“Unnecessarily complex, inefficient and costly ecosystem” could describe pretty much any aspect of adtech. That particular quote comes from Albertsons Media Collective, which was referring to the retail media world in particular and has just proposed a framework to simplify and standardize it. Partners include Omnicom Media Group, Pinterest, and R3, and you are probably welcome to join, Dear Reader.
Social media is the main news source for many people in Canada and elsewhere. So, when Meta blocks links to legitimate news outlets rather than make payments required under Canada’s just-passed Online News Act, it ensures its members see only the hate, lies, and propaganda that Meta barely pretends to police. Irresponsible? Yes. Despicable? Yes. On-brand? For sure.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is also unhappy, in their case with programmatic media transparency. They issued a report earlier this week that found 23% of the $88 billion in open web programmatic media spend is wasted, including 15% on “made for advertising” websites that offer “low-quality content, such as fake news, conspiracy theories, or spammy links”. Mostly they argue it’s up to advertisers to be more careful.
Google is facing another antitrust lawsuit, this time in Canada, specifically focusing on anti-competitive practices in online advertising. The Competition Tribunal has been asked to order Google to sell two of its ad tech tools, prohibit future anti-competitive practices and fine the company billions of dollars. In response, Google points to a highly competitive market offering plenty of alternatives.