2min chapter

AdExchanger cover image

A Sandbox Skeptic

AdExchanger

CHAPTER

Reflecting on the Complexities of Altering Ad Tech Evolution Through Time Travel

Exploring the complexities of altering the future of online advertising through time travel, considering implications on access to news content, societal equity, and emerging voices.

02:26
Speaker 2
Last question, and this is not any kind of lightning round, we're going to get into the ad tech time machine. If you had a time machine, what exact point in time would you travel back to in order to make a change that would alter the future of ad tech and online advertising for the better?
Speaker 1
So this is fine. I listened to a couple of your other podcasts with other folks. And so I've heard you ask it. And it's actually the question I spent the most time thinking about and fretting over because I am a very literal person. And so I think about sliding doors in those moments in time. And yet I immediately go to all of the what ifs. And so even you had shared in one of the prior podcasts, is there an opportunity for journalism when it moves from print to online to not just give it away for free and to still have a cost wall. And then my head spins out to say, okay, but would that have precluded people from accessing it sooner? Or if you have a cost barrier, does that create inequitable access as you think about who has the disposable income to receive news versus not? And should that be something that bifurcates society? And what does that do for smaller emerging voices that wouldn't have the opportunity to participate but have incredibly important perspectives to share? And so a long way of saying I have thought long and hard about it, but my personality is such that I then think about if this were to change, here are all these other dominoes. And I don't know that there's a single point in time. If it's not Facebook, it had been my space or Friendster. If I look at TikTok now, X, what was formerly Twitter, tried to create it with Vine, like there is so much innovation and evolution in the industry that I don't know. I couldn't think of a single opportunity that would change the trajectory drastically in a positive way that didn't have ramifications. And so my answer is, I am still thinking about it, but my focus is really on where do we go from here, given the cards we've been
Speaker 2
dealt? It is a really good point because it's not a perfect question because there is the paradox of time travel and also, right, you're trying to go back in time, change something that may alter the future so that the good stuff isn't there either. So you can't really answer that question in a vacuum. So that was the best non-answer I've gotten, actually. Well, thank you. I'll take it. So I appreciate
Speaker 1
it.

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode