Rio Longacre, Managing Director at Slalom, discusses the rise of ad networks, the complexities of balancing ad revenue with core business, and whether every company is now an ad tech company. Exploring challenges in monetizing media networks, adapting to self-service ad platforms, and navigating data privacy regulations in the evolving ad tech landscape.
Companies are venturing into the ads business due to privacy laws and cookie deprecation, leveraging first-party data.
Marketers and agencies face complexity in navigating multiple DSPs, ad portals, and retail media networks.
Deep dives
Evolution of Companies into Advertising Businesses
More companies are transforming into advertising businesses, leveraging their first-party data to monetize assets in a digital media landscape. The shift towards creating ad networks or commerce media networks is influenced by privacy laws, cookie deprecation, and the desire to capitalize on first-party data. However, building and managing these networks pose challenges in terms of skill acquisition, transformation efforts, and generating demand.
Increasing Complexity in Ad Tech Landscape
The proliferation of ad platforms and channels is creating complexity for marketers and agencies who now need to navigate numerous DSPs, ad portals, and unique schemas for different retail media networks. Agencies are developing specialized teams and consolidating data and analytics solutions to streamline ad buying and performance measurement across multiple platforms.
Impact of Data Privacy Regulations on Advertising
Data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, along with the deprecation of third-party cookies, are reshaping the ad tech industry. Companies are adapting to privacy concerns by exploring compliant ad tech solutions and leveraging first-party data for targeted advertising. The evolving regulatory landscape presents both challenges and opportunities, driving innovation in privacy-safe advertising practices.
Rio Longacre, Managing Director of Advertising and Marketing Transformation at Slalom, delves into adtech, AI, and the future of marketing. With mounting privacy regulations and the deprecation of third-party cookies, more companies are venturing into the ads business. While it is now easier to enter the space, building and running a successful ad network involves complexities such as balancing ad revenue with core business and creating demand. Today, Rio discusses whether every company is now an ad tech company.