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The Big Story: Ad Tech Report Card

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It’s report card time for ad tech. TAG TrustNet issued grades on the log-file transparency to DSPs, SSPs and walled gardens. Not many are passing with flying colors, which is especially true for the walled gardens in the group.

Log files help advertisers suss out any funny business going on in their programmatic ad spend, allowing them to monitor take rates and do supply-path optimization more efficiently. But not all DSPs and SSPs want to share log-level data.

AdExchanger Senior Editor James Hercher, who covered the release of this report card, tells us how to interpret the grades and helps us understand the larger issue of transparency behind advertisers’ desire for log-level data.

Then, we discuss programmers’ embrace of targeting, programmatic and ad-supported streaming. Associate Editor Alyssa Boyle talked to or covered the earnings of pretty much every major streaming service or app in the past two weeks (Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Roku, Amazon, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and Crackle). Across the board, she sees programmers becoming more comfortable with making their inventory biddable.

Disney is making its inventory available in private marketplaces, for example, and Paramount improved its programmatic integration. These are baby steps, while advertisers like HP are using UID 2.0 to better target potential laptop and printer buyers and measure the effectiveness of their CTV ad campaigns, and streamers are touting their ad-supported subscription numbers.

The changes are accruing for everyone invested in the growth of programmatic: Sellers are increasingly embracing streamed TV, and the deep-pocketed ad dollars that go along with data and automation.

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