Quo Vadis: Advertising Economic Forum Podcast Season #2 Episode #1 with Ari Paparo

On the Season 2 premiere of The Advertising Economic Forum Podcast, Ari Paparo, author of the new book Yield, joins host Tom Triscari for a deep dive into the history of adtech, the complexities of Google's antitrust case, and how AI is shaping the future of the advertising industry.

💡Takeaways:

• 📉 Macroeconomic Impact: Major economic events like the Great Recession fundamentally alter the ad industry by driving down agency fees and creating a demand for lower CPMs, which in turn fuels the growth of programmatic advertising.
• 🤝 Incentives Drive Behavior: The ad industry is a market where incentives dictate the actions of all parties, from procurement departments seeking lower costs to ad networks creating supply for whatever demand exists, whether good or cheap.
• ⚖️ Antitrust and Platform Power: Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick created a monopoly by making their ad server an indispensable "conduit to demand," trapping publishers who would lose significant revenue if they attempted to switch.
• 🔮 Misrepresentation of Inventory: A shortage of quality supply and the buy side's desire for cheap inventory leads to widespread fraud and misrepresentation, with examples including online video ads being sold as premium CTV inventory.
• 🤖 AI and Audience Scraping: Generative AI is identified as a new form of audience data "scraping," enabling new ways to collect and leverage user information that are often considered a normal part of business despite being analogous to older, illegal data practices.
• 💸 Rethinking Ad Value: The traditional goal of delivering the "right ad to the right person at the right time" has been supplanted by a more democratic and market-driven approach where the highest bidder is considered the most effective ad.
• 🚫 Publisher Challenges: While publishers often complain about big platforms, they also engage in short-term thinking that leads them into situations where their data is exploited or their independence is compromised.

📚Chapters:

Discussion of Ari Paparo's Book "Yield" ‎ 3:53

The Great Recession's Impact on Programmatic Advertising ‎ 7:30

Google's Publisher Ad Server Monopoly ‎ 15:02

The Right Ad to the Right Person at the Right Time ‎ 23:13

Recent Industry Developments: Perplexity and Chrome ‎ 39:44

🎙 Guest: Ari Paparo

🎤 Host: Tom Triscari

📺 Sponsors: Yahoo! & Anonymised