“If Tony Soprano were alive today, he’d be in ad tech” - Understanding Ad Tech w/ Check My Ads

Ad tech, the backbone of digital advertising, is a lucrative business. But why? Who is profiting from it? And at what cost? Claire and James are joined this week by Claire Atkin, Co-founder and CEO of the Check My Ads Institute. They discuss ad tech: what it is, how it works, why it makes money, for whom it makes money - and what the consequences are.

More about Check My Ads:

• Check My Ads - Public Policy Platform: https://checkmyads.org/policy/
• Real-Time Bidding explained: https://checkmyads.org/rtb-explained/
• Advertising Role in the Southport Riots: https://bit.ly/46ncAkJ
• National security challenges of ad tech: https://bit.ly/4zP1F0s

Location data isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. This problem is known in the ad industry as ‘signal loss’. In short, location data is much more unreliable, it’s driving up digital ad buying costs, and nobody is entirely sure whether the data it returns is reliable anymore. It’s a problem the ad industry is frantically grappling with, but as silently as possible (because, you know, money).

• ‘IAB Finds Signal Loss Driving Higher Ad Cost, Shift To Contextual’ via Mediapost https://bit.ly/3T5zFoR
• This article describes how advertisers attempt to deal with the challenge. It generally relies on being able to sell stuff through a website, to a large number of people, for a reasonably long time. (via Forbes) https://bit.ly/4qZy54w

More Background

• Documentary about data brokers and surveillance (via Die Welt on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07j3hXAI-g
• Data lakes and their role in ad tech, i.e. ‘The Dark Horses of Surveillance Capitalism’ - Helena Malikova (Harvard Kennedy School): https://bit.ly/4gz7QhM

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy.

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com
• Got a story for us? Email us: hello@canwehaveyourattention.com

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