators across Raptive who earn their living from their content and make less than $100,000 per year for one family, if they lose half of their traffic due to AI replacing their content, they lose half of their income.”

Today, 15% of every dollar advertisers spend on the open web goes through a Raptive site, earning creators over $2.5 billion in revenue. So a 50% reduction in traffic would impact individual creators’ revenue and threaten the broader creator economy, which supports millions of jobs.

Building Communities and Connections

Lindsay and Bjork Ostrom of Pinch of Yum said it best: The internet should continue to be a place where independent voices can thrive. It’s a sentiment publishers know all too well.

Echoing this idea, Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest, emphasized the importance of community building. “The time I spend on social media is the time I spend interacting with my community and building that community, making that community strong, and making those people feel heard. It’s so important. Nobody feels heard anymore, and we have the power to do that.”

The Role of Advertisers: Supporting Human-Generated Content

The ‘Keep It Real’ campaign calls on advertisers to invest in human-generated content that drives real results and engages audiences on a deeper level. As AI-generated content starts flooding the web, advertisers might be tempted to pour money into platforms that offer quick wins and endless streams of generic content. However, this approach undermines the authenticity that both creators and publishers bring to the table.

Marketers should consider how their media plans and spending align with the campaign’s message. How can the industry ensure that advertising dollars support high-quality, human-centric content?

This could mean reassessing where programmatic buys are directed or prioritizing direct partnerships with publishers who maintain human touchpoints in their content.

Publishers It’s Time to Innovate Responsibly

In creators’ rally for responsible innovation, they want it to be known —  they’re not anti-AI; they’re pro-ethical AI. They want to be part of the conversation, advocating for systems that value their contributions.

Publishers, too, must find ways to leverage AI responsibly while supporting the creator economy, ensuring that both creators and publishers can thrive. That might mean adopting practices that respect the human element of content creation or finding ways to collaborate with creators on shared initiatives that promote authentic, valuable storytelling.

Ad Tech and the Human Connection

Programmatically, ad tech builds a bridge between advertisers and the content that audiences consume. This connector role directly impacts the future of human-generated content online.

It’s time to explore how ad tech can support responsible AI practices that don’t undercut the human connections at the heart of the digital ecosystem.

It’s time to ask: How can ad tech support an internet where independent voices can thrive? It may involve prioritizing ad placements on websites that invest in human-generated stories or encouraging advertisers to value quality over quantity in their content partnerships.

What the Ad Tech Industry Can Do to Keep It Real

• Collaboration: Just as creators are banding together to advocate for their rights, publishers need to engage in collective action. Working with industry bodies to push for fair practices in AI use is a start.
• Support Quality Content: Encourage advertisers to align their spending with websites that offer the depth, nuance, and authenticity AI can’t replicate.
• Advocate for Fair Practices: Push for more transparency in AI’s use of content, ensuring that creators and publishers are fairly compensated when their work is used to train AI models.

The Path Forward: Keeping the Internet Human

At the event, creators emphasized that the fight for fair AI use is only beginning. As they advocate for their rights and the protection of their livelihoods, the entire ad tech ecosystem has a stake in this conversation, especially publishers.

By standing together and championing authentic, human-driven content, you can ensure that the internet remains a place where creativity and community thrive. The road ahead calls for collaboration, innovation, and a shared commitment to keeping it real.

The post Creators vs. AI: Can Keeping It Real Save the Internet? appeared first on AdMonsters.

Last week, I had the honor of moderating a session at the IAB Connected Commerce Summit called “How to Supercharge Your Creative Strategy with AI.” Joining me on stage were Mike Brunick, SVP, Head of Commerce Media at Yahoo; Devrie DeMarco, Managing Director at MediaLink/UTA; and Wendi Dunlap, EVP, Business Intelligence and Audience Science at Mediahub Worldwide.

Together, we dove into how AI is reshaping creative strategies and, most importantly, how it’s knitting together the online and offline worlds to build seamless customer experiences.

One of the most compelling moments came from DeMarco, who reminded us that it’s not just about optimizing workflows, it’s about crafting journeys that resonate across every touchpoint. She said it powerfully: “If AI can free people from manual tasks, imagine the potential of a better in-store experience.”That struck a chord. We’re not just using AI for efficiency’s sake; we’re using it to enrich the entire shopping experience, connecting the digital and physical realms.

Brunick emphasized that personalization needs to go beyond immediate transactions. It’s about fostering long-term relationships. Picture a customer’s journey as a continuous thread weaving through both online and in-store experiences. AI helps us analyze behaviors, build meaningful touchpoints, and drive engagement that resonates across channels. But it’s most effective when it amplifies our ability to connect on a human level. We can’t let data and automation drown out the personal touch.

Dunlap added another layer, urging us not to overlook the ethical implications of AI in creative strategies. While AI can enhance creativity, without vigilance, we risk introducing bias into the strategies we create to connect with diverse audiences. “Bias” and “inclusivity” must be at the forefront of any AI-driven approach, Dunlap explained. The technology is only as good as the data it’s fed. Without human insight, we can easily miss the mark in reflecting our diverse audiences and their varied consumer experiences.  This isn’t just about algorithms; it’s about responsibility.

AI Strategy in Three Key Points

Our panel boiled down AI strategy to three essential takeaways:

1. Bridge the Online and In-Store Experience: It’s not about separate channels; it’s about guiding customers through a unified journey.
2. Enhance Creativity, Don’t Replace It: AI should augment the human touch, but always keep a sharp eye on data-driven biases.
3. Start Small: Test a few use cases, learn, and then scale up thoughtfully. Don’t try to boil the ocean.

The Power of Experience

After my panel, I attended several discussions that expanded on these ideas. But the last session of the day — “Unlock the Power of Innovation through Creativity in Commerce” — truly drove everything home for me. Featuring Michael Olaye, EVP, Managing Director at Hero Digital, and Lauren Chesley, Head of Industry, Retail + Restaurants at SiriusXM Media, and moderated by Pam Zucker, Chief Strategy Officer at IAB<, this session wrapped up many of the themes we’d explored throughout the day.

They picked up right where our panel left off and closed the loop on what Walter T. Geer III touched upon earlier in the day during his fireside chat: We need to be creating experiences. It’s not just about selling products; it’s about crafting a journey that resonates on multiple sensory levels and stays with the consumer long after.

Olaye framed it perfectly: “Creativity stays the same, but the canvas changes.” We’ve moved from TV and print to automation and digital platforms, and it’s about using technology to drive human thinking. His words encapsulated what we’d been circling all day — AI isn’t here to replace creativity; it’s here to enhance it, giving us new canvases to paint on.

Chesley illustrated this idea deeper, painting a vivid picture of a European hotel where every detail was designed to engage the senses. The scent in the lobby, the jazz music playing softly, the warm towel handed to guests, and the champagne toast at check-in. “The more senses you activate, the more connected you are to someone,” she explained. It clicked. The same principles apply to retail. She argued that audio is a powerful yet often underused channel, creating emotional connections in a world saturated with visuals. When was the last time you thought about a brand’s sonic identity?

Olaye also introduced the idea of Zero UI — a world that moves beyond screens and traditional interfaces. Imagine stores where sensors, AI, and connected devices know your preferences without you having to input anything. Zero UI is about blending the physical and digital worlds in seamless ways. This dovetailed perfectly with what we discussed during the session I moderated: AI is a tool to build customer journeys that speak to how people want to interact with brands, online or offline.

Key Takeaways from the IAB Connected Commerce Summit

1. Phygital Experiences Are Key: Rose Ferraro of Rockbot emphasized that consistency between online and in-store environments is crucial. Unified media across audio, signage, and other touchpoints strengthens the brand narrative and keeps consumers engaged.
2. In-Store Digitization as a Business Enabler: Nick Ashley of Tesco Media nailed it when he said that digitization isn’t just about media revenue; it’s about enhancing the overall business. Elevating the look and feel of stores fosters long-term customer loyalty.
3. Retail Data Drives Better Impact: Elizabeth Cotogno of Kroger Precision Marketing noted that incorporating retail data earlier in media planning can boost business impact by 50%. But the real challenge? Moving beyond outdated metrics like CPMs and focusing on real-world outcomes.
4. Creativity and Technology Must Work Hand-in-Hand: Walter T. Geer III reminded us that while AI and automation provide incredible tools, it’s the human element — our stories, ethics, and passion — that ultimately drives compelling campaigns.
5. Personalization, but Not at the Expense of Privacy: The summit repeatedly highlighted that AI should personalize and enhance consumer experiences while keeping privacy and ethics at the forefront of every interaction.

Creating the Connected Experience

If there’s one major lesson I walked away from the IAB Connected Commerce Summit with, it’s this: AI is an enabler, not the end goal. Whether we’re streamlining creative processes or building phygital retail environments, the focus should always be on crafting meaningful, holistic experiences.

AI can free us from mundane tasks, drive deeper insights, and open up new possibilities. But at its core, it’s the human touch that keeps the heartbeat of creative strategy alive. It’s about understanding what truly resonates with people and using technology to amplify those connections.

The post Supercharging Creative Strategies with AI: Top Takeaways from IAB Connected Commerce Summit appeared first on AdMonsters.

PinkNews, a leading LGBTQ+ news and entertainment platform, partnered with OpenWeb to create a safer, more engaging space for its audience. Together, they are driving deeper user engagement while building robust first-party data. 

Through this collaboration, PinkNews is reaffirming its commitment to cultivating a supportive and respectful environment for its readers and strategically expanding its loyal user base. In today’s digital media landscape, publishers must focus on understanding and growing  their audience. 

“Our partnership with OpenWeb has empowered us to build an engaged and loyal readership—a key part of our growth strategy,” explains Sarah Watson, Chief Product Officer of PinkNews.

OpenWeb’s scalable content moderation technology has enabled PinkNews to expand its commenting feature to all visitors, resulting in a 200% increase in new registrations — a significant shift from its previous policy of limiting comments to paid subscribers.

In an AdMonsters exclusive interview, Watson highlights how important it is to listen to your consumer base. 

Andrew Byrd: Can you share more about the strategic decision behind partnering with OpenWeb and how it aligns with PinkNews’ overall growth and community engagement goals?

Sarah Watson: PinkNews has an incredibly vast and loyal user base across its various owned and operated platforms and social channels. Therefore, it was important for us to create a sense of community on our site.

In the past, we’ve enabled our readers to comment on articles and engage with one another, but maintaining a safe environment and keeping conversations civil with man-power alone became more and more of a challenge. By partnering with OpenWeb, we were able to relaunch commenting capabilities and reestablish open discussion and debate on topics and articles that our audience is passionate about. OpenWeb removed the heavy lifting of content moderation, enabling us to spend more time doing more exciting things, like analyzing discussion topics for future articles, joining conversations, and being entertained by our passionate readers.

AB: How has integrating OpenWeb’s AI-powered community experiences transformed how PinkNews engages with its readers?

SW: Given the incredibly high engagement levels we see across our social platforms, we were keen to create a safe space for our readers to interact with one another on the website and apps. Partnering with OpenWeb has helped us cultivate meaningful user engagement, boosting key metrics such as time spent on site, page views, and user lifetime value.

AB: Given that comments were previously limited to paid subscribers, what impact have you seen from opening comments to all visitors, especially regarding user engagement and loyalty?

SW: In a recent Reader Survey, which we run regularly, our readers already told us they were keen for comments to be released from the paywall.

They spoke, we listened, and we’re glad we did, as we saw an instant spike in registrations, and engagement with comments has continued to grow WoW ever since.

AB: Building robust first-party data is crucial for publishers. How is this partnership helping PinkNews enhance its first-party data collection, and what benefits are you seeing from this data?

SW: At PinkNews, several features are currently available to readers registering an account with us. These include a hand-curated daily newsletter, the ability to save articles, and now commenting. Our ethos is to only ask for data from our readers if we give something back in return, and the data we collect is minimal.

We want to create a unique and engaging experience for every reader, so by knowing a bit more about them, we can curate our content to suit them and engage with brands that are looking to target specific audiences with specific brand affinities or characteristics.

AB: Could you elaborate on the 200% increase in new registrations since partnering with OpenWeb? What factors have driven this surge, and how do you plan to sustain it?

SW: We have a highly engaged and loyal community, and we could see from our social channels that people were keen to start healthy discussions with one another. By removing the paywall from comments, we saw an instant surge in usage as there was no longer a barrier to entry. The registration process is very simple and straightforward, and there are no limits on how many times people can comment. All we ask for is that our readers keep things civil. 

AB: What specific challenges has PinkNews faced in fostering healthy conversations online, and how does OpenWeb help you overcome these challenges?

SW: PinkNews is not alone when it comes to facing moderation challenges. The vast majority of our audience wants to share opinions and have civilized discussions. Still, there’s a small subset of people and a large number of bots who see an open commenting field as an opportunity to spread misinformation and hate speech.

Through our partnership with OpenWeb, we are using technology to help us differentiate those individuals (whether human or bot) so that we can create a sense of community without alienating or upsetting our loyal readers.

AB: How do you see the partnership with OpenWeb evolving, and what future initiatives or goals do you hope to achieve together?

SW: Our partnership with OpenWeb has empowered us to build an engaged and loyal readership—a key part of our growth strategy. Thanks to their moderation technology, we’ve opened our comments to all users while ensuring conversation remains respectful and productive.

OpenWeb has a number of other initiatives that we’re keen to explore, which align with our goal of continuing to engage our readers and encourage repeat visits to our website and apps.

The post How PinkNews Leveraged OpenWeb to Boost User Engagement and Data Collection appeared first on AdMonsters.

Digital advertising has presented challenges and opportunities for publishers looking to future-proof their businesses. In a recent LinkedIn Live event, I sat down with Justin Wohl, the Chief Revenue Officer of Snopes, to discuss the key trends and strategies shaping the future of ad ops and the ad tech stack. 

Wohll offered a unique perspective on the shifting dynamics between buyers and sellers. For instance, the supply side has been catching up to the buy side, becoming more sophisticated and aware of their value. This newfound empowerment is crucial to the industry’s evolution as publishers strive to optimize their partnerships and drive greater efficiency in their ad tech stacks. 

Beyond the changing publisher-buyer relationship, Wohl also delved into the potential impact of emerging technologies, such as AI and generative AI, on the future of ad ops. 

But he heeds a warning about Google’s trial with the DOJ. Wohl explains that the decisions made in this case could profoundly influence the future of pre-bid and header bidding, potentially unlocking more efficient and pure programmatic opportunities for publishers. “Should that unlock for us, it’ll create plenty of movement and opportunity for publishers to, like better, optimize and become more efficient with how we run our auctions and sell our inventory.”

Want to get the full scoop? Watch the full live below: 

Publishers Grow More Sophisticated as Ad Tech Evolves

Over the years, the ad tech industry has significantly transformed, and publishers are still learning to find their footing. According to Wohl, the dynamic between the buy-side and sell-side has been shifting, with publishers playing a more active role.

“I think that the experience of always being on the supply side, always being on the publisher side of this business, has been one of catching up to the buy side,” he explains.

Wohll notes that publishers are becoming more sophisticated and aware of their value proposition, leading to a more balanced understanding of the tech stack between buyers and sellers.

“We’ve become smarter, more sophisticated, more aware of our value proposition. As tech understanding comes to parity on both the buy and sell sides, we should keep seeing this evolution of more sophistication and self-determination on the supply side, where we know the value of our inventory and can sell it successfully,” said Wohl. 

Snopes FactBot: Integrating AI in Ad Tech 

Interest in integrating AI and generative AI technologies is growing. Wohl points out the difference between traditional machine learning, which has been valuable for data analysis, and the new opportunities generative AI presents for publishers.

One example of Snopes’ use of AI is its fact-checking bot, designed to be transparent when it doesn’t have an answer. Rather than generating inaccurate responses, the bot informs users when it cannot address a query. Snopes then logs those unanswered questions and uses large language models to analyze recurring topics, providing valuable insights for the editorial team to expand their fact-checking coverage.

This strategy helps Snopes understand audience interests while expanding its content. However, Wohl also emphasizes the high costs of using generative AI. The expense per query, he explains, is significantly higher than the revenue generated from those queries — about five times more. As publishers consider adopting these technologies, Wohl advises carefully evaluating the potential benefits and costs, focusing on practical applications that can optimize efficiency and revenue.

Practical Strategies for Optimizing the Ad Tech Stack 

Drawing from his own experiences, Wohl urges publishers to understand their programmatic partners’ contributions to revenue versus the opportunities provided. 

“One of the recurring conversations I have with our SSP partners is about their performance. We run a direct-only auction with no reselling, involving around 20 SSPs, each with a direct seat. Every quarter, they all ask where they rank—whether they were our third-largest or smallest buyer.”

Wohl suggests that publishers should come prepared for industry events, such as the upcoming Pub Forum Scottsdale conference, with this level of partner analysis. 

“I want to optimize my partners and know who sits where so we can talk about the business and why that is.” By understanding the nuances of their ad tech stack, publishers can make informed decisions about optimizing their partners, determining which ones to include or exclude from their auctions, and ultimately driving greater efficiency and revenue. 

During his session at AdMonsters PubForum Scottsdale, Wohl plans to explore this concept of partner optimization.

The post LinkedIn Live Replay: The Future of Ad Ops According to Snopes’ Justin Wohl appeared first on AdMonsters.

AI has already begun transforming various aspects of mobile marketing, from personalized recommendations to predictive analytics. As AI technologies evolve, their impact on mobile measurement and attribution will become even more pronounced. 

AI’s ability to process and analyze vast amounts of data quickly and accurately is unparalleled. In the context of mobile measurement, AI can provide deeper insights into user behavior, helping marketers understand what users are doing and why they are doing it. This capability will enable more precise targeting and personalized marketing efforts, enhancing user acquisition strategies.

The Power of AI in Mobile Measurement

Predictive analytics powered by AI can forecast future user behaviors based on historical data. For example, AI can identify patterns that indicate a user is likely to churn, allowing marketers to intervene with targeted campaigns to retain the user. This proactive approach can significantly improve user retention rates and lifetime value (LTV).

AI-driven automation will streamline various aspects of mobile measurement and attribution. Tasks that were previously manual and time-consuming, such as data collection, segmentation, optimization, and reporting, can now be automated. This not only increases efficiency but also reduces the likelihood of human error.

Automated attribution models, for instance, can dynamically adjust to changing user behaviors and market conditions, providing more accurate and timely insights. This agility will be crucial in a fast-paced industry where trends and user preferences can shift rapidly.

Privacy Concerns and Regulatory Challenges

While AI offers numerous benefits, the rise of privacy concerns poses significant challenges to mobile measurement and attribution. Users are becoming increasingly aware of how their data is collected, stored, and used, leading to greater demand for privacy protections.

Governments around the world are enacting stricter data privacy regulations. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the United States are just two examples of legislation having significant implications for mobile measurement and attribution.

These regulations require companies to obtain explicit consent from users before collecting their data and to provide transparency about how data is used. This shift towards user consent and control over personal data will limit the amount of data available for traditional attribution models, which rely heavily on tracking user interactions across various touchpoints.

The Shift Away From Traditional Tracking

Additionally, changes to Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) and Google’s upcoming Privacy Sandbox for Android are major developments that will impact mobile measurement. Third-party cookies have been a staple of digital advertising, enabling cross-site tracking and attribution. However, with browsers like Safari and Firefox blocking third-party cookies and Google’s Privacy Sandbox for Android planning to remove any personally identifiable information (PII), marketers need to find alternative methods for tracking user behavior.

Similarly, Apple’s introduction of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework requires apps to obtain user permission before tracking their activity across other companies’ apps and websites. As a result, many users are opting out of tracking, reducing the effectiveness of IDFA for attribution purposes.

Adapting to a Privacy-First Future

The mobile app industry needs to adopt new strategies and technologies to navigate the challenges posed by AI and privacy concerns.

With traditional tracking methods becoming less viable, marketers should explore privacy-centric attribution models. By leveraging solutions like incrementality, marketing mix modeling (MMM), and predictive analytics, it’s possible not just to work with aggregated data, but to gain true insights from it. This involves analyzing trends and patterns at a cohort level rather than tracking individual users, thus respecting user privacy while still gaining valuable insights.

First-party data, collected directly from users with their consent, will become increasingly valuable. By building strong relationships with users and encouraging them to share their data willingly, companies can create rich datasets for analysis and attribution. This data is often more accurate and reliable than third-party data, leading to better targeting and measurement outcomes.

Contextual targeting, which focuses on delivering ads based on the context of the content being consumed rather than user behavior, will also gain prominence. This approach respects user privacy by not relying on personal data and can still achieve effective targeting by aligning ads with relevant content.

The Role of AI in Ensuring Compliance and The Future of Mobile Attribution

AI can also play a crucial role in ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. Machine learning algorithms can be used to detect and manage sensitive data, ensuring that personal information is handled appropriately. AI can automate the process of obtaining and managing user consent, making it easier for companies to comply with regulations while maintaining a positive user experience.

The intersection of AI and privacy concerns presents both challenges and opportunities for mobile measurement and attribution in the coming years. AI has the potential to enhance data analysis, predictive analytics, and automation, driving more effective user acquisition strategies. However, the increasing demand for privacy and regulatory changes will require the industry to adapt by adopting privacy-centric attribution models, leveraging first-party data, and exploring contextual targeting.

As the mobile app industry navigates this evolving landscape, companies that can successfully integrate AI-driven solutions while respecting user privacy will be best positioned to thrive. The next 12-24 months will be a critical period of transformation, shaping the future of mobile measurement and attribution practices for years to come.

The post What Is the Role of AI in Mobile Measurement and Attribution? appeared first on AdMonsters.

This new era of journalism is sticky for publishers. They are currently faced with revenue loss, layoffs, and much more since tech giants are prioritizing clicks over quality content. They invest heavily in creating reliable information, yet the rise of AI-fueled search results threatens to divert traffic away from their sites, potentially cutting off vital revenue streams. 

To stay afloat, publishers continue to focus on diversifying their revenue streams. From launching e-commerce platforms to fostering vibrant online communities, they are rethinking their strategies to build stronger, more direct relationships with their audiences. This shift not only helps mitigate the risks posed by AI-driven search engines but also enhances brand safety and boosts audience lifetime value. By embracing these changes and prioritizing community engagement, publishers can create sustainable business models that support quality journalism.

We spoke with Max Weiss, OpenWeb’s Chief Strategy Officer, about his work at OpenWeb, how the new era of digital media is affecting publishers, and ways they can thrive in this new norm.  

Andrew Byrd: Can you walk me through the work you do at OpenWeb?

Max Weiss: OpenWeb is on a mission to build a healthier open internet. We do this the best way we know how: by building innovative technologies that turn content creators (publishers, brands) into the hosts of thriving, healthy communities. Our best-in-class moderation tech leverages AI to keep those communities healthy and engaging, bringing data and revenue to publishers. Today, we work with more than 5,000 top-tier publishers, hosting more than 150 million active users each month.

As the Chief Operations Officer, I collaborate with our CEO & founder, Nadav Shoval on our mission to help the media industry thrive on the open internet (simple, right?). On a day-to-day basis, I spend a lot of time meeting with leaders in the media industry and working with my teams (product, partner success and trust & safety most often) to help them solve their problems, from audience retention to addressability.

AB: How has the media industry evolved recently, and what are the main challenges publishers are facing today?

MW: Even for an industry marked by constant change, the past year has been eventful. We’ve seen a lot:

• Huge advances in AI changing everything from traffic sources to staffing needs.
• Dramatically falling search and social media referral traffic.
• Google’s flip flop on deprecating third-party cookies more times than I care to recount. 
• Slow-moving but advancing government regulations.
• New social channels for reaching and engaging audiences (which tends to further distract publishers and drain their resources).
• And more…

All together, this means many publishers face risks to their bottom line. There’s a widespread acknowledgement that they need to diversify revenue streams. That’s where we come in – we believe, as do an increasing number of publishers, that building a strong, loyal community is the best way to push back against the tide.

AB: Can you elaborate on the importance of diversifying revenue streams for publishers and how it can impact their sustainability?

MW: From ecommerce and events to entirely new and productized verticals (like for instance, WSJ’s Buy Side and recipes vertical), publishers are doing so much to diversify their revenue. These initiatives are most successful when they’re built on top of a thriving, loyal community — one that congregates around the publishers’ content, most commonly in the comments sections. That community of users and super users multiply the impact of everything else a publisher does to diversify revenue. After all, if a publisher launches a store, who do you think is buying the t-shirt or hat with the publishers’ logo on it?

To get there, publishers need to change their mindsets. They need to begin to think about their content at the beginning of a conversation and themselves as the host of that conversation, rather than simply posting content to social media or their website. We’ve seen it work countless times. A strong community increases time on site, pages per session and return traffic — and increases revenue.

AB: How is AI influencing search results, and what are the potential benefits and drawbacks for publishers?

MW: AI-powered search is just the latest example of how tech companies are taking publishers’ content, monetizing it, and then keeping that new revenue for themselves.

AI-powered search is an existential threat to publishers as it cuts them off from any form of revenue they would generate from web traffic. 

At worst, this is a zero-sum game: AI results keep traffic on search engines themselves, and away from publishers. But publishers are pivoting and building direct traffic streams to rely less on SEO and more on strategies that use 1:1 relationships with users to bring traffic directly to their own sites. By turning inward, publishers will be able to focus on what they do best – fostering and hosting communities around content –something an AI search summary can never do. 

AB: Can you explain the role of community engagement platforms like OpenWeb in helping publishers build a community of registered users?

MW: OpenWeb provides publishers a tailored and unique community engagement experience. The community is similar to a social media platform, all hosted directly on their properties. OpenWeb fosters engaged conversations around topics that matter, in turn, building loyalty with their readers.

A staggering 88% of online users won’t return to a site if they have a bad peer-to-peer experience. In short: negative interactions can cause readers to completely write off a site, even if they aren’t part of the conversation.

Healthy community drives more registrations by converting passive readers into engaged and registered users. Online, engaged communities can help publishers make more revenue from their readers, by making their site a destination and engaging with users. 

AB: How can publishers balance the need for premium inventory with ensuring brand safety and focusing on audience lifetime value?

MW: Thanks for this question. This is one of the things we at OpenWeb have spent years working on. Publishers can increase LTV and maintain high levels of engagement by hosting a community — starting with comments. That has been known for decades, at this point. But starting in the mid-2010’s, brand safety and suitability were called into question. 

As a result, publishers got out of the habit of interacting with their users on their own properties, and outsourced those community-building efforts to the social platforms. But, with advances in AI and Machine Learning, it is now not only possible but profitable for publishers to host healthy, engaged communities at scale. Quality conversations are one of the best ways to transform casual visitors into loyal users who drive more engagement, spend more time on-site, and are more likely to return over time — that’s LTV.

The post The Shift to Community-Driven Revenue in Digital Publishing a Q&A with Max Weiss, OpenWeb appeared first on AdMonsters.

As Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox gears up for its anticipated 2025 launch, mobile marketers need to stay ahead of the curve. Remerge, a leading Demand Side Platform (DSP), is at the forefront of this transition, collaborating  with Google and other ad tech partners, such as Verve, AppsFlyer, Adjust, and Singular, to ensure a seamless shift. Luckey Harpley, Staff Product Manager at Remerge, sheds light on what this means for the future of mobile marketing and how to navigate this new landscape.

Why Is Mobile Marketing Shifting to Privacy-First Advertising?

The rise of AI and sophisticated machine learning algorithms showcases the benefits of new technologies, but it also highlights the dangers of these advancements. People want more control over how big tech businesses manage their data. The advertising world is moving towards a privacy-centric future and marketers must adapt.

Apple made the first privacy move on mobile with the launch of its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in 2021. Google’s answer is the Privacy Sandbox, a set of APIs to facilitate the selling, buying, and targeting of in-app ad placements, without requiring third-party cookies in Chrome or cross-app identifiers on Android. For Android, this will provide tracking and reporting via its Attribution API, targeting through Topics and Protected Audiences APIs, and data collection and handling via the SDK Run Time.

Why are DSPs Like Remerge Already Working on Solutions for the Android Privacy Sandbox?

It’s important to avoid a situation like the ATT rollout, where advertisers and publishers were left in the dark before its launch and struggled to understand how to run campaigns after it came into effect.

We want to ensure everything is ready for mobile marketers to run privacy-compliant advertising campaigns on Android without experiencing a drastic decline in performance. Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in the first quarter of 2024, with a market share of 70.7% so this transitional period is crucial for the well-being of the mobile marketing ecosystem.

Does Google’s Decision to Keep Third-Party Cookies on Chrome Change Anything?

Google recently announced that they no longer plan to deprecate third-party cookies on Chrome and emphasized giving users the choice to opt-in to tracking. This update is unrelated to mobile. A similar approach is likely to happen on Android, where the GAID remains intact, and users can choose whether to share this with advertisers. In this scenario, nothing would change for mobile DSPs and their investment into Google’s APIs – the Android Privacy Sandbox would remain an essential framework for privacy-preserving advertising campaigns.

What Has Remerge Tested and Why Should Mobile Marketers Take Notice?

Remerge’s Research and Development team has been working on the Sandbox for over 1.5 years. They’ve focused on testing the Protected Audience API, which will allow advertisers to run retargeting campaigns on Android.

Tests have been completed with Mobile Measurement Partners (MMPs) like Adjust, AppsFlyer, and Singular. This includes developing a proof-of-concept for Custom Audience Delegation, a mechanism required for remarketing in Sandbox. This allows an MMP SDK to add users to custom audiences on behalf of advertisers based on their in-app behavior. Additionally, the first DSP/SSP on-device bidding test was conducted with Verve. These are small steps but important milestones for Sandbox testing, demonstrating that the Protected Audience API and custom audiences mechanisms are working as planned and validating product capabilities.

How Will a Mobile Marketing Manager’s Life Change When the Sandbox Rolls Out?

Advertisers won’t experience a considerable change in the buying process. At Remerge, marketers will continue to share their user data, desired campaign segmentation, and budget with the Account Management team as usual. Remerge will still be able to target users according to activity within an advertiser’s app and run creatives such as static and video. There’ll be no changes to CTR and CPX reporting, and for ROAS reporting, the data will likely have limited dimensionality, focusing on campaign and country-level reporting.

Google and its partners are doing the heavy lifting on the technical setup. Compared to ATT, the Android Privacy Sandbox is not only far more powerful with its targeting capabilities but also much more complex. This is a completely new tech stack with privacy-preserving mechanisms, and while we might see some performance dips initially, the long-term benefits are expected to be significant.

What About User Acquisition (UA) Campaigns?

While the focus has been on retargeting and the Protected Audience API, the Protected App Signals is supporting UA on Android. Although no industry players have made proposals on the Protected App Signals API yet, advertisers should reach out to their UA partners to discuss their plans.

What Can Mobile Marketers Do Right Now?

Advertisers should start finding a partner equipped to run mobile marketing campaigns on Android. Early adopters like Remerge, who have helped shape components of the Privacy Sandbox framework, will be well-positioned to hit the ground running when it launches.

The post What Should Mobile Marketers Know About the Android Privacy Sandbox Launch? appeared first on AdMonsters.