Ashley Font Wheeler

Most metrics will tell you what your campaign delivered. But attention is the metric that finally tells you why it worked. The new mCanvas × Lumen study takes the conversation far beyond clicks and vanity metrics. It clearly demonstrates how high-attention environments drive stronger recall, deeper consideration, and higher intent — the outcomes that genuinely move the needle for brands. A big congratulations to my amazing team at mCanvas (Roshni Verma Shubhangi Kale Ryan Dsouza Tariq Nahas Meghna Soni Abhilash Krishnan) and our partners at Lumen Research for bringing this research to life. Truly proud of the depth and clarity this adds to the attention narrative. Link in the comments 👇 #AttentionEconomy #BrandImpact #MediaEffectiveness #AdTechInnovation

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Excited to share that Aperiam has invested in Bedrock Platform. Obvious statement of the century: programmatic advertising has a complexity problem. The infrastructure that was built to give media buyers control has, over time, done the opposite. Burying teams under layers of operational overhead, legacy tooling, and opaque supply chains. Bedrock is built on a simple but powerful thesis: what if you stripped away the bloat and rebuilt the stack around what actually matters... precision, transparency, and speed to execution. Their platform combines AI-driven campaign automation with curated, premium inventory across video, CTV, DOOH, and audio, and aims to be flexible and get smarter over time. Plus, the team (Shane, Austin, Ryan, James) has deep roots in the infrastructure layer of ad tech and understands the plumbing better than almost anyone. We believe the next generation of programmatic will be leaner, faster and AI-first. Bedrock is building that.

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We’re excited to be one of the very first SSP's to enable CAPI with LiveRamp - and for multiple reasons. First, it represents further expansion of our already deep partnership with LiveRamp. In addition to CAPI, we are integrated with LiveRamp Connect and the LiveRamp Data Store, RampID's help power our identity graph, we support ATS across our global footprint. Buyers can send audiences from LiveRamp directly to our curation platform, OpenXSelect for easy supply side activation. We see more 202 million active RampIDs across our exchange each month - including CTV. I could go on... Second, it demonstrates how OpenX is accelerating the move towards closed loop measurement and outcomes based buying for all of programmatic.  Our people based infrastructure allows for closed loop measurement with LiveRamp's CAPI and directly with marketers and retailers.  Closed loop measurement can be as simple to access as activating a deal id. Lastly, it's a great example of what we mean when we say we have the most advanced and flexible #curation platform on the market.  OpenXSelect is built on a fundamentally different and stronger foundation which allows us to develop more sophisticated solutions on top. It's not just access to the bidstream, it's advanced toolsets that provide Agencies, Publishers, Retailers, Data owners and Curation Houses with unique capabilities to drive better results. Let's connect at Cannes if you want to learn more. Thanks to Michele Kristie, Andrew Dryden, Travis Clinger, Stephen J. Fugedy and team for your partnership.

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Exciting news for advertisers! We’re announcing a first-of-its-kind partnership between Paramount and Taboola - bringing the reach of Connected TV together with the AI-powered performance engine of Realize. Taboola Paramount Adam Singolda James Arthur #DigitalAdvertising #CTV #performance

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✅🖥️ Mike Shields / Substack (3/3): “How does this jibe with what everyone was telling me last week, about how 50, 60, or 70% of their deals are now ‘programmatic?” Well, it sort of comes down to hair-splitting ad tech definitions (as it often does) - or what counts as programmatic or not. The more you push buyers and sellers, the more you realize that the CTV ad market is far from open and dynamic (like say the display or social worlds). Most TV business is still through direct deals (with many negotiated during - yes - the upfronts). These deals may be booked using ad technology, and may employ tactics such as private marketplaces or programmatic guaranteed - but they are ‘programmatic’ with lots of guardrails. And they are still only available to the high-paying few. “Unlike other media, say display, the concentration of supply in CTV is phenomenal,” said Tatari’s CEO. “90 percent of all of our streaming impressions placed for brands or agencies come from the same top 10 publishers. It is what you and I watch. There is no long tail. It’s a big head with even a very small torso.” It may explain why connected TV ad growth has been somewhat stagnant, despite all the recent hype. By Tatari’s estimation, the CTV market in the US is $30B per year (it should be noted, he is not counting YouTube - which is highly debatable). He’s not far off from eMarketer’s latest forecast. “About half of that today is direct transactions,” the CEO said. “The other half is through programmatic biddable, $15B. And probably half of it is fraud or low-quality inventory. It’s really only $7B or $8B of premium inventory. This is kind of, again, what we talk about in the press every day…it’s where we see a lot of other companies truly hanging their hat on. But they’re ignoring the other $15B.” Why are there so many ad tech middlemen chasing after whatever percentage is available? Well, that’s because they can’t get access to the top stuff, but they still want the high CPMs and premium associations that TV offers - at least that’s Tatari’s take.” ⬇️ #ctv #ott #shoppable #programmatic #avod #vmvpd https://lnkd.in/e7GeNb_d

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If you are a Performance/Growth Marketer testing or looking to test CTV, this article is a must read. CTV inventory is primarily non-clickable so the industry relies on Cross Device to connect the device visiting the website to the TV in which the ad was served (and vice versa). Here's the problem - most CTV vendors use IP Address (Wifi) as the sole source of truth for cross device tracking. This is both antiquated and heavily flawed, but they do it anyway and hey, it certainly doesn't hurt in-platform performance. Data validation provider Truthset conducted this study on behalf of CIMM (Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement) and Go Addressable to definitively understand the accuracy of IP Address for Cross Device tracking applications (CTV). "Truthset analyzed records from six major data vendors, including 1 billion email addresses, nearly 250 million IP addresses and 164 million postal addresses." Here are some key findings: > IP-to-Email matches: 16% accurate >IP-to-Postal matches: 13% accurate If you are a brand allocating ad dollars to a CTV campaign leveraging IP Address for cross device tracking/targeting, is this accuracy acceptable? “There’s this promise in the industry of completely accurate, deterministic data that matches sophisticated and vast advertising targets and attributes onto individuals and households,” Jon Watts, Managjng Director of Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) said. “This leads marketers to believe that when they buy against a particular target, they’re reaching that target – and, unsurprisingly, the truth is much more complicated than that.” IP Address Match Rates Are a Joke – And It’s No Laughing Matter https://lnkd.in/gwGa_iBt Keynes Digital #crossdevice #CTV #connectedtv

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CMOs demand guaranteed delivery, lowest CPMs, strategic flexibility, and outcome-based pricing. Physics says you can't have all four simultaneously. Principal media delivers three of them. The question is which three matter most. Forrester's new principal media report from the inimitable Jay Pattisall is very much worth a read, and it's going to trigger the predictable debate. Critics will argue agencies are creating conflicts. Evangelists will tout cost savings. Both will miss the strategic reality: CMOs facing compression don't have the luxury of perfect markets. I've watched boards push CMOs for guaranteed outcomes while slashing budgets. In that environment, academic arguments about strategic flexibility mean nothing. The anti-principal media argument assumes unlimited client patience, perfect information, and rational markets. Reality looks different. Reality is: your board wants cost certainty so they can model P&L without media volatility. Reality is: your CFO wants guaranteed delivery so you're not scrambling for Super Bowl inventory in scatter markets. Reality is: your CEO wants outcome-based pricing that ties media spend to business results. Principal media trades strategic flexibility for the three things boards actually care about: cost certainty, delivery guarantee, and outcome alignment. The Forrester report shows 80% of marketers are interested in principal media advantages. That's not because CMOs are naive about conflicts of interest. It's because they're making rational trade-offs under real constraints. The criticism of principal media comes from people who've never faced the impossible triangle. They can afford to optimize for strategic flexibility because they're not accountable for the P&L impact when media costs spike or inventory disappears. Yes, principal media requires transparency. Yes, it needs contractual controls and performance accountability. Yes, clients should cap how much spend flows through principal arrangements. But the mechanism itself? It's agencies finally building inventory positions that enable the outcome-based pricing we've demanded for years. I'm a big supporter as, for two decades, I've watched CMOs demand that agencies move from billing hours to pricing on outcomes. "Put skin in the game," they said. "Share the risk." Now agencies are doing exactly that with principal media, and the industry is calling it a conflict of interest. We can't have it both ways. Forrester predicts principal media will grow to one-third of billings by 2026. Read their report, then decide which three variables matter most for your business. https://lnkd.in/eKHg5qmk #PrincipalMedia #MediaBuying #CMO #MarketingLeadership #MarketingStrategy

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This July, the IAB #Measurement Leadership Summit will bring together over 100 data and measurement senior executives from across the #advertising ecosystem. This year’s “Driving to Outcomes” theme will cover modernizing MMM, the intersection of privacy, AI, and first-party data, and cross-channel attribution, outcomes, and incrementality. Learn more about this invite-only event: https://okt.to/oRfQDh #LeadershipSummit #DataMeasurement

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Happy to help our partners at Amazon with this measurement initiative. Proof that real purchase data, not modeled proxies, is what closes the gap between streaming exposure and verified sales outcomes.

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Most would agree with the perspective on the programmatic ecosystem shared by PubMatic's CEO, stating that it is “multifaceted, certainly complex.” Unfortunately for marketers, this is dramatically compounded by the lack of transparency, which allows intermediaries to siphon media dollars into fees, direct advertiser investment to “owned” solutions, and compounds the failure to constrain non-human traffic.

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Partnerize and Profound have teamed up to fill the AI attribution gap, linking brand exposure in AI search with authenticated business results. This collaboration allows advertisers to accurately measure ROI and enhance their AI-driven campaigns. https://okt.to/rP6Ew4

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we've posted a couple of reports in the past - but I think that this one is the BEST and most interesting one we published (...so far...) this is a true comparison of "attribution" vs. incrementality - comparing the actual aggregated, weighted, and indexed results based for the clients who share attribution data with INCRMNTAL Super interesting - get it below!

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With principle-based buying returning to the forefront, Brian Chap's recipe for agency accountability takes me back to Jon Mandel's explosive rebate disclosures back in March 2015. Jon's kimono-opening moment was undoubtedly the catalyst that woke us all up to the billions leaking from media budgets by way of non-transparent kickbacks and fees. The can of worms has yet to be closed. That's why principle-based buying doesn't sit well with me. It feels like we're rewinding the tape after making so much progress over the last decade. BUT ... if you're a client-side media buyer that chooses to engage with a principle-based agency, there are three of Brian's "BENCH" framework activities that I think should be prioritized to the top. These three are relatively simple to do and can dramatically increase transparency and accountability. 1 - Secure platform access to your ad server, your DSP and the major SSPs through whom you are buying. Ensure you know how to compare media costs at each step in the supply-chain. 2 - Conduct audits. Whether as Brian recommends or simply by contacting a handful of publishers where you buy media, you should be able to reconcile your cost input to your media value output. And while you're at it, you'll be strengthening your direct publisher relationships, which has many longer-term benefits both in terms of media cost and priority. 3 - Most definitely hold your agency accountable. This applies also to every adtech vendor in your media supply-chain. I am not a fan of principle-based media buying. But if you're going to try it out, you need to remember that this is far from a set-it-and-forget-it approach to advertising. https://lnkd.in/eDw-Z3w8

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The DOJ’s ruling against Google’s ad tech practices confirms what many in our industry have long known: transparency fuels innovation. Here I share why this decision marks a turning point for publishers, advertisers, and consumers. Read now: https://lnkd.in/eH6AQf-z #FundedByAdvertising

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“Good enough” data used to be enough for advertising performance. It isn’t anymore. As signals fragment and scrutiny increases, performance has to be explainable, defensible, and grounded in identity you can trust by being able to answer confidently, "Who is real?" "Who is reachable?" "Who is persistent?" "Who has changed?" "Who should not be acted on at all?" I break down what’s changing, why it matters, and what defensible performance actually looks like in practice here 👇 https://lnkd.in/g2RDbB4y

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Jon Watts from AdExchanger “There’s this promise in the industry of completely accurate, deterministic data that matches sophisticated and vast advertising targets and attributes onto individuals and households,” Watts said. “This leads marketers to believe that when they buy against a particular target, they’re reaching that target – and, unsurprisingly, the truth is much more complicated than that.” This why Eaglecom talks more about economic media buying approach than precise targeting for nonprofits when it comes to to driving giving demand. https://lnkd.in/ewcJA37t

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Super excited to announce this expanded partnership between Instacart and The Trade Desk!  Instacart is the first U.S. retail media network to integrate its grocery selection with The Trade Desk platform for streamlined self-service use cases, enabling approved advertisers and agencies to build first-party custom audiences based on specific product criteria for programmatic campaigns. CPG brands can also access real-time sales measurement signals from Instacart directly in The Trade Desk platform. Here we go! https://lnkd.in/eygGcAJr

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Interesting to see the gaps in priorities between brands and agencies. It seems that brands choose to retain the core work of their brand marketing in-house while tasking agencies to handle performance related activities.

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Performance marketers are no longer treating CTV as a test budget. They’re expecting the same transparency and revenue accountability they get from search and social. Streaming has the reach. Now it has to prove the business impact. I share the key takeaways in the video below. #etailwest #etailPalmSprings #adtech #ConnectedTV #performancemarketing

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