Advertising has never been more important. Ad spending during the 2020 U.S. presidential and congressional elections surged to $14 billion – more than double the spending in 2016. But as ad spending hits new highs, trust in advertising transparency is hitting new lows. According to recent Metamarkets research, almost half of all brands don’t trust at least 20% of the data they use to make media buying decisions. 74% of marketers would increase their ad spending by as much as 50% if they had access to more transparent data.
Forbes Technology Council member Jim Wilson is the North American CEO of Europe-based Talon Outdoor, an award-winning out-of-home (OOH) advertising technology and services provider for some of the world’s biggest brands and agencies. He said today’s media supply chains lack the transparency marketers need to reliably and cost-effectively reach the right audience with the right message at the right time.
“Agencies, intermediary data and media buying tech platforms, and media owners need to understand how important an issue transparency is for marketers and how trust in the media and advertising business is damaged when advertisers can’t answer basic questions such as “How is my media budget being spent?” and “Why and how much do agencies earn from managing my spend?”
Wilson said advertiser concerns over transparency have primarily focused on the murky waters of digital media, specifically platform and data fees, as well as a “labyrinth of supply chain intermediaries” who sit between the marketer and publisher. Because the market is designed to benefit so many middlemen, marketers lack insights into how much digital inventory actually costs between fees and bid pricing.
