Don Marti
Sun 22 Feb 2015 08:03:49 AM PST
Reactions from developers
When I explain the whole Targeted Advertising Considered Harmful thing to software developers who work in adtech, I keep expecting a "well, actually" from somebody. After all, the Lumascape is large so there's no way the general points I'm bringing up can possibly apply to every single company on the chart.
#NotAllAdtech, right?
Instead, I've been getting two main reactions from developers.
You're right, adtech is a racket, I'm surprised that clients and publishers put up with it.
You're missing something—another really messed-up thing about adtech is...
(example: The problem with anti-fraud measures so far is that their impact falls hardest on small legit publishers. Not only does adtech move ad revenue away from sites with real users toward fraudulent ones, but when networks attempt to stop it, they hurt the legit sites worse.)
Anyway, ad agency clients (not just CEOs) go read What Every CEO Needs To Know About Online Advertising by Bob Hoffman.
Web publishers, watch this space.