Digital advertising is still in a state of uncertainty

One of the golden rules in the business world is respect for the customer. This principle served Elon Musk when it came to Tesla and SpaceX. The message is if you want to drive or introduce an amazing car. Satellite to space, then Elon is what you are looking for. .

But the world’s richest man is testing the opposite side of the equation with his social media game, X, after several big companies, including Disney, Apple and IBM, have decided. Withdraw their ads from his platform. As a result of his endorsement of an anti-Semitic tweet, the world’s richest man delivered a clear message: “Go to hell.”

Advertisers seem to be taking Musk’s message seriously, and it would be easy to move to Google, TikTok or Facebook.

Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, represents a small slice of the vast digital advertising market. Media agency GroupM expects that digital advertising requires rare talent to turn a profit outside of the money fountain, but the success of “X” in this field is quite shocking.

GroupM expects the digital advertising market to grow 9.2% to $617 billion this year. The five largest global ad vendors, Google, Meta, and ByteDance, which operate TikTok, Alibaba, and Amazon, are expected to grow ad revenue by 25.4% on a combined annual basis between 2016 and 2022.

But some advertisers question how well other digital advertising platforms take care of their customers. A recent report by ad analytics service Adalytics found that ads for some major international brands and US and European government agencies continue to appear on pornographic sites and on companies in other banned countries.

After analyzing 7.2 million websites on the Internet, Adaltics found numerous examples of ads for companies including Apple, BMW, Walmart and the US Treasury appearing on questionable sites without the advertisers’ knowledge. the way It allows third-party developers to embed search engines on their own sites, presumably through Google’s search partner network.

Showing ads this way not only puts advertisers’ reputations at risk, but also performs poorly, according to Analytics. Google announced investigations into Adalytics’ allegations, but found no evidence that ad revenue was shared with recognized companies.

However, the widespread adoption of machine learning systems is allowing marketers and digital advertising platforms to deliver and deliver more targeted and personalized ads than ever before.

“It allows us to send the right message to the right customer at the right time,” says Mark Reid, CEO of WPP advertising agency. So, for example, the agency used artificial intelligence and geolocation tools in 2021. 130,000 video ads for 2,000 local stores in India, all with Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s “personal” endorsement.

Ads were viewed 4 million times on YouTube and Facebook, but Reid added that advertisers expect more transparency from digital platforms and third-party verification of where and when their ads are shown.

Reed said these platforms, which are interested in gaining market share, must encourage such transparency.

Some lawmakers are calling for tougher regulatory interventions to address the problem, and U.S. Senator Mark Warner called on the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to investigate “digital ad brokers operating in a concentrated, fraudulent ecosystem.”

Arid Research senior analyst Richard Cramer says marketers have shown “sad negligence” by not paying enough attention while spending billions of dollars annually.

Kramer compared the digital advertising market to a vast, opaque stock market, where billions of trades are conducted daily and are subject to verification and settlement, while other trades often take place in “dark rooms.”

Kramer said Google may stop showing ads through its search and video partner networks, but the company wants to stay small, even if it’s better. He added: “None of these companies want transparency. “For big tech companies, transparency seems like a dirty word.” So, it’s time for advertisers to enforce such transparency, even if lawmakers don’t.