Transparency and a Healthy Media Diet

The “programmatic black box” is an old and unfortunately all-too-true stereotype, the idea behind the label being that programmatic is anything but transparent.

Historically, marketers have been offered little to no insight into the many steps involved in a single programmatic transaction, and many have been conditioned to believe that this is perfectly acceptable. It’s become common to think that not knowing much about the many partners who play a role in a single opportunity is just the cost of doing business in the industry – a necessary evil.

To Jon Ahuna, Viant’s senior vice president of operations, and to the company as a whole, it’s not.

“We believe in transparency, in accountability,” Ahuna said. “And we believe in the New Open Web. We think the web can return to its foundational principles of access, transparency and mutual good. And it can do that while maintaining programmatic efficiencies.”

That’s a positive for everyone.

But, as Ahuna notes, “we need to get to work to achieve that.”

Transparency and a ‘Healthy Media Diet’

Programmatic has empowered marketers to accomplish feats unimaginable a decade ago. Campaigns are scalable across myriad channels and formats, and ads can now be delivered to hyper-targeted audiences at the most ideal times.

“But as the market has grown more complex, what we gained in efficiency we lost in accountability,” Ahuna said.

That’s why the most successful brands are redefining what their partnerships look like, prioritizing working with those who place transparency at the forefront and value what Ahuna refers to as a “healthy media diet.”

“Think of a healthy media diet like this: When you go to the grocery store, you’re going to get better quality food if you take the time to read the labels,” he said. “You can see which products are filled with additives or sugar … you can even focus on produce so that you have a farm-to-table diet.”

It might sound a bit silly, but by being an informed, careful purchaser of media – like an informed, careful purchaser of healthful groceries – you can continuously optimize your partner list, perform meaningful analysis, optimize your target audience and measure the effectiveness of your media spend.

This is the true path forward to taking advantage of the efficiencies of programmatic, according to the industry leaders at Viant.

Transparency and Accountability in the New Open Web

So what does a healthy media diet look like in the New Open Web?

Programmatic is the most efficient way to buy, target and measure media, but too much accountability and transparency has been lost along the way, as Ahuna noted above. To succeed in the New Open Web, marketers need to bring on the right tools to help them make healthier media choices and build better partnerships. That means they need to foster relationships with partners who place transparency and accountability at the forefront.

The right programmatic vendor for the New Open Web must be able – and willing – to identify and share all the partners they work with in the supply chain. They should be establishing their own trusted relationships with media owners and sourcing new opportunities, all the while providing effective measurement capabilities to ensure media spend is having its desired effect.

“If that’s not happening, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate your partnerships,” Ahuna said.

With its DSP, Viant places an emphasis on transparency, and on moving beyond the old programmatic black box stereotype. Viant provides the tools necessary for marketers to optimize their supply path, monitor fraud and report on post-bid measurement – transparently. That’s the way to a healthy media diet.

“We believe in the New Open Web,” Ahuna said, “and want to give you the tools and the visibility to make healthier media choices and build better partnerships for your brand.”

Learn more about Transparency and a Healthy Media Diet in the video above.