Home The Big Story The Big Story: Meet The Ad Tech Vets Going Into Privacy Tech

The Big Story: Meet The Ad Tech Vets Going Into Privacy Tech

SHARE:
The Big Story podcast

A migration has begun: Programmatic veterans are becoming founders of privacy tech companies.

These programmatic privacy pros are doing a data privacy cleanup on the industry by offering consumers more options to control and secure their data, or they’re giving businesses better options to control their data or share it in secure ways. Senior Editor James Hercher highlights four companies – Coir, lockr, Licorice and Qonsent – that have founders with programmatic roots.

Next, the upfronts are two months away, which means CTV measurement companies and programmers are gearing up for another year of alternate currencies gaining traction. Companies from VideoAmp to Comscore to iSpot to Samba are vying to chip away the “currency” designation from Nielsen.

But Nielsen’s fighting back with its much-anticipated Nielsen ONE product, which is finally – mostly – ready for upfronts prime time. Like the alternate currencies, it includes ACR data and other signals that allow for impression-based measurement. But those newer areas aren’t yet ready to be part of its currency. Oh, and Nielsen still hasn’t regained its MRC accreditation (though that process is in the works).

We discuss which programmers have stated currency preferences, the role ACR data is playing in CTV measurement and why the definition of currency is not neutral but a point of contention between programmers and digital video natives like YouTube.

But TV is a slow-moving behemoth. Change is slower than in digital. While 2023’s upfronts will show movement, the general perception is that truly novel currencies based on impressions (in turn based on ACR data) won’t be ready for prime time until 2024’s upfronts.

 

Must Read

Upfronts Day One: Publishers Jostle For Position As Performance Drivers

And that’s a wrap on Day One of upfronts 2026! AdExchanger Senior Editors Alyssa Boyle and Victoria McNally traversed the island of Manhattan on Monday to scope out upfront presentations by NBCUniversal, Fox and Amazon.

Viant Sees A Growth Wave Coming, But First Marketers Must Really Ditch Walled Garden Ad Tech

Viant’s modest growth story took a backseat to a far louder claim: that fed-up advertisers are finally ready to ditch the rigged economics of Big Tech’s walled gardens.

Amazon’s Interactive CTV Ad Suite Now Includes Creative Optimization

Amazon Ads expects this year’s television upfronts to be an outcomes-focused affair. That may explain why the company preempted its Monday evening presentation by announcing the launch of a new ad product called Dynamic TV Creative.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters

Is Agentic Commerce An Oasis Or Mirage?

For companies like Shopify, Criteo and Instacart – and even for giants like Amazon and Walmart – figuring out if the agentic oasis is real or a mirage is their priority No. 1.

PubMatic’s Agentic AI Is Going Beyond Direct Deals

PubMatic has run more than 30 fully autonomous, end-to-end agentic campaigns through the SSP’s AgenticOS platform, in addition to more than 1,000 direct publisher deals.

The Trade Desk Has A Grand Vision, But Needs A New Breed Of CMO To Make It A Reality

TTD CEO Jeff Green laid out the DSP’s plan for winning in a new world of advertising that – AI aside – necessitates major changes in how marketers behave.