33Across Blog | Programmatic News & Trends

For years, the digital advertising industry settled into a predictable pattern. Let’s call it SBLR for short: Soul Searching, Big Speech (typically at the IAB or ANA annual meeting), Little Industry Action, Repeat. Not much progress was made toward cleaning-up programmatic advertising or even defining what “cleaning-up” actually meant.  

What was the buzz around the office last week? It's time for the traffic verification process to improve, walled gardens may get a little sunlight, and programmatic industry stats for 2017.

1. Better lanes for ad tech traffic  

Traffic verification processes need to improve in order for advertisers to combat fraud. Advertisers must access how they’re currently using 3rd party services on both the buy and the sell-side. With so much non-human traffic within ad tech, AdAge recommends a few steps to improve fraudulent activity including shifting ad budget as well as adopting new metrics and buying models.

Last week the much anticipated Consumer Electronic Show took place in Las Vegas. Better known as CES, the four day conference provided participants the opportunity to get a first look at what to expect from the tech world in 2017. Team 33Across was in attendance, below are a few of our takeaways.

We're well into the month of December. By this time you have been serenaded, or even tortured by at least one holiday song. Just when you thought you've seen it all when it comes to 2016 year-end reviews, one of our , First Round Capital, has released their much anticipated annual parody video which is guaranteed ad  laughter.

Watch below to see how Eric Wheeler channel Adele, switch out the lyrics to our favorite songs, and replaced them with the ad tech jargon we all know and love so well.

 

What's the buzz around the office this week? Wall Street wants programmatic simplified, the issue with advertisers and scale; and 33Across CEO offers his take on digital advertising during this years election s. 

 

What's the buzz around the office this week? Brexit could have lasting effects on ad tech, platform publishing could compromise your brand, and the IAB announces new standards. 

The user must come first. Throughout the numerous sessions, afterparties and open bars this was the topic of conversation among brands, agencies and publishers. While everyone I spoke with was excited about new viewability metrics and cross-device measurements, the common denominator was user-experience. As we in ad tech move forward with innovative technology, here are some points we should all consider. 

This year’s DMEXCO event in Cologne, Germany was particular interesting. There was a heatwave in September and a huge turnout from the global digital marketing and advertising community to discuss trends, concerns and general state-of-industry.  

Sheer Size
DMEXCO reflects that both the digital marketing and advertising technology industries are alive and well. I was stunned with how large and globally diverse the industry has grown. Much bigger than it seemed last year, itseemed impossible to reach everyone I wanted to see in 2 days. With so many exhibitors and attendees, I wouldn’t be surprised if another day is added for next year.  
 
Publisher Power
DMEXCO was a great opportunity to meet with new and existing partners, all in one place. In speaking with partners at DEMCXO, many seem to be going through an auditing phase, vetting advertisers that are not consistently performing while also onboard those that they feel confident will perform.

Big Mobile
Mobile seemed to be the most important area of interest and growth this year, it is definitely the way. Almost everyone's traffic is now coming more from mobile than desktop.  

Thinking global, locally. 
Transparency, viewability, page speed and latency are the main focuses in the US while the rest of the world has a concern with ad blocking. While some global companies have made significant pan-European traction, much of their business is still transacted locally and with in-country experts - as is the case with Germany.

It’s all about balance
Walking 7 miles a day in Cologne makes it completely ok to live on beer and bratwursts for a few days.

It was hard not to miss Mary Meeker’s latest Internet Trends Report, especially the section on economic growth slowing. On the one hand, the report did call out that U.S. internet advertising growth is accelerating. Furthering that point, less than a month before Meeker’s findings were released, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) reported that U.S. internet ad revenues hit a landmark $59.6 billion in 2015, marking six consecutive years of growth. Internet advertising isn’t showing signs of slowing, especially given the meteoric rise in mobile and video, and the overall market segment is estimated to reach $100 billion by 2020, according to Technology Business Research.