As CEO of a fast growing ad tech company, I've been sounding the alarm about the fraud and waste issues in digital advertising for years. And I have to tell you, most of the time, it feels like I’m shouting into a void.
Breaking out of the echo chamber
But recently, at VeeCon 2024, I experienced something different. When I spoke about the need to clean up this industry, I received applause. That was a first.
It was also telling. Because this audience at VeeCon was not like most that I regularly present to at events with Digiday or Campaign US, or at the big industry gatherings of Possible and Cannes Lions.
There, the audience has been (dare I say it), caught up in our own echo chamber. (It’s similar to the critique that events like WEF Davos get: the wealthy gather once a year to talk about the grave issues of climate change, global inequality and poverty and civil unrest. And then they fly back on their carbon-spewing private jets to their ivory towers and do nothing.)
At VeeCon, that was all different. Here, people were gathered to make things happen across a broad swath of industries. I connected with small to mid-sized business entrepreneurs, owners and leaders in consumer goods, national restaurant chains, you name it. Their commonality?
They’re all working tirelessly to stand out in crowded markets, often with limited budgets and resources.
They also all face a pretty glaring disadvantage. They're operating in an industry dominated by giants like Google and The Trade Desk. These giants have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo – that very system that contributes to these staggering levels of fraud and waste.
That $20+ billion in waste that ANA tracked down? That’s real money coming from these hardworking businesses and their competitors. It’s simply being siphoned away into a black hole of inefficiency and misuse.
Tech antitrust trial
The antitrust trial that the U.S. Justice Department is in the midst of with Google's ad tech business may be a step in the right direction. Google recently lost in the search antitrust trial, which could be a sign that the tide is shifting.
If they lose this ad tech trial as well, and are forced to break apart the business, it could really level the playing field. There would be more space and energy driving businesses to tackle the issues they have simply accepted as the rules of engagement.
I can imagine a day where we can actually redefine the metrics and what defines success in this space – from impressions and their ilk to actual business outcomes. (I’m thinking about the global marketer who un-ironically told me he was concerned that eliminating fraud would lower their reach numbers. This is how dysfunctional our collective thinking is at this point.)
What Google’s loss of the search trial showed is that even tech giants aren't immune to scrutiny. For too long, companies like this have been “too big to fail,” and have gotten away with practices that allow them to unfairly dominate whatever market they play in.
Because of their efforts to protect their IP, they’ve created this cloud of opacity that, intentionally or not, contributes to fraud and waste. Advertisers can’t see where their money goes or who is viewing their ads. It’s the perfect environment for fraudsters to come in under this shroud of darkness and take advantage.
It’s bad for business and for us ethically, as a people.
My takeaway
That’s the message that resonated so deeply at VeeCon. These businesses don’t want their ad spend unknowingly propping up what amounts to one of the largest fraud rings out there, consumed by bot traffic, fake impressions and the like. They also don’t want their ads showing up next to porn or terrorist content. They want results that drive their business, pure and simple.
That’s why I’m cautiously optimistic about the outcome of Google’s ad tech antitrust trial. I have been shouting myself hoarse about the inertia and fear that dominates our industry. It really struck me in these conversations at VeeCon – the lives that are impacted by that reticence.
Moving beyond it, we open up tremendous opportunities for innovation and transparency.
For smaller ad tech companies like Blockboard, we gain the access to compete on a more level playing field. For businesses investing in digital advertising, they get better choice, better results, and more efficient and effective ad spend.
That’s why this antitrust trial isn't just about Google. It's about the future of our industry.
The applause at VeeCon was just the beginning. The real celebration will come when we've created an industry that serves every entity within it. Big and small alike.
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