Commentary

Jumping The Walled Garden: Ad-Tech Problems Frustrate Publishers, Advertisers

Publishers -- even those who have invested in building first-party data -- may still take comfort in the fact that Google has pulled back from cookie deprecation.

Was the money wasted? Hardly — publishers and advertisers alike also face an abundance of data privacy laws in Europe and the U.S., judging by Gartner’s Market Guide for Ad Tech Platforms.

That's not the only problem confronting them: ad-tech platforms, including the largest walled gardens, continue to increase their media spend. But they offer ‘’limited data sharing, which frustrates advertisers that are trying to manage KPIs like conversions and return-on-advertising spending (ROAS) across media and ad platforms,” Gartner writes. 

What's more, “the complexities of data sharing and measurement remain a key challenge in streaming TV (OTT/CTV), retail media and multichannel campaigns,” the company says.

And on the non-walled side? Those ad-tech platforms “continue to invest in direct connections to the supply side for increased buying transparency,” Gardner notes. “They are also investing with other categories of marketing technology, such as account-based marketing platforms, multichannel marketing hubs and customer data platforms, to increase the applications of first-party data.” 

advertisement

advertisement

Here's a quiz: What’s the difference between ad tech and martech? There is a widening gulf between the two, but here is an answer of sorts from Gardner: 

Ad-tech provides anonymous audiences, based on contextual advertising, lookalike audiences and retargeting. The technologies include DSPs, walled gardens, trading desks and clean rooms

Martech systems provide consented audiences, based on the customer journey orchestration, ladder of engagement and tailored help. The technologies include CDPs, MMH and marketing automation.

Of course, it's more complicated than that. The ad-tech platform market is “shifting away from deterministic data (for example, personal identity-related information) as platforms develop new techniques to analyze the firehose of media supply data through the programmatic bid stream,” Gartner states. “They leverage artificial intelligence capabilities, including generative AI (GenAI), that integrate with creative, media, segmentation and measurement tools."

So what does Gartner recommend? It urges marketers to:

Ensure that ad-tech platforms offer native solutions or privacy-enhancing technologies.

  • Ensure that ad-tech platforms offer native solutions or privacy-enhancing technologies.
  • Partner with IT teams to connect ad tech solution campaign data to your enterprise cloud warehouse. 
  • Avoid the “shiny object syndrome” when investing in channels and technologies.
  • Prioritize the ad-tech platform with connections to cloud data warehouses. 

Here’s one more tip: Document your precise needs and costs for your CFO.

The paper was written by analysts Mike Froggatt, Andrew Frank, Adriel Tey and Eric Schmitt.

Next story loading loading..