programmatic

Programmatic or Problematic? The Battle Against Made-for-Advertising Websites

The persistent issue of Made-for-Advertising (MFA) websites continues to cast a shadow over the digital advertising industry. These platforms, primarily designed to absorb advertising dollars, have prompted substantial concern and led to a multi-billion dollar spending spree by advertisers.

A recent industry report exposed the magnitude of this predicament, revealing that advertisers collectively poured billions into MFA websites. In response, ad-tech vendors have embarked on a mission to rectify the situation over the past few months. However, the question looms – is their concerted effort making a tangible impact?

The Made-for-Advertising Websites Saga

The saga of MFA websites is not a recent revelation; it has been a thorn in the side of digital advertising for quite some time. CNBC even created a fake website that plagiarized content, underscoring the lack of quality controls for advertisers and ad-tech partners.

This year, the Association of National Advertisers unveiled a damning two-part report. It exposed that approximately 15% of programmatic, open-web advertising dollars funneled into MFA websites, accumulating a staggering $10 billion in ad spend.

In response to the report’s first installment in June, major ad-tech vendors, including Pubmatic, Magnite, and OpenX, pledged to exclude MFA inventory from curated publisher lists sold to select advertisers. However, advertisers navigating the open web still face the challenge of sifting through MFA inventory.

Notably, both DoubleVerify and Integral AdScience, two industry giants specializing in verification and brand safety, introduced distinct detection tools. These tools aim to shield advertisers from the clutches of MFA inventory, representing a significant step in fortifying the digital advertising ecosystem.

While ad-tech vendors take measures to purge the digital realm of MFA websites, demand-side platforms, the representatives of advertisers, have maintained a conspicuous silence on the matter. This silence prompts contemplation about their stance and the role they play in mitigating the MFA challenge.

Important steps for advertisers

Here are five essential steps for advertisers to elevate their approach and drive efficiency gains:

1. Active Stewardship: Advertisers must take the reins and actively steward their media investments. It’s time to move away from complete delegation to agencies and embrace a more hands-on role in ensuring the efficacy of every advertising dollar spent.
2. Data Access Contracts: Establishing direct data access contracts with primary supply chain partners is crucial. Transparency and data access rights are inseparable. Advertisers should consider direct contracts with DSPs, SSPs, and Ad Verification vendors to maximize transparency and control over data.
3. Agency Partnerships with Full Transparency: Construct agency partnerships that provide complete access to data and full transparency of websites purchased on media buys. Understanding the distinction between the agency acting as an agent or principal is vital. Advertisers need clarity on when agencies are obligated to act in their best interests and ensure contractual transparency.
4. Quality Over Quantity: Prioritize quality media buys over chasing low-cost inventory. Cheap CPM buys may lead to non-viewable and non-measurable media purchases. Striking a balance between cost-effectiveness and ad quality—ensuring viewability, fraud-free interactions, and brand safety—is essential for sustainable advertising efforts.
5. Exclusion of “Made for Advertising” Websites: Demand the exclusion of “Made for Advertising” (MFA) websites from media buys unless explicitly wanted or needed. Advertisers should assess if MFA sites align with their brand suitability standards for content and user experience. Clearly defining the tolerance for the inclusion of MFA inventory in campaigns is essential.

As the industry grapples with this pervasive issue, the battle against MFA websites unfolds, and the efficacy of these countermeasures remains to be seen. The shadows cast by MFA websites persist, challenging the industry to innovate and fortify its defenses in the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.

  This article is written by Priyanshu Pande, Business Consultant

Priyanshu Pande

Business Consultant | Storytelling | Sports Marketing | Brand Marketing

Priyanshu is a passionate storyteller who has a penchant for building brands and a knack for understanding spreadsheets. With over 16 years in brand & sports marketing, he has worked on all facets of sports business in India – from formulating sports marketin strategies and activating brands to leverage sponsorships to managing atheletes & marketing sports teams & bodies.

Priyanshu’s driving force at work is the obsession to bring brands to life & closer to consumers with the power of design, right messaging & apt medium.

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Eyeota and Vistar Media Partner to Enhance DOOH Targeting

Eyeota, a Dun & Bradstreet company and global source of digital marketing data, has formed a partnership with Vistar Media. Vistar Media is a global supplier of digital out-of-home (DOOH) programmatic technology. Through the partnership, buyers utilizing the Vistar DSP will be able to plan and target their DOOH campaigns more effectively by maximizing their media spend by utilizing Eyeota audience data, which covers over 30 verticals and seasonal events.

Enhanced DOOH campaign targeting 

Integrating Eyeota audience segmentation with Vistar DSP allows advertisers to enhance campaign targeting across the wide network of outdoor digital inventory offered by Vistar. This includes billboards, street furniture, bus stops, airports, and a variety of other locations that let marketers interact with customers on multiple occasions throughout a typical day.                                                                     

Marketers can now streamline their audience-targeting efforts across a wider programmatic landscape by working with the audiences of Vistar Media and Eyeota. With the help of this agreement, advertisers will be able to reach their target audience more successfully and get the most out of their DOOH investment with a comprehensive omnichannel digital marketing experience.

Insightful targeting options

Advertisers can obtain insightful and actionable targeting options by utilizing Eyeota’s vast audience data, spanning over 30 verticals and seasonal events, with Vistar DSP. By matching their DOOH campaigns to interest-based segments, behavioral ownership, employment, or demographics, advertisers can better target their messaging and reach the right audiences at the right moment.

Read More: JCDecaux Announces the Launch of Global Airport Programmatic DOOH

With the help of this collaboration, programmatic DOOH advertising has advanced significantly, enabling advertisers to easily activate Eyeota audience segments within the Vistar DSP. Eyeota and Vistar Media are at the forefront of the industry’s adoption of audience targeting strategies, allowing advertisers to harness the power of data-driven insights and produce more impactful and effective DOOH campaigns.

Here’s what they said

Trent Lloyd, head of APAC at Eyeota, said,

“Brands can now easily streamline audience targeting efforts, delivering personalised messages aligned with specific demographics and behaviours. It’s truly a game changer for advertisers to make the most out of their DOOH ads and drive engagement with the right customers in today’s fast-changing world of outdoor digital advertising.” 

 Ben Baker, Vistar’s APAC managing director, stated,

“We are thrilled to partner with Eyeota to provide our clients with best-in-class audience data for their DOOH campaigns. With Eyeota’s comprehensive audience targeting capabilities, advertisers can now optimise their programmatic DOOH campaigns, driving greater engagement and ensuring their messages resonate with their intended audiences.”

Read More: Nakheel Grants 10-Year DOOH Media Rights to Hypermedia

JCDecaux Announces the Launch of Global Airport Programmatic DOOH

JCDecaux, the world’s leading outdoor advertising company, has announced the launch of the first global airport programmatic DOOH offer. With the help of the VIOOH SSP (Supply Side Platform) and more than 30 DSPs (Demand Side Platform), including Displayce where it is currently available, brands and agencies can now easily execute contextualized, dynamic, and targeted advertising campaigns across JCDecaux’s programmatic-enabled airports.

Revolutionizing airport advertising with programmatic DOOH

Brands and agencies can reach over 70 million passengers and 2 billion impressions per month through this programmatic offer due to its sheer size. JCDecaux operates a network of over 3000 screens in major airports across the world, including 15 of the busiest ones initially (in the U.S., Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and Miami; in Europe, London Heathrow, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Paris-Orly, Milan-Malpensa, Brussels, and Milan-Linate; in Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney, and Macau).

Airport audience targeting

With this special solution created by JCDecaux’s International Programmatic Council (IPC), advertisers receive unparalleled access to highly sought-after audiences in a premium setting. It maximizes brand exposure globally and ensures brand transparency and a safe environment for campaign delivery. With the right message at the right place at the right time, advertisers can engage with their target audience at crucial touchpoints throughout their journey. It will include from departure to arrival, thanks to JCDecaux’s innovative technology and broad reach.

Read More: Google Plans to Introduce Programmatic Support for Limited Ads

JCDecaux’s outdoor advertising ventures

JCDecaux has decades of experience in the outdoor advertising sector. It is well-known for its dedication to quality, creativity, and innovation. With its new international programmatic offers, it further solidifies its leadership in the sector. Furthermore, it demonstrates its dedication to developing more effective, approachable, and versatile advertising campaigns.

Here’s what they said

Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and co-CEO of JCDecaux, said,

“We are thrilled to unveil the first global programmatic DOOH offer in airports including 15 of the busiest ones as a start, a game-changing solution for advertisers seeking seamless campaign execution. In a period of major changes within the digital ecosystem, this pioneering offering guarantees high-performance contextualized campaigns and marks a significant milestone in the outdoor advertising industry, enabling brands and agencies to tap into the immense potential of programmatic advertising in the airport environment.”

Read More: Magnite Bags Tennis Australia for Programmatic Advertising

Simpli.fi Partners With Intent IQ for New Audience Extension Solutions

Simpli.fi, an advertising success platform that provides programmatic advertising and workflow software to agencies, brands, and media companies, has announced a collaboration with Intent IQ, a leader in identity resolution, to offer clients a new Cookie-less Audience Extension solution. The new offering integrates Intent IQ’s cookie-less universal ID (IIQ ID) directly into Simpli.fi’s DSP. It was first announced at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting. With the accelerated deprecation of cookies, advertisers can now target audiences more effectively and reach a wider audience. This new integration complements Simpli.fi’s current suite of cookieless solutions.

The New Audience Extension Solution

With the help of cookieless solutions powered by Intent IQ, advertisers can extend their targeting capabilities and quickly scale their addressable, contextual, and third-party audiences with Simpli.fi’s latest offering. With Google deprecating the cookie for Chrome users, audience-based targeting is about to undergo a seismic shift that advertisers need to get ready for. Simpli.fi’s new tool will help brands, media companies, and agencies target audiences in a way that prioritizes privacy. Simpli.fi customers can reach relevant audiences across CTV, display, native, and other media formats on Google, Apple, and other cookieless devices and browsers with lower data and media costs by utilizing the Intent IQ-powered Cookieless Audience Extension.

IIQ ID for cookie-less audience

Cookies-less users become addressable with IIQ ID. Its distinctive and patented Distributed Identity Technology, which combines deterministic accuracy and unprecedented scale, is what powers it and gives ad sellers and buyers unmatched value. Simpli.fi’s Cookieless Audience Extension solution will gain immediate traction because publishers adopt the ID widely. With greater ease and compliance with industry standards, advertisers can now reach and retarget audiences in a more privacy-focused manner thanks to the Cookieless Audience Extension. The product improvement expands on the tech stack that Simpli.fi already has and continues the company’s tradition of creating best-in-class products that are dependent on superior unstructured online, offline, and first-party data.

Read More: AudienceProject Partners with Microsoft Advertising; YouTube Delays Co-Viewing Measurement Plan

Further advancements

With the help of numerous identifiers from an increasing number of significant collaborations and integrations, Simpli.fi can further enhance its user-matching capabilities. Simpli.fi will keep introducing and delivering new products, tools, and features that support advertisers looking to reach their target audiences as the industry changes and adjusts to a post-cookie environment.

Here’s what they said

Paul Harrison, Simpli.fi CTO and co-founder said,

With third-party cookies disappearing by the end of the year, advertisers are seeking alternative solutions that adhere to users’ privacy preferences while still reaching the right audiences, at the right time, and delivering on ROI. As the first demand-side platform to bring the Intent IQ-powered Cookieless Audience Extension to market, I look forward to supporting our clients as they adapt to this evolving industry landscape and utilize new and better tools to maximize reach and improve scale without the use of cookies.

Roy Shkedi, chairman of Intent IQ added,

We’re excited to partner with Simpli.fi to offer this new product enhancement to help agencies, brands, and media companies continue to advance their cookieless targeting capabilities and improve their marketing strategies in a quickly changing industry. Cookieless advertising is the future and by effectively combining our publisher-powered identity technology, data-driven activation tools and Simpli.fi’s cookieless-by-design architecture, brands can target and retarget cookieless audiences using their 1st-party, 3rd-party, and onboarded data, getting better ROI on their existing campaign than ever before while still adhering to new industry standards.

About Simpli.fi

Simpli.fi is the leading Advertising Success Platform, offering programmatic advertising solutions and workflow software to more than 2,000 media teams, agencies, and brands. With the help of Simpli.fi, advertisers can optimize their content, interactions, and outcomes for CTV, mobile, display, and other media platforms. Our platform executes over 140,000 campaigns for 30,000 advertisers in a typical month, delivering performance on budgets of all sizes. prestigious private equity firms Blackstone and GTCR are among Simpli.fi’s investors.

About Intent IQ

Intent IQ is a privacy-focused leader in next-generation identity resolution, with the technology powering many of the industry’s leading platforms. It is supported by the IP portfolio of AlmondNet Group, which presently consists of more than 150 granted patents. The solutions offered by Intent IQ are powered by a potent identity device graph that links all screens and devices in real time across a variety of environments, including cookieless, MAID-less, and CTV. This graph has unmatched accuracy and scale. The solutions offered by the company include bid enhancement, attribution, cookieless audience activation, first-party ID clustering technology, and privacy-friendly identity resolution. With its main office located in New York City, Intent IQ also maintains a research and development facility in Herzliya, Israel.

Read More: NBCU Streamlines Cross-Platform Advertising with One Platform Total Audience

Insights Extraordinaire: PHD MENA’s Pedro Navigates the Programmatic Landscape

Pedro Gonçalves, Head of Digital at PHD MENA, is a seasoned Digital Marketing leader with over 16 years of global experience. Renowned for conquering challenges in Media, Technology, and Business, he boasts a successful track record in constructing multimillion-dollar operations. 

In this exclusive interview, he generously shares invaluable insights, navigating from the intricate realm of programmatic advertising to addressing the intricacies of cultural nuances in the Middle East. A true visionary in digital transformation, Pedro illuminates the challenges and opportunities within the ever-evolving landscape, providing a sneak peek into the future of data-driven marketing.

Reflecting on your digital marketing career journey, how has the experience shaped your decisions in choosing professional paths? Can you share a pivotal decision and its impact on your trajectory thus far?

I’ve always enjoyed exploring and gathering early knowledge on emerging topics and trends. Shifting my focus from Offline Media to Digital happened naturally when I started my career. Looking back today, I’m very thankful to my younger self for prioritizing curiosity over stability.

There were a couple of pivotal moments in my career, but if I were to pick one, it would be when I embraced the challenge of building IPG’s Programmatic & Ad Tech specialized unit from the ground up in my home country, Brazil. It was the perfect storm: an exponentially growing practice, an abnormally fast-developing market, and the first time I oversaw an entire operation and P&L. This sharpened my views and practices on how to combine technical excellence, client focus, and business profitability until today.

With your extensive experience in digital marketing, what do you believe are the key trends shaping the industry in the Middle East currently?

The Middle East is rapidly adopting global trends, including the widespread experimentation of AI across both private and government sectors. However, there is a particular interest in advancing eCommerce and Media Quality measurement in the region, with brands allocating more of their budgets towards Retail Media and investing in Ad Verification/Attention technologies.

Due to historical challenges in obtaining data for the Middle East, brands naturally have a higher appetite for anything that can provide metrics to support their marketing efforts and demonstrate efficiency.

Another concurrent trend is the increased diversification of suppliers, influenced by the language factor, making room for local players and startups with specialized solutions.

In the Middle East market, cultural nuances play a significant role. How do you navigate cultural nuances and tailor digital marketing strategies to resonate with diverse audiences?

From a marketer’s perspective, addressing multiple audiences in communication introduces various operational and cost considerations. My approach to this challenge involves establishing a primary focus on what unites our target audiences, rather than emphasizing the factors that set them apart. The next step is to map relevant pockets of opportunity that require specific and customized approaches.

This is where the importance of well-structured research becomes evident, as it remains the most effective way to uncover cultural norms and sensitivities that need to be integrated into the strategy. This includes language and dialect-specific messaging, as well as visuals that reflect population diversity and other segmentation techniques.

Can you share a memorable success story where your digital marketing strategies not only met but exceeded the expectations of stakeholders?

One of my all-time favorite projects is the work we undertook for the relaunch of the AXE brand for Unilever in 2015. At a time when Programmatic and Dynamic Advertising were still in their infancy, we managed to achieve massive personalization.

Featuring a modern Romeo & Juliet story, we meticulously crafted and distributed over 100,000+ long-form video ads, each tailored based on user audience behavior, engagement, and response data.

Through a process of radical collaboration among all parties, including the client, we developed a proprietary tech piece. This tech was fed with five master stories crafted by world-renowned directors, along with campaign performance data, enabling the continuous generation of unique long-form video ad variations served 100% programmatically. The outcome was a 1.7x higher retention rate and a 20% brand lift. The campaign garnered global recognition, industry coverage, and awards, prompting discussions with the client about replicating the model in future campaigns

In the context of Programmatic Media, how do you see the future of programmatic advertising evolving, and what challenges and opportunities do you anticipate?

The way I perceive it, the term “programmatic” will become redundant. When something evolves into the default standard, we refrain from labeling it as something unique and discussing it separately.

In its essence, programmatic signifies the use of automated technology to buy media. Examining our progression in understanding, its growth over the years, and forecasting into the future, it is poised to become the base and the majority of spending in our industry.

While the possibilities available through programmatic methods are getting bigger, with the rapid assimilation of other digital environments like Connected TV and even non-digital environments, fraud remains a formidable challenge. The more adept we become at detecting it, the more fraud diversifies, especially in emerging formats. An often overlooked advantage is the establishment of a centralized repository for brand activity data. This organized information, readily available within programmatic platforms, replaces unreliable manual spreadsheets and presentations.

In the ever-expanding landscape of MarTech and AdTech, how do you evaluate and select the most relevant technologies for your digital marketing stack, and what criteria do you prioritize in making these decisions?

I focus not only on comprehending the value proposition of each new technology and how to seize the opportunities within it but also closely monitor how users are reacting to it. This involves assessing if it is skewing towards a specific audience group, checking for overlap and audience fragmentation, and, more importantly, ensuring brand safety and suitability in a way that applies to the new platform.

With an expanding array of options at our disposal, the complexity of how we plan, craft, and perfect connections with customers increases. To counter this, it is crucial to have a dedicated framework that enables brands to be nimble in exploring fast-paced trends and avoiding pitfalls amidst ongoing changes with each partner, all while maximizing the use of algorithmic learning.

It is also imperative to assess if new players can bring robust capabilities and diversified options in terms of formats and targeting, capable of driving results across distinct stages of the consumer journey. This enables us to swiftly categorize natural tendencies and well-established roles for each.

Looking ahead, what do you see as the next big frontier or challenge in the digital marketing landscape, and how do you plan to address it?

Privacy and data collection have become the most debated challenges recently, leading us to the next one: Addressability. Over the past years, marketers have heavily invested in collecting, cleaning, and categorizing data, enabling them to connect at will with specific audiences and customers. However, just one recent change implemented by Apple rendered a significant part of this asset unusable.

With the impending demise of third-party cookies, some organizations still believe they can continue using the same data practices, merely relying on a different type of technology. In my view, this is shortsighted and deviates from a real opportunity for the advertising industry: to offer new types of CRM solutions, grow revenues, and secure a stronger preferred partner position with brands.

Lastly, if your digital marketing approach were a puzzle, what pieces would represent the key elements, and how do they fit together to create a complete picture of success? What can be an answer to this?

To me, everything starts and ends with data. 

Sourcing analytical data, such as market and customer research, cultural factors, media consumption, and other relevant types of information, would be my essential piece in this puzzle. 

Next comes data analysis, making sense of the collected data, and transforming it into relevant and applicable insights for your context.

We then incorporate data-backed decisions, derived from the outputs of the data analysis, making your strategy distinctly yours and no one else’s. Following that is data-driven activation, where you bring strategies to life by translating all earlier steps into audiences, channels, signals, connections, journeys, and messages.

A data-led optimization ditches the guesswork, improves immediate results, and feeds the last piece: closed-loop data, using all the new info as a fresh, unique, ongoing, and growing analytical data source, thus empowering creativity.

MiQ names Wassim Mneimneh as the Managing Director for MENAT

Wassim Mneimneh has been named the new Managing Director for the MENAT region by MiQ, an eminent figure in programmatic media. With over 17 years of experience in the digital media space, Mneimneh has gained invaluable knowledge from his work with renowned companies like DoubleVerify, TikTok, Connect Ads, and Nielsen.

Mneimneh appointed as MiQ’s Managing Director in MENAT

His career encompasses a variety of roles. He started as a media planner with MCN. Furthermore, he went on to contribute to the success of global companies like Nielsen, TikTok, and DoubleVerify. Significantly he made a substantial contribution to DoubleVerify’s rise to prominence as the sector’s leading measurement provider. Mneimneh’s responsibilities at MiQ will center on growing the company’s market, creating a strong presence in MENAT, and cultivating enduring bonds with agencies and brands in the area.

Primary Responsibilities

With its programmatic tools and products, MiQ is dedicated to growing its business unit in MENAT. Mneimneh’s primary responsibility at MiQ will be to boost market presence and establish a solid foothold in MENAT. His immediate goals are to coordinate market presence campaigns, establish strategic partnerships, and match MiQ to the particular requirements of the MENAT area.

Here’s what they said

Wassim Mneimneh said,

I am thrilled to embark on this journey with MiQ as their MD for the region. My goal is to not only grow the business, but to establish a solid and impactful presence for MiQ, covering the diverse and dynamic markets of the region. Together, we will navigate new horizons and deliver innovative solutions to our clients.

Lee Puri, Global Chief Growth Officer and Co-founder, MiQ, commented,

We are incredibly excited to have Wassim join us as Managing Director of MENAT. MiQ has been operating in the region for almost three years, and Wassim’s appointment is a testament to our ongoing commitment to shape MiQ as the leading programmatic media partner in MENAT.

Read More: MCN Names Lara Arbid as CEO of Magna Global MENAT, Initiative MENAT

Magnite Bags Tennis Australia for Programmatic Advertising

Magnite, the world’s largest independent sell-side advertising company, revealed that it bagged  Tennis Australia for programmatic advertising. Tennis Australia has chosen Magnite’s Demand Manager as their Prebid header bidding wrapper solution. For the first time, and in advance of the Australian Open, Tennis Australia will monetize its display and mobile inventory programmatically by utilizing Magnite’s DV+ platform and implementing Demand Manager exclusively as their wrapper solution. 

Australian Open taps Magnite for programmatic advertising

The Australian Open is one of the four major tennis championships held annually, and Tennis Australia is the organization that oversees tennis in Australia. It also hosts several international tennis competitions. For 9.5 million users, Tennis Australia’s “AO Digital” website and mobile app offer a variety of content all year long. With over 900,00 spectators in 2023 alone, the Australian Open is Australia’s biggest and most prosperous international sporting event. It keeps shattering attendance records. Every year, the event brings more than $375 million in economic benefits to Melbourne and reaches over one billion households worldwide.

Addressing Tennis Australia’s programmatic needs

In the world of digital advertising, the collaboration between Magnite and Tennis Australia represents a strategic step forward. Tennis Australia’s programmatic advertising needs have led to the adoption of Magnite’s Demand Manager, which is in line with an industry trend toward more advanced and effective ad monetization tools. Tennis Australia can anticipate higher ad revenue by using a Prebid header bidding wrapper because it creates a competitive auction environment where multiple ad exchanges bid in real-time for advertising space.

Read More: Vibrant Media Bags INR 100 Crore Media Account for Jio-bp

The announcement comes at a critical time

Additionally, the time frame of this implementation is critical, as it occurs just before the Australian Open. Tennis Australia can take advantage of peak user engagement and maximize the value of its ad inventory by capitalizing on the high traffic that occurs during a major event. This might create a precedent that other sports organizations would want to follow, upending established methods of advertising in the sports sector.

How the partnership benefits Tennis Australia

Tennis Australia will gain significant insight, flexibility, and control over header bidding operations by utilizing Demand Manager, Magnite’s header bidding wrapper services solutions. They will also be able to optimize Prebid per their unique needs, which will increase monetization. In a broader sense, these developments in programmatic advertising technologies may result in higher profits for content providers and a change in the way advertisers distribute their budgets, favoring digital channels that offer high levels of engagement and the ability to reach specific audiences.

Here’s what they said

Yael Milbank, Managing Director, ANZ at Magnite said

We’re excited to be working with Tennis Australia to help them maximise the value of their inventory across various formats. We look forward to helping them drive operational efficiencies through our technology and supporting them in their efforts to scale their programmatic advertising strategy during and beyond the Australian Open.

Read More: MAGNA and OpenAP Partner for Data-Driven Video Capabilities; Magnite Opens New Office in India

MAGNA and OpenAP Partner for Data-Driven Video Capabilities; Magnite Opens New Office in India

MAGNA and OpenAP to Boost Data-Driven Video Capabilities

OpenAP and MAGNA announced a new partnership. The alliance will allow MAGNA to integrate directly with Acxiom to build and reach advanced audiences across data-driven video endpoints. OpenAP is a cutting-edge advertising firm that offers audience-based television campaigns scale and simplicity. MAGNA is IPG Mediabrands’ investment and intelligence division. The IPG Mediabrands network’s planning and investment engine, MAGNA, will now have the capability to target and distribute custom audiences across linear, digital, streaming, and programmatic channels using Acxiom data in a central manner through OpenAP. At the conclusion of a campaign, MAGNA will be able to compute cross-publisher and cross-platform reach and frequency.

Partnership for data-driven video capabilities

The alliance demonstrates MAGNA’s dedication to putting viewers first in the future of video advertising. MAGNA will receive actionable audience viewership data and key planning metrics throughout the campaign lifecycle by activating audiences with Acxiom data on OpenID, TV’s common identifier that powers the resolution of linear and digital audiences across publishers. This will give IPG Mediabrands clients a deeper understanding of viewership and eliminate waste and overlap in cross-platform campaigns across multiple currency workflow. OpenAP will provide MAGNA with end-to-end campaign forecasting for both digital and linear channels. This will give clients fresh and additional chances to distribute unexposed audiences to digital and CTV channels, increasing the reach and return on investment of their campaigns. Additionally, MAGNA will gain from having first-mover advantage in the cross-platform, cross-publisher clean room solution provided by OpenAP Data Hub in early 2024.

Timely alliance 

The alliance is announced just in time for the 2025 Upfront. This is when advertisers will still have to deal with fragmentation in terms of identity, viewership, and new currencies. Moreover, the agreement is disclosed when TV networks attempt to sell the majority of their inventory of advertisements prior to the upcoming programming cycle. In order to provide clients of IPG Mediabrands with an objective perspective of planning insights and comprehensive campaign performance, independent of viewership currencies, the company has partnered with OpenAP to centralize audience onboarding, audience distribution, and post-campaign reporting.

Read More: IKEA Chooses McCann As The First Global Brand Marketing Agency

OpenAP partners

NBCUniversal, Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, and Paramount Global are a few of the companies that support OpenAP. The company wants to give advertisers access to specific consumer segments that are constant regardless of which company’s inventory is bought, as well as the ability to establish more easily comparable benchmarks.

Here’s what they said

Dani Benowitz, Global President, at MAGNA said, 

Identity is the common denominator powering the industry’s transition to a multi-publisher, multi-platform, multi-currency advertising model. At MAGNA, we are committed to an audience-first strategy to deliver the insights and precision our clients need to maximize their investments. This partnership with OpenAP simplifies a complex process and gives the actionable data our team’s need in the planning stage to maximize our clients’ investments.

Abbey Thomas, Chief Revenue Officer at OpenAP stated,

Buyers have more choices than ever before going into the next upfront cycle with multiple new currencies and data sources, all while managing the complexities of fragmentation of audiences across publisher endpoints. By leaning into a common identifier to unify campaigns across publishers, platforms and currencies, MAGNA is modeling the way for how to navigate an incredibly complex media buying landscape and future-proofing their investments as we migrate to privacy-centric clean room technology with Acxiom in the OpenAP Data Hub.

Read More: Magnite Partners with Scope3 to Enhance Advertising Sustainability

Magnite Opens New Office In India Expanding Global Presence

Magnite expands global presence with opening of first India office. Opening of a Mumbai location enhances support for publishers and buyers in market. The expansion marks Magnite’s commitment to supporting publishers and buyers in one of the fastest-growing digital advertising markets globally.

Expanding presence in India 

The biggest independent sell-side advertising firm, Magnite, has revealed the launch of a new office in Mumbai. It will act as the organization’s headquarters for all of India. This move demonstrates the company’s dedication to helping buyers and publishers in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital ad markets. In order to assist streaming TV media owners in India in managing premium ad experiences throughout the video landscape, Magnite released new cutting-edge tools this year, such as Magnite Streaming and the SpringServe ad server. Strong market demand for these developments has driven an 185% increase in CTV ad spending in India year over year.

Management Roles

As part of its ongoing efforts to expand its workforce in India, Magnite most recently named Chandrahas Shetty as the lead for demand facilitation.  Senior Account Manager Rohit Prasad Yeggina, Account Manager, Supply Jerit Kunjumon, and Senior Account Manager, Supply, Karnika Maroo are among the other members of the team. Together, they are committed to helping clients achieve their goals. They will do so by making sure they can take advantage of Magnite’s special omnichannel capabilities.

Here’s what they said

Gavin Buxton, Managing Director of Asia at Magnite said,

Programmatic adoption in India is forecasted to increase at a CAGR of 32% until 2027, according to Magna Global. Establishing a Magnite hub in Mumbai allows us to provide more hands-on support and help our clients navigate the changing market landscape. As advertisers continue to seek out the most comprehensive omnichannel ecosystem to reach their audiences, we’ll be able to more seamlessly connect them with the premium publishers we work with.

Read More: Amazon Ads and IPG Mediabrands Ink 3-year Deal for Upcoming Prime Video Ads

Google Plans to Introduce Programmatic Support for Limited Ads

In Q1 2024, Google plans to introduce programmatic support for Limited Ads. The purpose of this new feature is to minimize the use of personal data for ad personalization by giving publishers the ability to serve ads to consumers in a restricted manner. Limited ads prevent personal information from being gathered, shared, and used for personalizing ads. Consequently, some ad features are not available for Limited Ads, including interest-based categories, remarketing, and audience targeting. Publishers who choose to use this new programmatic assistance will be able to profit from the demand for contextual programmatic content coming from

• Google Demand
• Authorized buyers
• Open bidding
• SDK Bidding.

With programmatic demand, this feature gives publishers the opportunity to potentially boost revenue. When choosing whether or not to use invalid traffic-only cookies, it is advisable to consult the legal department for guidance as there may be legal ramifications.

What are limited ads?

In essence, limited ads allow publishers to offer consumers a restricted selection of ad formats. Limited ads accomplish this by disabling the gathering, sharing, and utilization of personal information for ad personalization. Some ad features are not available for limited ads because they disable all personalization of ads that need a local identifier. Among the primary features of the unavailability of ads are:

• Any sort of ad personalization
• Audience targeting
• Remarketing
• Interest-based categories
• Mobile carrier targeting
• Conversion (and in-app conversion) metrics.

Read More: Amazon Prime Video to Introduce Limited Ads in 2024

What is invalid traffic?

Any traffic that is not produced by a real user with a legitimate interest is considered invalid traffic. This can include:

• Accidental clicks caused by intrusive ad implementations
• Fraudulent clicking by competing advertisers.
• Advertising botnets and more.

It’s crucial to remember that Google continues to mandate, without requiring user consent, the use of local storage for programmatic demand and invalid traffic detection-only cookies. Publishers are not required to utilize the new programmatic feature, though. Google recognizes that publishers are subject to different laws and regulations regarding user consent. It is therefore recommended that publishers check with their legal departments to see if this programmatic feature complies with their policies and specifications.

Why do publishers need to consider this?

The new programmatic feature will be enabled by default as soon as it becomes available. Publishers will, however, be able to disable the feature if they so choose. Publishers must consider the possible effects of restricted ad personalization on user experience and revenue generation. Less relevant advertisements may be shown to users, which could affect how they view the publisher’s website. In addition, the lack of personalization could lead to a decline in engagement and a decrease in additional revenue from Limited Ads.

Programmatic bidding on limited ads is now an optional feature on Google since publishers are legally liable for the tools they employ. Moreover, opinions on whether user consent is required for local storage and invalid traffic-only cookies may differ. It implies, in a way, that there isn’t a solution that works for every publisher. Google suggests that in order to decide whether or not to use the new programmatic feature, publishers should consult with their own legal teams.

In summary, publishers should proactively review their current policies and procedures regarding user consent, even though Google has not specified a specific launch date for this feature. If qualified, publishers can decide if using this enhanced programmatic ad-serving feature fits their unique requirements and objectives.

Read More: Google Release Updated Ad Review Centre for its Ad Platforms

Vevo and Publica by IAS Announce Partnership for CTV Ad Serving

Vevo, the top music video network in the world, and Publica by IAS, a top Connected TV (CTV) ad server owned by Integral Ad Science, announced a global partnership. This partnership enables Vevo to enhance their advertisers’ targeting abilities, improve the viewing experience of their streamed content by making it akin to a traditional TV show, and increase their revenue from CTV advertising by introducing a programmatic unified auction for the premium ad slots within their streamed ad breaks. This covers the ability to buy the first slot inside ad pods, frequency management, and competitive separation.

Characteristics implemented by Vevo

With features that mimic typical TV commercial breaks, advertisers can effectively target Vevo’s global music-loving audience.

Advanced Ad Serving: Vevo can provide advanced CTV ad breaks with the precise targeting options needed by advertisers. Furthermore, it can also provide the capacity to maximize each slot in a pod based on revenue per second.

Advanced Ad Pod Decisioning: This feature allows Vevo to own a pod by brand category and ensure an advertiser’s first pod placement. This aids in buy-side frequency management and competitive separation. Vevo can also guarantee that CTV inventory is served securely and targeted, giving advertisers the transparency and control they need. This enables Vevo to provide their engaged viewers with an improved viewing experience while optimizing revenue

Unified Bidding: This feature enables Vevo to extract the highest-yielding ad for each slot in each streaming ad pod. It does so by conducting a controlled, unified auction of all demand sources. In order to provide real-time transparency into each programmatic auction where the company’s inventory is cleared, Vevo is also utilizing the Publica ‘Live Logs’ feature. As a result, Vevo can now continuously improve yield and data strategies to prevent demand loss due to supply path optimization (SPO).

Read More: TV9 Network Partners With JioTV and JioTV+ for Enhanced Mobile and CTV Reach

CTV Advertising

Based on GroupM’s mid-year forecast, CTV advertising is expected to grow to $25.9 billion in 2023. This is a rapid increase. As a result, the collaboration is timely to take advantage of this expanding trend and grab new business prospects. Vevo can guarantee that its CTV inventory is targeted and served in the safest manner possible. It does so by putting Publica CTV advertising decision-making technology to use. This will give Vevo’s advertisers the control and transparency they need. Advertisers can access Vevo inventory programmatically through several of the top supply-side platforms (SSPs) in the world.

Here’s what they said

Natalie Gabathuler-Scully, EVP, Revenue, Distribution & Data Operations, Vevo said,

As the Vevo catalog continues to expand, we are excited to partner with Publica to ensure that we are providing a high quality and curated best- in-class viewing experience, while ensuring that our advertising partners can effectively reach our global audience of music lovers. By providing advertisers with greater control and increased transparency, they can better optimize their CTV campaigns when reaching our engaged viewers.

Sean Galligan, CRO, Publica by IAS added,

We’re excited about our new partnership with Vevo, and we look forward to providing them with the ad decisioning technology to grow their global advertising revenues, offer outcomes to their advertisers and empower them with the ad serving capabilities to improve their streamers’ viewing experiences on CTV.

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