CTV Still Has A Fraud Problem
By Victoria McNally A lot of F-bombs got dropped on stage at the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement’s (CIMM) summit in New York City earlier this week. And no, probably not the F-bomb you’re thinking of. Fraud continues to plague the online advertising ecosystem, including on connected TV. But many in the ad tech industry would prefer to ignore the issue. Why? Because acknowledging bad behavior would require taking more action to fix it, said Simulmedia CEO Dave Morgan. Yet, on CTV alone, Morgan figures there’s 30% more inventory sold than what’s actually being watched in the US – meaning “there’s a 30% chance” that what you’re buying is fraud. Add to that the amount of inventory that’s available for under $10 CPMs – sometimes with rebates that exceed 50% – and the dynamics of “supply and demand [should] tell you it shouldn’t be there,” added Morgan. So, what’s to be done? What we talk about when we talk about fraud First, it’s probably worth defining terms. According to Morgan, simply turning a blind eye to fraud is as bad as actually engaging in fraudulent behavior. He compared it to buying an obviously bootleg product on Canal Street without asking too many questions and then selling it to another buyer as if it were authentic. “If it came in too cheap and at too high a volume, you should know,” he said. “That is fraud.” Not everyone agrees, though. Real fraud requires intentional deception, said FreeWheel Chief Commercial Officer Soo Jin Oh. Take CTV, she said, where there’s a great deal of ambiguity built into the system, including hashed device IDs, a lack of cookies and strategies based on probabilistic data, all of which obscures where inventory is coming from and makes it easier for real fraud to slip in among the errors and inefficiencies. And there’s little motivation to fix the problem because of a whole spectrum of “misaligned incentives,” said Eva Papoutsakis Smith, a go-to-market consultant for Protected Media, Mediaocean’s ad fraud detection solution. “We have a deep hunger for high volume [and] low CPMs, so there might be people that put their finger a little bit on the scale,” said Papoutsakis Smith, who previously held leadership roles at Pinterest and Ziff Davis. The fraud fix It’s easy to blame advertisers for getting enticed by cheap, high-volume inventory and giving their partners problematic incentives. Agencies and especially holding companies are often paid based on volume, said Arielle Garcia, chief operating officer of Check My Ads and a former UM executive. But the larger problem, according to Papoutsakis Smith, is that many of the current solutions for identifying fraud are based on “looking for something negative,” she said, rather than identifying quality inventory and developing positive relationships with publishers. Ultimately, however, responsibility should fall to the programmatic intermediaries that aggregate and present CTV inventory to buyers, argued CIMM Managing Director Jon Watts. To help create the transparency necessary to fight fraud, CIMM developed a set of suggestions and best practices developed in part based on feedback from Morgan. For example, there should be strictly enforced Know Your Customer (KYC) rules for intermediaries, including inventory due diligence programs and inventory provider identification programs to ensure the legitimate ownership and quality of CTV inventory. Intermediaries should also agree to regular independent audits. CIMM is also proposing the introduction of clawback procedures and financial penalties for enabling fraudulent transactions, as well as promoting better collaboration between buyers and sellers to enforce these procedures. But while the industry clearly needs to get better at calling out fraud from within, it may take outside regulation for changes to really stick, said Garcia, who cited a recent Vermont bill that Check My Ads helped introduce to the state legislature. If passed, the bill would establish both KYC rules and duty of care obligations so ad tech vendors would be legally required to act in the best interests of their advertiser and publisher clients. “I don’t think that self-regulation is going to fix this,” said Garcia. Even so, Morgan said, it would help “if we would actually call out our worst criminal kind.” Maybe it’s time for the industry to get better at saying the F-word out loud. To the article…
Four experts discuss the (near) future of AI in streaming TV
Experts from Vevo, Mediaocean, McKinsey, and dentsu opine on the near future impact of AI on streaming TV. It will help revolutionize the ad experience and bring trust, transparency, and certainty to the TV ad business. At the VideoNuze CTV x AI Preview 2025 conference, I moderated a panel entitled AI’s Capabilities Bring Benefits to CTV. The discussion was wide-ranging, covering everything from AI in the UX to the back office. I asked my panel of four experts to mention one thing they are excited about that AI will achieve in the near future. Here is what each had to say. Ad creative in real-time, competitive with social Gerry D Angelo – McKinsey and Co Two of my panelists saw AI enabling the real-time generation of customized ads. Gerry D’Angelo, Senior Advisor, Marketing & Sales, McKinsey & Company, is steeped in the advertising market, having recently been a senior executive at Procter & Gamble. As such, his thoughts went straight to how AI can help deliver the ultimate ad experience: “The ability to automatically generate and tailor ad content in a real-time basis, dependent on data from the viewers, the context of the program, and levels of engagement.” AI is necessary to generate all the foundational metadata required to customize the ad. It is also necessary to process all the user preference data and decide in real time what type of ad to create and deliver to the viewer. Natasha Potashnik – Vevo Natasha Potashnik, Vevo’s Head of Data, Research & Measurement, amplified Mr. D’Angelo’s thought: “More seamless ad creative that goes off of the content that was just there. It feels like a better user experience, kind of similar to what exists today on the social platforms.” Given Vevo’s music video focus, smoothing the ad experience is essential to boost viewing time. Imagine a smooth jazz channel being interrupted by an ad blasting heavy metal! I can’t think of a faster way to lose a viewer! She also pointed out that social video platforms like Reelz and TikTok are already smoothing the ad experience, so supporting the functionality is a competitive issue for streaming TV providers. Removing uncertainty, boosting trust and transparency My second two panelists took us in a different direction. Both see the opportunity for AI to help tackle the less tangible but oh-so-real problem of uncertainty. Kevin Weigand – dentsu Kevin Weigand, VP of Partnerships – Video & Audio at dentsu US Media Investment Solutions, thinks AI will help remove uncertainty in the ad decisioning process, plugging the gaps and leading to more predictable outcomes: “We work with personalized recommendations engines with our video partners, with the OEMs of the smart TVs, to better predict and better create forward-facing investments to do some of that bidding.” Asaf Greiner, General Manager, Protected by Mediaocean, had mentioned earlier in the discussion that he thought AI could help bring trust and transparency. He said it would give us a common language, smoothing interactions between media entities. He expanded on the point: Asaf Greiner – Protected by Mediaocean “A lot of what we are doing in verification is kinda of black box these days. And hopefully, the common intelligence with the artificial intelligence would allow us to create that common language, which will take a lot of that friction away and become much more efficient in our day-to-day <business dealings>.” My panelists made many other great points during the discussion. You can catch a re-run of the entire panel when VideoNuze publishes them in the next several days. Also, check out this Friday’s Inside the Stream podcast, when Will Richmond, editor-in-chief at VideoNuze, and I will review the major themes of the virtual conference. You will also be able to find the podcast here first thing on Friday morning. To the article…
Mediaocean Completes Acquisition of Innovid – Creating the Premier Global Independent, Omnichannel Ad Tech Platform
Innovid & Flashtalking Unite Under Mediaocean to Give Advertisers More Control, Choice, and TransparencyNEW YORK – Feb. 13, 2025 – Mediaocean today announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Innovid, bringing together Innovid and Flashtalking to form an independent ad tech powerhouse. The combined entity creates a leading global, omnichannel ad tech platform, empowering brands, agencies, and publishers with more control, choice, and intelligence over their investments. Spanning ad serving, creative, measurement, and optimization, the combination of Innovid and Flashtalking offers a transparent, scalable alternative to big-tech solutions across CTV, digital, social, and linear channels. By harnessing AI, automation, and a massive global dataset, the new entity enhances end-to-end workflows, delivering more efficient, accurate, data-driven intel while improving campaign performance and real-time optimization. Advertisers gain greater control, agility, and transparency, ensuring their investments drive maximum impact across screens. “Advertisers and publishers have long needed an independent alternative to walled-garden ad tech, and that’s exactly what we’re delivering,” said Bill Wise, Co-Founder & CEO of Mediaocean. “With Innovid and Flashtalking, we are bringing together the best in ad serving, personalization, and measurement to create a first-of-its-kind independent, omnichannel solution at scale. This is a defining moment for our industry, where advertisers finally have a clear choice for the control they deserve over their media investments.” Zvika Netter serves as CEO of the combined ad tech organization, reporting to Bill Wise, and has joined Mediaocean’s Board of Directors. Grant Parker, former head of Flashtalking, is now president of the new entity. “This merger is more than a strategic alignment – it marks a transformative shift in power and the rise of choice,” said Zvika Netter, CEO of the new combined entity. “For too long, advertisers have been constrained by limited transparency, restrictive tech, and choices dictated by sellers. Today, we are providing an unbiased global platform that returns power to brands and agencies – giving them full control over their campaigns to drive better reach and outcomes across channels. Our combined strengths will redefine the future of advertising, fostering an open ecosystem where innovation thrives.” The new entity has the independence, data, and technology to help all industry stakeholders thrive and make advertising better for all. This acquisition creates a scaled alternative to ad tech owned by media companies, enabling a seamless workflow across walled gardens and open platforms alike. Advertisers now have: Independent ad serving, creative personalization, and measurement, providing advertisers with full autonomy over their data and media strategies. Seamless omnichannel activation across CTV, social, digital, and linear, bringing order to the chaos of a fragmented media landscape. Optimization intelligence free of bias and conflicts of interest inherent in many of today’s ad tech solutions. Interoperability across channels, including walled gardens, helping advertisers maximize reach and efficiency without constraints. “Advertisers need a partner that empowers them to connect creative, data, and intelligence across a fragmented media ecosystem,” said Grant Parker, President of the new entity. “By merging Innovid and Flashtalking under Mediaocean, we are delivering an independent platform that automates workflows, enhances creative relevance, provides measurable results, and optimizes campaigns for reach and performance. Advertisers and publishers can scale and activate across CTV, digital, social, and linear to get the right message to the right audience at the right time.” About Mediaocean Mediaocean is powering the future of the advertising ecosystem with technology that empowers brands and agencies to deliver impactful omnichannel marketing experiences. With hundreds of billions in annualized ad spend running through its software products, Mediaocean deploys AI and automation to optimize investments and outcomes, with its advertising infrastructure and ad tech tools used by more than 100,000 people across the globe. Mediaocean owns and operates Prisma, the industry’s trusted system of record for media management and finance, Flashtalking, an innovative ad server and creative personalization platform, as well as Protected by Mediaocean, an MRC-accredited ad verification solution. Visit www.mediaocean.com for more information. About Innovid Innovid is an independent software platform for the creation, delivery, measurement, and optimization of advertising across connected TV (CTV), linear, and digital. Through a global infrastructure that enables cross-platform ad serving, data-driven creative, and measurement, Innovid offers its clients always-on intelligence to optimize advertising investment across channels, platforms, screens, and devices. Innovid is an independent platform steering innovation in converged TV innovation, through proprietary technology and partnerships designed to reimagine TV advertising. Headquartered in New York City, Innovid serves a global client base through offices across the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit www.innovid.com or follow us on LinkedIn or X. About Flashtalking Flashtalking unleashes the power of creative to make media work better. As the leading independent platform for personalization, orchestration, and intelligence across all marketing channels, our Creative Ad Tech bridges the gap between creative and media. We provide AI and automation to connect the silos between teams and deliver more efficient production, versioning, and distribution of creative. Our solutions operate at scale across CTV, Video, Display, Social, Native, Audio, DOOH, and Retail Media channels. As part of Mediaocean, Flashtalking is tied into the industry’s core ad infrastructure for omnichannel planning, buying, and billing. Visit www.flashtalking.com to learn more. Media Contacts: Innovid Megan Coyle megan@innovid.com Mediaocean Aaron Goldmanpress@mediaocean.com To the article…
From negative to positive: Rethinking brand safety and ad verification
The “negative” paradigm of brand safety and verification technology is falling short in digital advertising. Recent research shows that the ad industry must adopt a “positive” verification model to thwart fraud. The media ecosystem has spent years focused on warding off risks — blocking fraudulent traffic, blacklisting content and removing impressions that fail basic checks. While such tactics helped address the immediate dangers of invalid traffic and misaligned brand safety, they also created new problems. Certain legitimate content categories, including news, became collateral damage, with publishers unfairly penalized by rigid keyword filters. Meanwhile, friction between brands and publishers intensified, as one side sought “make goods” for disqualified inventory and the other faced constant revenue clawbacks. Now, with 87% of marketers saying that trust must be restored between buyers and sellers, per Mediaocean research, it’s clear that the status quo is no longer sufficient. Taking its place is a “positive” approach to ad verification — one that uses robust data, context-aware analysis and shared accountability to ensure ads reach real, engaged viewers while rewarding publishers who deliver premium, brand-appropriate content. This positive approach not only better harmonizes incentives, but is actually more technically able to keep pace with fraudulent methods that have only grown more sophisticated. Part 1: Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT) Our recent research findings underscore a growing urgency around fraud, with 63% of marketers declaring that SIVT is more critical now than it was in the spring. Despite ongoing detection technologies, only 43% of marketers feel confident they aren’t paying for non-human or invalid impressions. Indeed, the more fragmented the digital landscape becomes — spanning connected TV, streaming apps and emerging channels — the more opportunities exist for bad actors to slip through minimal checkpoints. Traditional verification might simply certify that an impression was technically “viewable,” but that does not guarantee a real person was watching. Increasingly sophisticated bots mimic real viewing behaviors and exploit the fact that many brand safety solutions lack deeper context or advanced fraud-detection layers. This gap translates to wasted media spend and inflated performance metrics that mask the true engagement of a campaign. A positive approach to SIVT addresses these challenges by looking beyond binary pass/fail indicators. Rather than asking, “Was 50% of the ad visible for two seconds?” it measures meaningful user presence and engagement. Duration of active viewing, screen size and potential for conversion become relevant metrics. When advertisers measure the depth of user interaction, they can separate real engagement from the “TV-off” scenario in which the ad might be technically served yet unseen. This shift incentivizes publishers to emphasize quality and transparency, rather than checking the bare minimum required to qualify an impression. Part 2: Redefining brand safety Brand safety concerns have also intensified, with 75% of marketers viewing it as more critical than it was early last year, and 66% voicing the need for verification that goes beyond site exclusions and negative keywords. Relying on rigid blocklists has resulted in some content categories — especially news — being penalized merely because they contain charged or controversial language. Often, these environments feature high levels of audience engagement and draw clear opt-in from a valuable, educated audience — one that marketers have consequently missed. The negative approach to brand safety automatically flags this content due to simplistic filters that fail to interpret context. In a positive model, technology and AI do more than scan for undesirable words: they interpret tone, evaluate thematic relevance and consider the audience’s intentional consumption of potentially sensitive topics like world events or social issues. This enables advertisers to confidently place ads in serious or mature content when it aligns with their brand values, rather than dismissing the entire category. A viewer actively seeking in-depth coverage of global affairs, for instance, is highly engaged — a fact that should be recognized, not punished. By allowing nuance and context to inform brand safety strategies, publishers benefit from fairer monetization of legitimate material, while marketers can tap in to diverse audiences without fear of negative adjacency. This pivot helps preserve the financial viability of reputable content producers and reduces friction caused by broad-based blocking. Part 3: Restoring trust Beyond the technical challenges of fraud and inappropriate ad placements lies a more fundamental issue of trust. According to our survey, 87% of marketers agree that rebuilding trust in ad verification is essential for the industry to progress. The current model frequently casts buyers and sellers as adversaries, as advertisers use verification data to demand makegoods for flagged inventory, leaving publishers on the defensive. Over time, this dynamic erodes goodwill and stifles collaboration. A positive verification framework flips that script by encouraging both sides to adopt a shared technology layer or mutually accessible data sets. Rather than surprise clawbacks, publishers see real-time intelligence on how their inventory is being assessed and have the opportunity to correct problems or refine targeting to better serve advertisers’ objectives. Buyers, meanwhile, gain confidence that the impressions they’re paying for reflect genuine engagement — something publishers can demonstrate via detailed reports on dwell time, user actions and the nature of the viewed content. This model also eases friction by aligning incentives around transparent performance. Publishers who deliver verifiable engagement stand to earn premium rates, while advertisers can invest with confidence in inventory that meets brand, audience and contextual needs. In practical terms, this could mean technology integrations on the sell side that feed robust data directly into buy-side dashboards, producing a unified perspective of the real value an ad delivers. When both parties trust the metrics — and share responsibility for achieving them — the entire ecosystem benefits. The pivot to positivity is well underway By shifting the focus from what to avoid to what truly works, advertisers can protect their budgets against wasteful fraud and align with brand-appropriate content. Publishers, meanwhile, can showcase the genuine value of their inventory without fear of automatic disqualification. Most crucially, a shared, positive vision for verification means the solutions deployed to prevent fraud and unsafe placements will no longer become problems themselves. Instead, they evolve
How AI is reshaping the world of ad verification
Sara Maskivish is SVP, Market Enablement at Protected by Mediaocean Let’s face it, AI is the new kid on the block, and it’s got some seriously impressive tricks up its sleeve. From crafting captivating stories with ChatGPT to conjuring stunning visuals with DALL-E, AI is shaking up the marketing world like a kid in a candy store. But hold on a second, isn’t AI supposed to be the opposite of authentic? How can a machine, cold and calculated, help brands connect with real people? Well, buckle up, because AI is about to rewrite the script on ad verification. So, if ever there was a time to invest in understanding the role of AI in ad verification, it is now. Are advertisers growing frustrated? To understand the current model of ad verification, we need to consider the recent closure of Oracle Advertising, and the Moat service, which points to a trend of increased market dominance by a few key players, potentially reducing competition and innovation. It’s also important to look at the two largest players in brand safety, IVT and viewability and how they currently favour a “negative” model based on blocking and exclusion. While this approach to ad verification helps mitigate threats, it often casts too wide a net, unintentionally blocking safe and relevant content that could be valuable to advertisers, not to mention the added fees for this safety net. Meanwhile, publishers face the misclassification and unfair demonetisation of their inventory – all because of what could be an arbitrary keyword match. This risk-averse strategy has left both advertisers and publishers frustrated, as valuable ad placements are often overlooked. In a recent survey of 100 marketers conducted through TechValidate, 87% believe the industry needs to restore trust between buyers and sellers when it comes to ad verification. It’s time for a fresh perspective on ad verification. The industry has a unique opportunity to reimagine ad verification. By prioritising precision, and leveraging AI, we can achieve a more balanced and effective approach. Is AI the superhero of ad verification? While AI has been a secret weapon in the ad verification arsenal for a while, it’s now stepping into the spotlight. With its super-powered ability to analyse massive amounts of data in the blink of an eye, AI is safeguarding brands from the evil forces of ad fraud and brand safety risks. By giving websites and apps a brand safety score, AI helps advertisers avoid the bad neighbourhoods of the internet. It can also sniff out fake traffic and click fraud, protecting ad budgets from digital bandits. In addition, AI can understand the nuances of content in real time, making sure ads appear in the right places, at the right time, and with the right crowd. Instead of AI being the opposite of authentic, its utilisation is helping brand safety get personal – allowing advertisers granular control to accurately exclude the very specific content that doesn’t suit them, without over-blocking and without losing reach. So, while AI may not wear a cape, it’s definitely the hero we need to keep the digital advertising world safe and sound. What’s the path forward for advertisers? The current verification model was a necessary improvement over the chaotic early days of digital advertising. It introduced order and security to a once unpredictable environment. However, as time passed, the limitations of this model have become apparent. It’s time to ditch the stale, bureaucratic approach and embrace a new era of ad verification. We need a system that’s not just about finding fault, but also about fostering innovation and growth. It’s time for a system that rewards excellence, not just punishes mistakes. There is a growing demand within the industry for new ad verification models that shift the incentive structure away from static, punitive metrics that stifle growth. Instead of a duopoly controlling the market with platforms focused on fault finding, blind acceptance, and advertiser accountability, independent providers are a new breed, who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. These rebels are championing a more balanced approach, where growth and accountability go hand-in-hand. And the advent of AI is accelerating the pace of change and restoring trust at a time it’s needed most. To the article…
Rethinking Brand Safety and Ad Verification: A Pivot to Positivity
By Asaf Greiner, General Manager, Protected by Mediaocean The recent exit of Oracle’s Moat from the brand safety and ad verification market marks a significant turning point for the digital advertising industry. For years, the market has been dominated by a trio of players: IAS, DV, and Moat—and a single technological design shared by all three: The underlying technology is designed to eliminate risks in the form of nonhuman traffic, nonviewable ads, and brand-unsafe content. That approach, in other words, focuses on the negative, emphasizing what content should be avoided rather than what content should be embraced. With Moat’s departure, the market is at a crossroads, presenting an opportunity to rethink and reshape the approach to brand safety and verification. A Brief History: From Risk Elimination to Stagnation Early verification methods were reactive, using keyword blocklists and basic algorithms to filter inappropriate content. Though advancements were made to improve accuracy, they were refinements on the same core focus: preventing ads from appearing in harmful places. That risk-averse strategy has dominated the industry for nearly two decades, resulting in a market where verification is seen as a necessary evil—something that must be done to avoid disaster but not necessarily to drive value. The focus on minimizing harm has led to a commoditized market where innovation has stalled and differentiation among vendors has diminished. A Positive Paradigm Shift The industry’s overreliance on negative approaches, such as keyword blocklisting, has reached its zenith. Although those methods are effective at preventing ads from appearing alongside offensive content, they also come with significant drawbacks. For one, they can be overly broad, resulting in the exclusion of safe and relevant content that could have been valuable to advertisers. Moreover, they often pit advertisers against publishers, leading to tensions and the need for makegoods when ads are blocked inappropriately. Although founded with the right intentions, this old model has had the unintended consequence of disproportionately penalizing publishers—and posing yet another major challenge for journalism orgs, in particular. The time is ripe for a positive paradigm shift in how brand safety and verification are approached. Rather than focusing solely on what is inappropriate or nonhuman—on what is simply “not risky”—the industry must begin to emphasize what is relevant, appropriate, targeted, and effective. Such a shift requires a more nuanced understanding of content—one that goes beyond simple keyword matching to assess the overall quality and context of an environment. It also necessitates a closer collaboration between advertisers and publishers, who must work together to ensure that brand safety measures enhance rather than hinder the user experience. A Collaborative Future: Aligning Advertisers and Publishers A positive approach to brand safety not only benefits advertisers by providing more relevant and effective placements but also fosters a more collaborative relationship with publishers. In the traditional model, verification was often a point of leverage for the buy side, and advertisers used brand safety requirements to force concessions from publishers. That adversarial dynamic led to friction and inefficiencies, and publishers bore the brunt of makegoods and other remedial actions when ads were blocked or removed. In contrast, a positive approach aligns the interests both of advertisers and of publishers. By focusing on what works—identifying and promoting high-quality content—this collaborative model reduces the need for punitive measures and creates a more harmonious ecosystem: Publishers are incentivized to produce content that meets higher standards, knowing it will be more likely to attract premium advertisers; and advertisers benefit from a more consistent and positive brand presence, free from the disruptions caused by overly aggressive blocklisting. * * * The exit of Moat and the resulting duopoly present both a challenge and an opportunity: a chance to rethink and reinvent brand safety for the better. By shifting from a negative, risk-focused approach to a positive, content-driven model, focused essentially on excellence, the industry can unlock new value and foster stronger, more collaborative relationships between advertisers and publishers. To the article…
Why ad verification needs a paradigm shift: from risk avoidance to value creation
By Asaf Greiner, General Manager, Protected by Mediaocean It’s time for a paradigm shift in ad verification – one that moves from mere risk mitigation to active value creation; from avoiding the environments where brands shouldn’t appear to finding the ones where they should. pivotal time for the industry. For years, the triumvirate of IAS, DV, and Moat dominated this space, adhering to a common technological framework centered on risk elimination. Their mantra was clear: block ads from unsafe environments, whether it be non-human traffic, non-viewable placements, or brand-unsafe content. But this approach, while necessary, has reached its limit. It’s time for a paradigm shift in ad verification – one that moves from mere risk mitigation to active value creation; from avoiding the environments where brands shouldn’t appear to finding the ones where they should. Change is already on the horizon. A recent TechValidate survey revealed that 17% of marketers are now using Mediaocean’s verification solution, Protected, signaling a growing appetite for new approaches that align with this paradigm shift. The limitations of the risk-averse approach The current model of ad verification can be likened to building an impenetrable fortress around a brand. While it keeps the threats at bay, it also isolates the brand from potentially valuable interactions. This risk-averse strategy has led to several unintended consequences: The path forward: from risk avoidance to value creation Moat’s exit presents a rare chance to redefine ad verification and shift away from a narrow focus on risk. We now have the technology to make this shift possible. Advancements in AI and machine learning enable us to analyze content with much greater depth and nuance than ever before, providing a more sophisticated understanding of context and quality. This foundation allows us to move beyond the question of “What should we avoid?” and instead ask, “What can we actively pursue to enhance outcomes?” Here’s how this paradigm shift can unfold: Conclusion: seizing the moment The previous paradigm of brand safety was a much-needed improvement over the chaotic early days of digital advertising. It brought order and security to an environment that was initially unruly and unpredictable. But like any model, its limitations have become apparent over time. The current system is now defined by misaligned incentives, a lack of innovation, and missed opportunities – all signs that a new approach is both necessary and inevitable. As noted in Thomas Kuhn’s “Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (the work that introduced our modern meaning of “paradigm”), when the flaws in an existing system begin to accumulate, a paradigm shift becomes unavoidable. The 17% of marketers embracing Protected by Mediaocean isn’t just a statistical blip – it’s evidence that a shift is already underway. Advertisers and publishers are looking for a more balanced approach that goes beyond risk avoidance and builds value through strategic placement and collaboration. The future of brand safety and verification will be defined not by the walls we build to keep out the bad, but by the bridges we create to connect with what’s good. Embracing a value-driven model will lead to a more sustainable, effective digital ecosystem – one where advertisers, publishers, and audiences can all thrive together. To the article…
Hot Takes: What Trends Are The Industry Sleeping On?
Alan Wolk Thought Leaders Circle Happy Autumn, TVREVers. How did it get to be October already. CES is right around the corner and I’m already getting emails about Cannes 2025… speaking of which, I am going to be emceeing and keynoting at MIPCOM’s Connected TV Summit a week from Wednesday. If you will be in la belle Cannes, definitely stop by and say hey. But enough about me… For this Hot Takes article, we asked our TVREV Thought Leaders Circle members to identify the one emerging industry trend you’re seeing right now that more people should be paying attention to, and why? Here’s what they had to say. (Take notes.) First up is LG Ad Solutions CMO Tony Marlow who talks about how AI is making content discovery far more accurate and how that’s actually a boon to advertisers.One emerging trend reshaping the TV industry is the integration of AI to enhance the consumer experience, particularly in content discovery. With the vast amount of content available across streaming platforms, viewers are increasingly overwhelmed by choice. AI-driven recommendation engines are solving this by personalizing content suggestions based on user behavior, preferences, and viewing habits. This improves the consumer experience by making it easier to find relevant content and keeping audiences more engaged. For advertisers, this AI-driven approach presents an opportunity to deliver more tailored, relevant ads that align with the content viewers are already interested in, making ads feel less intrusive and more part of the overall experience. Additionally, companies like LG are leveraging voice recognition to automatically determine user profiles from voice searches, making content discovery even easier and more intuitive. This next step in AI-driven personalization ensures that consumers have a seamless, user-friendly experience while also providing brands with a more accurate way to reach target audiences through personalized advertising. Those embracing this technology now will be well-positioned to meet evolving viewer expectations and maximize the effectiveness of their advertising strategies. Next up is the normally loquacious map man, Evan Shapiro, Founder of ESHAP, who makes an cogent point on how YouTube’s stealth dominance of the TV market has largely resulted in ostrich-like behavior.|YouTube as the biggest TV channel in America. Despite all the data in front of everyone’s faces, it doesn’t seem to have sunken in or changed the strategies of any of traditional media. Dumbfounding. — Evan Shapīro Tim Hanlon, Founder & CEO, The Vertere Group/TVREV “Proximity” Columnist points out that local broadcasters are due for a rough landing once all this year’s political ad dollars go away—a trend not helped by the rapid shrinking of retrans fees. The local broadcast TV business model is headed for a rough landing in early 2025. Sure, the political ad dollars are flowing now, fueling stations through the 2024 election cycle. But once the ballots are counted and the campaigns are over, the industry will face a hard reality: political ad spending has been a crutch. With traditional advertisers shifting budgets online and the continued hemorrhaging of viewers to streaming platforms, local broadcasters are staring down a major revenue shortfall. The post-election slowdown will hit particularly hard as economic uncertainty looms, likely squeezing ad rates even further. Add in the fact that retransmission fees – another key revenue stream – are being squeezed by cord-cutting, and you’ve got a perfect storm. The local broadcast TV business has thrived on temporary boosts from political ads, but that safety net is about to disappear, leaving the underlying structural weaknesses fully exposed come first quarter of next year. DBC’s Founder Bill Daddi is looking at the potentially transformative role synthetic data may have on audience measurement, and what that means for the industry as it moves to streaming. Synthetic data is often used in market insights research to help fill in demographic or geographical gaps in panels, but it could have a transformative effect on audience measurement. The opportunity – or threat, depending one’s view – it represents for the industry ranges from its use for creation of synthetic panelists to serving as the basis for reach, exposure and even engagement metrics. While some discussion on synthetic data for audience measurement is taking place, it warrants greater consideration and development. Mike Fogarty, Director, Platform Sales at Tatari explains why we should be paying attention to the role automation is playing in synthesizing years of advertising data into better campaign planning at a time when measurable outcomes are gaining headway over pure reach. As brand and agency professionals increasingly prioritize measurable outcomes over sheer reach, machine learning and automation are transforming the landscape at an accelerated pace. The introduction of tools like ChatDSP is just the beginning. Forward-thinking advertisers and agencies are already tapping into vast datasets from years of campaign management and billions in media spend, using AI-powered planning to move faster and deliver more accurate results. Whether you’re new to TV or a seasoned buyer, embracing this shift is crucial to staying competitive in a world where speed and measurable outcomes are now non-negotiable. Gavin Douglas, CEO of Drawbridge Labs draw attention to the role interactivity—interactive 3D experiences in particular—are going to have on TV, in terms of both content and advertising. So here’s the thing – TV isn’t just something we “watch” anymore. Nope, we’re way past that. The real action now? It’s all about giving a TV show’s reach some serious muscle, engagement and measurement by bridging to interactive 3D experiences on mobile. Whether watching linear, streaming or live, if we can keep viewers inside our brand’s ecosystem before, during and after the closing credits, then we’re looking at some significant brand loyalty and revenue. We need to be paying attention to those TV shows and their brand activations with real people, real places and real moments. Thanks to interactive 3D tech, these TV shows, TV commercials and brands are taking the audience on a wild ride far beyond the TV screen, keeping them engaged in 3D mobile experiences. As our attention-challenged viewers are watching a show or commercial
Mediaocean to acquire Flashtalking, adding complementary solutions to power $200 billion in annualized media spend
MediaOcean’s Marketing Team New York Combined companies will establish the most trusted, independent technology platform for omnichannel advertising with emphasis on cross-channel video and dynamic creative. Mediaocean, the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising, and Flashtalking, the leading independent ad management platform, announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement in which Mediaocean will acquire Flashtalking. The combined entity will infuse Flashtalking’s best-in-class solutions for primary ad serving, creative personalization, identity management, and verification with Mediaocean’s modern system of record used by the world’s leading brands and agencies. The announcement comes at a critical inflection point for the advertising industry as marketers seek trusted, independent solutions to manage the rise of big tech. Mediaocean and Flashtalking customers will benefit from comprehensive and future-forward solutions for global strategic planning, omnichannel media management, closed ecosystems optimization, and financial reconciliation across traditional media, open web, closed ecosystems, and connected TV. “Bringing together Mediaocean and Flashtalking is an incredible opportunity for our customers, employees, and the industry at large,” said Bill Wise, CEO of Mediaocean. “Flashtalking is the source of truth for digital and CTV ads and Mediaocean is the system of record for all media. Combined, we will deliver comprehensive and future-forward solutions for omnichannel advertising. Most importantly, our platform is not compromised by media ownership so we can focus solely on driving outcomes for marketers and their agency partners.” “Our mission of enabling marketers to move consumers to action is a perfect fit for Mediaocean’s vision of a world where marketers market the way consumers consume,” said John Nardone, CEO at Flashtalking. “Over the years, we’ve built the most trusted, independent platform for driving advertising relevance and improving campaign performance. Together, our teams and complementary tech will help brands succeed in a future dominated by converged media and anchored on cookieless identity resolution.” “As we continue to innovate, it’s crucial to have technology that enables us to meet the moment for consumers,” said Deborah Wahl, CMO of General Motors. “It’s encouraging to see companies like Mediaocean and Flashtalking come together to deliver on the omnichannel advertising imperative. The industry needs a neutral and independent player in the ecosystem to enable media convergence.” “The combination of Mediaocean and Flashtalking signals a critical milestone as the industry moves towards open and interoperable solutions,” said Paul Gelb, Head of Digital Activation and Investment at Bayer. “One of the biggest opportunities in modern media is connecting technology across planning, buying, ad serving, and creative optimization. With Flashtalking, Mediaocean has improved its potential value proposition for omnichannel advertising.” The acquisition of Flashtalking by Mediaocean builds on a partnership the companies launched in 2018 to incorporate ad serving data into media buyer workflow. The combined entity will represent an advertising technology platform with over $200 billion in annualized media spend and over 1 trillion monthly ad impressions. Earlier this year, Mediaocean announced its new product paradigm that unifies solutions across media intelligence, management, and finance. The company’s product transformation and emphasis on culture have been recognized with Customer’s Choice designation from Gartner Peer Insights1 and Best Places to Work by Ad Age. The global advertising industry is a $700 billion market2 undergoing major transformation due to changing consumer habits and privacy expectations. This has led to the rise of CTV and closed ecosystems in which Mediaocean made a large investment via the acquisition of 4C in July 2020 and, now with Flashtalking, will enhance its best-in-class solutions. The combined companies will enable a number of innovative value propositions for advertisers and agencies: Unified planning and measurement of traditional and digital media including cross-channel video In-flight campaign optimization through AI-driven recommendations and automation Data-driven creative personalization across open web and closed ecosystems Flexible identity resolution to enable omnichannel reach in a cookie-less world as well as privacy compliance with CCPA and GDPR Advanced brand insights and analytics for media impact on sales conversions The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Flashtalking and Travers Smith LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP as its legal counsel. About Mediaocean Mediaocean is the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising. With more than $200 billion in annualized media spend managed through its software, Mediaocean connects brands, agencies, media, technology, and data. Using AI and machine learning technology to control marketing investments and optimize business outcomes, Mediaocean powers campaigns from planning, buying, and selling to analysis, invoices, and payments. Mediaocean employs 1,200 people across 20 global offices and is part of the Vista Equity Partners portfolio. Visit www.mediaocean.com for more information. About Flashtalking Flashtalking is the leading global independent primary ad server and analytics technology company. The company uses data to personalize advertising in real-time, independently analyze its effectiveness and enable optimization that drives better engagement and return on spend for sophisticated global brands. Flashtalking’s platform leads the market with innovative products and services to ensure creative relevance and actionable insights across channels and formats, powered by unique cookieless tracking, data orchestration and advanced analytics. Flashtalking supports clients at the crossroads where data, personalized creative and unbiased measurement intersect with expertise, service and a deep partner ecosystem to drive successful digital marketing. The company is part of the TA Associates portfolio. Media Contact Aaron GoldmanCMO, MediaoceanPress@mediaocean.com 1 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 2 Source: eMarketer Worldwide
Flashtalking Acquires Protected Media To Bolster OTT Fraud Detection Services
Independent global ad server Flashtalking said on Tuesday that it has acquired Israeli-based ad fraud detection specialist Protected Media as it makes a bigger push into the OTT space. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition was made with a mix of cash and stock. The deal allows Flashtalking to offer verification, fraud detection and viewability services globally across desktop, mobile web, in-app and CTV/OTT. Protected Media, which has offices in Tel Aviv and New York, received Media Rating Council accreditation for fraud detection in OTT last year, enabling advertisers that purchase OTT inventory to implement verification safeguards. The acquisition also positions Flashtalking as the only independent ad server with MRC accreditation for fraud detection in OTT. “CTV is such a hot space right now and has a lot of unique challenges that Protected Media’s technology can really address,” Flashtalking CEO John Nardone told AdExchanger. “We’re really excited to bring integrated data through the verification service into our integrated data products, a simplified workflow and now really deepening our capabilities in CTV.” Protected Media’s 17 employees will join Flashtalking, and the company is also hiring seven new verification specialists. The integration process will take place over the next six months. The acquisition marks Flashtalking’s fourth M&A deal over the past several years, which included dynamic creative optimization company Spongecell and attribution analytics provider Encore Media Metrics. “Before you buy the media you’ve got to have the creative, and after you have to measure it,” Nardone said. Until now, though, Flashtalking did not help evaluate inventory quality, and the ad server’s clients found it cumbersome to integrate various verification partners. Talks with Protected Media began in 2019, but Nardone said the acquisition took on added significance last year with the shift to streaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This reinforces for the industry that Flashtalking is playing big in the OTT space and is investing and bringing unique capabilities to the table that other folks don’t have, and it’s part of a long-term strategy to win in that space,” he said. The OTT boom has created more opportunities for fraudsters, particularly large-scale “spoofing” attacks, in which scammers use server-side ad insertion to generate fake CTV inventory across a large number of apps, IPs and devices, which can cost advertisers and publishers millions in ad spend. “We’ve seen good publishers get completely thrown off platforms, get blacklisted for things which have nothing to do with them,” said Asaf Greiner, CEO and founder of Protected. He added that Protected Media is working with publishers to help clear their names with groups that have accused them of fraudulent activities. Protected Media will also help Flashtalking to accelerate the set-up and management of verification processes, since it’s an automated tool and doesn’t rely on error-prone shared spreadsheets. Flashtalking had already been investing in its OTT and CTV partnerships and platform integrations with other verification partners, including DoubleVerify and Oracle Moat, and Nardone said Flashtalking will continue working with them. “Flashtalking can ensure that clients will never have to doubt the quality of their impressions, especially expensive, high-value OTT/CTV impressions,” he said. Last year, Protected Media uncovered an ad fraud scheme dubbed Hydra that stole millions from advertisers by impersonating app traffic. The company worked with Google and the Trustworthy Accountability Group to shut the scam down.But it’s an ongoing process. “At the end of the day, the takedowns of most of the attacks are not very useful, because you take down the attack but you don’t take down the attackers – their organization is still there,” Greiner said. “If you remove one of their methods, they’ll return with a new one. What is important for us is not the specific takedown – it’s providing the industry and the advertisers with tools to cooperate with one another and deal with the attacks as they materialize.” Originally published by AdExchanger.
