“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community.
Today’s column is written by Andrew Smith, senior vice president of product and publisher at DoubleVerify.
Digital media is undergoing rapid evolution. Third-party cookie deprecation raises the need for alternate identifiers. There’s discussion about maintaining brand suitability in a sensitive media landscape. And the industry is navigating CTV as adoption continues to accelerate. As if all of that isn’t enough, both buyers and sellers have a mandate to uphold new regulations and industry protocols around user privacy.
Brands, agencies and publishers need specialized, reliable tech solutions to navigate these changes. However, growth and innovation tend to focus first on advertiser challenges. This creates an environment where publishers are forced to make do with limited resources and bridge gaps in tech stacks.
The impacts of this are far reaching. Publishers remain in a reactive cycle to survive, adding incremental complexity to an already complex ecosystem. But a sustainable ecosystem requires balance, and addressing the challenges we face holistically will ultimately benefit all players. After all, technology designed for publishers enables them to focus on strategic activities, retain talent and produce the content that makes the internet thrive.
Putting publishers back in the spotlight
As an industry, we need to step back and acknowledge that publisher issues are industry issues. Publishers need advocacy, innovation and a seat at the table as we navigate the shifting landscape.
Influential tech companies should take the lead here. And in order for vendors to effectively innovate with publishers in mind, there needs to be collaboration across the supply chain. This involves working to build technological bridges between buyers and sellers, allowing them to more easily collaborate on targeting, performance and ad-quality goals.
Giving publishers a seat at the table can help drive innovation. Publishers already work extensively with brands and ad tech platforms on campaign and creative performance. These conversations can and should scale into more strategic opportunities for buyers and sellers.
Join the conversation
Many ad industry players are coming together with publishers, tech companies and industry groups to discuss common challenges and push for solutions and standardization. Groups such as the IAB are helping to facilitate these conversations. Others are also hosting smaller closed-door sessions.
The evolving ecosystem is presenting us with a rare opportunity. The changes coming to targeting, privacy laws, ad tech tools and platforms will enable us to take a more comprehensive look at how we measure and transact on digital media. This is an extremely important piece of the equation. It’s not too late to get involved in these conversations.
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