<<Digital advertising is broken >>: this was the opening of the article written by Rodger Wells, in which Dashbid CEO warned us about digital adv malfunctioning.

Read the article in italian.

Although over the past 20 years online commercials have consistently evolved, advertisers and audience are still unsatisfied. And despite the cost of digital media has exceeded 100 billion dollars this year, Wells has predicted that the audience, aka the public, i.e. those who should by the service/product, are bound to miss the appointment and that many people will be disappointed by their revenues, considering the sums invested.

Programmatic adv has been particularly criticized (if you want to know what we are talking about, you can read “Programmatic adv is growing. That is what it is and how it works ”): considered, in its early days, one of the most promising technologies, it has revealed a problematic, insufficient character, vulnerable to frauds and cons. Wells hasn’t gone light on it, and blames programmatic adv for billions of dollars of losses, the disappearance of numerous companies and viewers’ disappointment. They are the true outcasts, excluded from the adv circuit, who don’t get anything in exchange and cannot be counted properly by marketers.

From this point of view, it seems a real disaster and it may be a little exaggerated. Still, it is understandable following the principle according to which there must be a reciprocal advantage for all the participants to the advertising value circle – marketers, editors and viewers – for the digital advertising ecosystem to bloom.

Wells thinks that especially the latter are neglected and unfairly compensated. While marketers and editors earn a lot, the audience, who represents the true value for both, gets nothing back.

As well as their real identity, users-viewers should be allowed to also control their virtual identity, i.e. personal data which not only include them individually in the online world, but also determine their online experience. We are talking about an actual property right concerning their information. Something which goes far beyond the European GDPR, which is already much stricter than the previous privacy regulation. Property rights are actually seen as a response to the often unlawful sale of data, which no regulation whatsoever may be able to tackle, and as a protection of virtual identities (Digital Advertising Has Neglected Audiences. Now We’re Paying the Price)

The absence of users from the advertising value circle is likely to have caused the advertising crisis. The solution which has been put forward is giving back such property rights to data owners and pay them when they decide to share their personal information. A thorough knowledge of opt-ins would mean that editors would be able to maximize their value and that marketers would manage to select advertising targets which could increase campaign ROIs. Such mechanism, unthinkable until not too long ago, is today feasible thanks to the blockchain ; it is enough to get organized and start including all the actors in the process. Since neglecting users is no longer an option for the advertising industry.

Would you like to own the property right of your online data set? In which cases would be willing to share your data and in Exchange for what? Tweet @agostinellialdo.

To find out more about the digital world, you may read my latest book: “People Are Media” 

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