Regional managing director, APAC at Index Exchange, Adele Wieser has shared her ad technology predictions for 2022 and gives insights into how the ACCC’s ad tech inquiry might shake out.
The Ad tech supply chain has been under scrutiny over the last few years, how do you think the ACCC’s latest inquiry into the supply chain will shake out?
In digital advertising, trust and transparency remain key themes that should be table stakes. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) inquiry into the ad technology supply chain predominantly focuses on how Google has shifted the paradigm, taking control over the supply chain and the data dominance that Google has in Australia.
When we look at the Australian government’s focus on privacy regulation reform, the data advantage Google has is even more worrying and it’s no wonder that consumers are questioning how their data is being used, leading to the inflation of mistrust in our industry.
The good news is that the industry has the tools to move forward and a competitive ad technology supply chain is fundamental to success for media owners and agencies.
We predict positive changes will be made as a result of the ACCC’s report including more transparency into ad technology take rates and a clearer conversation about the value exchange between media owners and consumers, highlighting specifically how data is used and collected.
How does Google’s dominance affect the industry?
Ultimately players in the industry should be focused on efforts that ensure the content on the internet can remain free for consumers, and that as much working media from a marketer’s budget ends up in the publisher’s pocket in order to support a vibrant ecosystem.
How will ad technology deal with the trust and privacy issues?
The tech industry is built upon the notion of disruption and innovation and as we look to trust and privacy in our industry specifically, our approach shouldn’t be any different.
As the official death of the third-party cookie arrives in 2023, a shift has already begun to take place in the digital marketing world, with the ecosystem setting its sights on addressable solutions that range from first-party data, probabilistic approaches and contextual targeting.
All players in the ecosystem need to work on future-proofing the industry for a privacy-safe world and continue to lean into educating media owners and agencies on what an addressable future looks like with a framework of solutions built user privacy at their core.
