The Trade Desk, currently outperforming the advertising market, has released a campaign, Unbreak the Internet, aimed at what it calls anti-competitive business practices of so-called walled garden platforms such as Google.
The open internet is the remedy, says The Trade Desk.
The argument is that walled gardens are closed ecosystems where they control content, web properties and the technology to target, place and measure ads.
The Trade Desk campaign says that these platforms, which take around 80% of ad revenue in Australia, make advertising unfair for everyone else.
Watch the campaign clip HERE
James Bayes, VP ANZ at The Trade Desk, says the Unbreak the Internet campaign sheds light on the fact that today’s internet is largely shaped by a very small number of walled gardens, who all contribute to a lack of transparency across the internet.
"In the current climate, advertisers should be demanding transparency from their advertising partners with CMOs more accountable than ever to prove advertising ROI," he says.
"Publishers are also feeling the squeeze from walled gardens, being equally as reliant on an open internet, to allow them to continue funding the amazing content that consumers actually enjoy — like trusted journalism, streaming music and podcasts and ad-supported TV and movies.
"We need a fair advertising ecosystem to solidify their future to provide the best possible experiences for their consumers.
“At The Trade Desk, we have been long-term advocates for the open internet and created this campaign as a call to action to come together to improve the internet and make the internet fair, open and transparent for everyone.
"The future of the internet depends on a fair advertising ecosystem. We’ve seen some great movement in this regard lately, most prominently with the Department of Justice’s case against Google in the US.
"We support any effort from regulators globally to bring more transparency and objectivity across the marketplace. We believe in the power of the open internet to fuel an important diversity of ideas, content and commerce that is vital to the functioning of a healthy, competitive economy.
“Transparent infrastructures across programmatic platforms shows advertisers exactly what their money has achieved down to the cent which is becoming increasingly more important across the current landscape.
"Programmatic advertising also gives advertisers real-time access to their budgets, allowing them to chop and change where necessary — a large reason why programmatic advertising was one of the first to pick back up after the first wave of the pandemic.
As economic times get tougher and we increase talks about openness and transparency, the necessity for an open internet is now more prominent than ever.
“There’s also a strong consumer perspective voiced throughout the campaign, urging consumers to jump on board and campaign for an open and fair internet to ensure the continuation of free, high-quality content while also allowing consumers to have control over their data and receive relevant advertising that actually interests them.”
The Trade Desk delivered “outstanding” results in the March quarter, posting a 21% jump in revenue to $US383 million, a contrast to a general slowing across digital platforms.
The result was ahead of expectations by market analysts and the company forecasts revenue of at least $452 million in the June quarter.
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