Huddled Masses

Programmatic advertising continues to claim an ever-expanding share of brands’ digital marketing budgets. The promise of data-fueled, real-time marketing campaigns that can be continuously optimized to send the right message to the right person at the right time is advertising gold. Yet, with all the promise programmatic holds, there is an expectations and confidence gap. According to eMarketer, marketers in North America and the U.K. agree that fraud (58%), viewability (56%) and poorly targeted ads (46%) are among the leading obstacles to the effectiveness of programmatic advertising. Add in agency kickbacks and a web of fees and the programmatic world becomes even murkier. It’s no wonder media is rife with headlines like “The Trust Crisis in Advertising” (Forbes) and “Time to Restore Trust and Integrity in Adland” (Adnews). Indeed, the IAB recently developed a programmatic fee calculator so advertisers can determine where their digital dollars are actually going. All of this generates a significant amount o