Commentary

Cox Media's Gamut Aims To Simplify Programmatic For Publishers

Cox Media Group’s digital media services company, Gamut, which operates a programmatic ad exchange, is aiming to simplify programmatic for publishers. The company on Tuesday announced Gamut Navigator, a browser plugin that’s meant to give publishers easy access to information about ads showing on their site.

The tech, per a release, allows publishers to simply install the plugin and use their Web site as if they were a consumer -- no backend code-wrangling necessary. The nav bar gives them information on the ads delivered on their site, including the ad zone ID, the demand-side platform (DSP) used, the advertiser, the click URL and the creative. “Publishers [can] block unwanted ads right from their browser while viewing their own site,” Gamut proclaims in a release.

I can’t speak to whether or not Gamut Navigator works as advertised, but such a plugin underlines the industry’s desire to simplify the programmatic marketplace. Gamut is providing its publisher partners -- it’s available to publishers plugged into their exchange -- with a point-and-click solution baked into the browser.

“A trade-off publishers often see when moving from direct sales to programmatic is the difficulty in controlling the advertisers that appear on their site,” stated Scott Siegler, SVP of engineering and West Coast operations at Gamut. He added the the plugin intends to boost the “comfort and confidence” publishers have when using programmatic tech to sell ads.

Reading between the marketspeak lines, Siegler is essentially telling us that publishers have not been overly comfortable or confident with programmatic tech. 

This isn’t a shocking revelation. The buy-side doesn’t handle ad tech with much aplomb either. A Strata agency survey from earlier this year noted that only about one-in-four (24%) agencies trust programmatic to properly execute ad order, with one-third saying they are “unsure” they trust the tech.

Obviously these trust issues haven’t slowed programmatic -- if you find a reputable report that projects programmatic spend to decrease, let us know -- but tech like Gamut’s Navigator reminds us that we simple humans are still trying to catch up to the big bad machines.

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