Two Roads to CTV Transparency

The favorite flavor of Summer news has been Transparency. Highlighted by the ANA report and the Adalytics report, brands can depend on unchecked programmatic campaigns to waste anywhere from 23% to 78% of their spending. Google, IAS and Double Verify have all refuted the YouTube findings, and the ANA report had a limited sample, but directionally they say the same thing - we’re wasting billions in media spending.

For added reference, do you remember the 2016 K2 transparency report? Well, if you don’t, you’re not the only one as this is one example of reports like these being produced in the past with little to no action resulting from the findings of widespread fraud, waste & lack of transparency. The most recent analyses simply reaffirm what we already knew.

At the center of the fraud + waste dilemma are marketers who have trusted IAS, Double Verify and Google for a decade to guide them on performance & verification. And while they’ve offered a starting point, it’s clear that every brand should be revisiting their guidelines for waste, fraud & transparency as they plan for 2024.

Above all, what these reports have made clear is that the industry needs to change by adopting a new approach to open & transparent markets for programmatic advertising. As CTV replaces Linear eyeballs, the stakes for a healthy, robust and trusted marketplace have never been higher. In addition to changes in TV consumption, it also makes sense for us to look at CTV as it’s a channel without legacy barriers, giving us a moment to redefine excellence while minimizing complexity.

The good news is there are two roads to travel for your consideration with today-ready options, especially made for brave and challenger brands looking for a market advantage.

Option 1: Direct Supply Only

Create direct paths to publishers & inventory with transparency requirements. This option may eliminate open market buying altogether and put more onus on managing inventory through systems like The Trade Desk’s OpenPath in a direct fashion. If you don’t want to upend your entire system and have a team that manages publisher relationships & SPO already, this becomes the easiest option to fall into. However, CTV in particular is far from transparent as show level controls are held back from inventory signals, even though long term, the industry will look to mirror program-based Linear TV buying. In the interim, brands need to leverage partner technology to get to show level reporting like Peer39 until market demands of granularity & transparency are met.

Option 2: Go Blockchain

Really? Blockchain? Yes! Most definitely Blockchain as it’s the only technology to build on that enables fully transparent media buying. Brands & agencies can see every recorded purchase in its fully transparent glory, hold partners accountable to results and all without any way to obfuscate the data. Every tax, surcharge and fee will also show itself, and is the modern method to identify and remove waste and fraud from the system. This system is future-proof and has been proven to be highly effective in solving for waste/fraud with better performance as stated in Adam Herman’s Beet.tv interview with Blockboard’s platform.

Which One is Right For You?

Well, that depends on you. Start with three criteria:

• How important do you believe transparency to be in driving both media value & quality
• Your roadmap for buying integrity & transparency because change often takes time
• Your commitment to sustainability because fraud costs us a lot in carbon, not just money

It’s obvious that today’s standard practices will not get us to the transparent & trusted future our industry sorely needs. The data highlighted in the trades support the industry being ripe for change and disruption from the inside, out. The question is, are you ready to disrupt yourself? Because if you aren’t, just know you’re wasting 23%-78% of your media investments until you do. And that is not healthy or sustainable for our industry.