• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, November 7, 2011

Joanna O'Connell, senior analyst at Forrester, wants to rename her keynote, “The Future of Digital Media Buying.” Let’s call it, “Revenge of The Nerds,” she suggests. A self-described nerd, O'Connell says she’s pretty excited about the state of media buying. “It’s really about man and machine,” which she considers “a beautiful combination.”

Sure, it’s human nature to fear the unknown, but the industry needs to be brave and forge ahead. Not only that, but embracing the digitization of media as an “evolution” won’t do. Rather, it must be understood and exploited as a “revolution,” O'Connell insists.

To date, exchanges and DSPs have already illuminated issues the industry didn’t even know existed. Opaque pricing, for one, resulted from undisclosed margins, which left buyers in the dark to “real” impression value.  Also, there was a lack of placement level transparency, and no guarantee of placement on any given site, or site level reporting. Who knew?