Episode 153: Scott Spencer invented RTB, now he’s taking on cookie banners

Dec 19, 2025

Scott Spencer, co-founder of Rewarded Interest and ex-Google product leader, dives into the failure of cookie banners, revealing that only 16% of users feel in control. He discusses the need for centralized, programmatic privacy settings to empower consumers across devices. Scott emphasizes the risk of ad blocking if the industry doesn't adapt and shares his regret about not fully appreciating the human impact of his work on Real-Time Bidding. Tune in for insights on privacy, consent, and the future of ad tech!

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INSIGHT

Cookie Banners Fail Users

Cookie banners create friction without giving real control to users.
Rewarded Interest replaces site-by-site prompts with centralized, programmatic privacy settings.

ADVICE

Centralize Privacy Controls

Manage privacy settings once in a central place and communicate them programmatically to sites.
Block unwanted trackers and surface a global opt-out for users who want full control.

INSIGHT

Control Should Live Above The Browser

Privacy control likely belongs above the browser, spanning OS and devices.
Agentic browsing and AI assistants make per-site consent insufficient and risky.

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Scott Spencer, co-founder of Rewarded Interest and former DoubleClick and Google product leader, explains why cookie banners failed, how consumer privacy still feels broken, and what it takes to give users real control without hurting publishers or advertisers.

Takeaways

RTB wasn’t invented in a single moment. It emerged organically as multiple teams solved latency, bidding, and scale problems in parallel.
Cookie banners fail both consumers and regulators by creating friction without real control or understanding.
Rewarded Interest aims to replace site-by-site consent with centralized, programmatic privacy preferences across devices.
Privacy control likely belongs above the browser level, especially as agentic browsing and AI assistants become mainstream.
Changes proposed to GDPR may reduce protections around pseudonymous identifiers, increasing the need for user-centric control tools.
The industry risks pushing users toward ad blocking if it can’t offer meaningful, trusted privacy solutions.
Scott’s biggest regret from the RTB era isn’t technical. It’s not taking time to appreciate the magnitude of the transformation and the people behind it.

Chapters

00:00 Intro: Scott Spencer’s DoubleClick and Google legacy

01:29 Year-end notes: Marketecture Wrapped and MadDB.ai

03:35 Why Scott founded Rewarded Interest

05:00 Coalition for Better Ads and reducing ad blocking

06:20 Why cookie banners are broken

07:55 Centralized privacy control across the web

08:52 Browsers, OS-level identity, and agentic browsing

10:54 Minor mode and protecting children from tracking

12:10 Do consumers want granular control? Rewards and defaults

13:43 GDPR, Digital Omnibus, and Europe’s direction

18:21 Aligning incentives for users, publishers, and ad tech

21:56 22 years at DoubleClick and Google

22:12 Did Scott invent RTB? Network proxy bidding explained.

31:00 The Refresh: Google, Meta scams, and agentic ads

54:15 Wrap-up: YouTube vs Netflix and the Oscars move

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