Quo Vadis: AdTech Economic Forum Podcast Episode #14 with Paul Bannister

Welcome to the Quo Vadis podcast series dedicated to one-to-one interviews with the speakers who took the stage at the AdTech Economic Forum.

In this pod series, we get to know what our esteemed speakers are up to touching on their career journeys and hearing their unique perspectives across the many facets shaping the AdTech scene.

Takeaways:

• Traffic Diversification is Key 🔑: Publishers are under pressure to find new traffic sources beyond traditional channels due to factors like AI content scraping and algorithm changes. 
• Pinterest as a Strategic Traffic Source 📌: Platforms like Pinterest are becoming important for driving traffic to publisher sites, offering a valuable alternative to relying solely on major search engines and social media platforms.
• The Evolution of the Sales House Model 📈: The sales house model is evolving to provide more holistic support to publishers, including traffic generation and authentication strategies, in addition to monetization.
• Identity Resolution is Still Critical 🕵️‍♀️: Despite changes in data privacy, the ability to identify and target audiences remains crucial for programmatic advertising, especially in CTV, where audience targeting differentiates it from linear TV.
• Understanding Sell-Side Curation 🛍️: Sell-side curation involves packaging inventory in a way that offers value to buyers, but transparency is needed to avoid issues like free-riding and ensure quality.
• The Importance of Data Quality and Outcomes 📊: Accurate, reliable data is essential, but ultimately, buyers prioritize outcomes. The focus should be on providing data that helps buyers achieve their campaign goals.
• M&A Trends and Strategies 🤝: M&A activity is picking up, with companies pursuing different strategies, from conglomerate approaches to more selective acquisitions aimed at creating immediate synergies.
• Technological Innovation and Competition 💡: Innovations, like DeepSeek's approach to overcoming hardware limitations, drive competition and can lead to significant cost efficiencies in ad tech, benefiting the industry.