TMW #175 | Wednesday Martech Briefing

May 15, 2024

Welcome to The Martech Weekly, where every week I review some of the most interesting ideas, research, and latest news. I look to where the industry is going and what you should be paying attention to.

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Ad verification is in the spotlight again, Google plays kingmaker, CPG brands seek attribution

Here’s the week in Martech:

  • Ad verification is in the spotlight again: Another Adtech scandal.
  • Google plays kingmaker: Reddit is benefitting from Search algorithm updates. 
  • CPG brands seek attribution: Streaming platforms are partnering up with retail media.
  • Everything else: TikTok sues the US government, the Safari “Web Eraser”, Sprinklr's Digital Twins, the Martech industry is still growing, and more.

 đź‘‡ Here’s everything you’ve missed in marketing and tech this week.


đź“° Latest Developments

Ad verification is in the spotlight again. Another Adalytics report, another Adtech scandal. Last week, the ad transparency platform released a report claiming that the supply-side platform (SSP) Colossus has been spoofing cookie IDs to impersonate desirable audiences for ad targeting. At the same time, ad verification platforms Integral Ad Science (IAS) and DoubleVerify (DV) released mixed quarterly earnings reports without dwelling on any of the recent scandals: DV's misrepresentation of X's brand safety rating and subsequent "correction" to a scarcely believable 99.99%, the fraudulent Forbes sub-domain, and persistent wasted ad spend on Made for Advertising sites (MFAs). Although the latest Adalytics report is ostensibly about Colossus doing the wrong thing, it once again puts ad verification platforms in the spotlight. If a third-party platform like Adalytics can detect fraud using publicly available Chrome developer data, why can't the big ad verification platforms that are paid to do so? In explaining DV's recent woes, the digital advertising watchdog Check My Ads points out that ad verification platforms have myriad problems that make them unreliable, from opaque methodology to questionable standards and audit processes. How many more Adtech scandals are needed before advertisers start to directly question the ad verification platforms that they are paying to keep them brand safe and avoid wasted ad spend? Adalytics | Quarterly Earnings | Check My Ads


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Stay Curious,

Keanu Taylor

Make sense of marketing technology.

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Want to share something interesting or be featured in The Martech Weekly? Drop me a line at juan@themartechweekly.com.

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