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AdExchanger Guest Columnist
Articles By AdExchanger Guest Columnist
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingWhen Data Providers Get Acquired, Neutrality Has To Be Proven, Not Promised
When a data or measurement provider is acquired by a company that sells media technology, talk of neutrality is cheap. The best way to reassure marketers is to make the measurement tech widely available.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingWho Eats The Spending Gap When Agentic Spend Outpaces Proof Of Impact?
An AI agent can stay inside its budget and still spend too much. It can log every decision. But the evidence of performance can still arrive after the money is committed.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingThe Podcast Impression Is Breaking Down: What Display’s Viewability Crisis Can Teach Buyers
The assumption that an impression is a reasonable proxy for consumption is eroding, and when buyers stop believing it, pricing follows.
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OPINION: On TV & VideoMMMs Can Tell You If CTV Worked. They Can’t Always Tell You Why
MMM helps marketers understand if a channel worked in the aggregate and what happens when the next dollar is added. For CTV, that discipline is badly needed. But MMMs can’t answer everything.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingTake A Break, Compliance Nerds. Privacy Is A Research Problem Now
California protects an individual’s right to sue when a company violates data privacy law. So privacy compliance means understanding what a jury of consumers will tolerate.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingThe Hybrid Advantage: Getting Value Out Of Agentic AI Means Knowing When Not To Use It
Everybody wants to make the most of agentic AI in advertising. The winners will do it with purpose. Here’s how to make a plan, step by step.
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OPINION: On TV & VideoCTV’s Transparency Gap: Why Better Show-Level Data Still Can’t Buy You Show-Level Control
Scaled show-level optimization is not a standard product. In many cases, that functionality is still in the early stages of development.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingThe Meta Settlement Defined Which Online Experiences Are 'Appropriate' For Teens. Here’s What Advertisers Need To Know
Where teens were once swept into the same cohort as 18-34, brands will have to have separate strategies and tactics to engage them. And this shift comes just as Gen Alpha comes of age.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingEverything Is An Ad Network, Even Cars. But All Ad Networks Need Measurement
While Eric Seufert’s “everything is an ad network” mantra keeps being proven correct, a new truism is also taking shape: “Wherever an advertising business emerges, the measurement challenge follows.”
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OPINION: On TV & VideoFAST Channels Could Prove Their Value If Platforms Would Quit Hiding Their Data
FAST’s credibility gap is structural: Platforms are sitting on audience data that would validate the inventory they’re selling, and they are choosing not to share it.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingThe Amazon Ads Lawsuit Raises Questions About Auction Disclosure DSP Buyers Need To Ask
The burden of understanding ad auction dynamics should not sit with buyers. Platforms built the systems, and only platforms can fully explain how they set the price.
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OPINION: On TV & VideoCTV Can’t Out-Google Google, So It Should Play A Different Game
CTV’s growth will hinge on randomized experiments that prove premium video advertising delivers incremental business results, writes measurement expert Rick Bruner.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingGoogle’s Bidding Change Proves Agentic Advertising Has An Agency Problem
Why does the buy side remain so smitten with handing control to autonomous systems owned by companies whose economic interests are not its own?
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OPINION: The Sell SiderAd Tech Will Keep Being Used In Ways We Never Intended Unless The Industry Does Something About It
Systems built for one purpose, governed by the interests of a narrow group of stakeholders, are being used in ways the people subject to them never even imagined.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingMarketers, The Free Token Lunch Is Over. Is Your Stack Ready?
Per-token price for frontier models may go up or down, but the cost to solve complex problems is going to increase, writes Zefr’s Jon Morra.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingYour Team Is Working Faster With AI, But Are They Really Getting Better Results?
Marketing teams are getting faster with AI, but the real question is whether they’re actually getting better outcomes, writes Devart’s Margaret Lee.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingFor Agentic Advertising To Work, We Must Decide What AI Can Never Touch
The parts of AI that touch real money should always sit on deterministic infrastructure that’s been doing this long enough to know how to do it right, writers Fluency’s Eric Picard.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingWalmart’s Wall: Will The Vibe Deal Make It Meta, Or Another AOL?
Will Walmart’s acquisition of Vibe.co create an AOL-esque walled garden – or a CTV platform advertisers actually want to use?
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingAd Tech's Trust Problem Isn't Going Away. We Just Stopped Talking About It
The FTC’s lawsuit that alleging Hims & Hers shared sensitive health data with advertisers is only the latest reminder that trust must be an operating principle, not just a marketing promise.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingAd Tech’s Last Neutral Party Just Picked A Side
The Publicis/LiveRamp acquisition raises a stark question: Can shared identity infrastructure really stay neutral under competitor ownership?
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OPINION: Data-Driven Thinking
AI Can Interpret Data. It Can’t Vouch For It
The next internet will not be built by humans clicking buttons; it will be built by agents acting on behalf of people, brands, publishers, platforms and enterprises.
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OPINION: On TV & VideoCTV’s Real Divide Isn’t PMP Vs. Open Market. It’s Quality Control
With the right safeguards in place, open-market CTV can match PMP performance, proving that quality controls – not deal type – drive results, argues Ayse Pamuk, director of platform operations at Basis.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingThree Advertising Industry Myths The Market Has Already Debunked
Somewhere between what the ad industry says and what the market rewards is often where the truth lives. Here are the three industry storylines most in need of debunking.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingGoogle’s Buyer Direct Could Beat Agentic Ad Tech At Its Own Game
Agentic AI shows promise for direct deals. But if Google has its way, Buyer Direct could put an end to all sorts of agentic direct sales opportunities while they’re still in the cradle.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingAdvertising’s Next Audience Isn’t Human. So We Must Rethink The Value Of Non-Human Traffic
Historically, non-human traffic was viewed on a spectrum from benign to intentional fraud. But AI agents represent a legitimate audience that brands will have to understand and engage.
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OPINION: The Sell SiderThe Pageview Era Is Dead. Now, Your Audience Is Worth More Than Your Traffic
We’re witnessing the end of the pageview era. But the interesting question isn’t how publishers replace their lost search traffic; it’s what they do with the audience they already have.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingFirst-Party Data Is About More Than Retargeting And Audience Suppression
When an advertiser trains a model on its full organic converter base, it can better identify patterns that distinguish a casual browser from someone close to buying.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingQ2 2026 Was The Quarter AI Media Started To Scale
Advertising in AI-native destinations and experiences is already starting to look less like a series of experiments and more like an emerging market.
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OPINION: Data-Driven ThinkingThe Open Web Is Shifting From An Audience Economy To A Context Economy
Instead of relying on rigid audience segments, modern systems can interpret a real-world moment in real time, combining layers of information to better predict what someone might actually care about right now.
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OPINION: The Sell SiderAI Might Not Need Perfect Data – Except When It Comes To Revenue
Finance, legal and billing functions require auditability. Your team will still need to normalize, validate and reconcile data from scratch.