The ad tech world can baffle even the most hardened media veteran. But there’s no doubt it’s spreading like weeds.
And it would appear that not even President Obama can escape. Last week, at the 1776 startup event in Washington, D.C., he spent time viewing video ad platform BrightRoll’s dashboard. We have no doubt that Obama has the Lumascape down cold, but we couldn’t help but wonder exactly what he was asking when he was shown how ad impressions are bought and sold in modern digital media.
Here are some early entries from, where else, Twitter. Add yours below on on Twitter using the hashtag #obamalooksatadtech.
Rob Leathern, CEO, Optimal
@bmorrissey caption this photo. “So, that counts as an “impression” then?”
— Rob Leathern (@robleathern) July 7, 2014
Bryan Wiener, chairman, 360i
harder than immigration reform RT @bmorrissey: obama tries to understand wtf is going on in ad tech. pic.twitter.com/2d1uMQtPQa
— Bryan Wiener (@bwiener) July 7, 2014
Rurik Bradbury, co-founder, Unison
@aripap @bmorrissey “Let my data be clear”
— Rurik Bradbury (@RurikBradbury) July 7, 2014
David Armano, global strategy director, Edelman Digital
@bmorrissey he would have more luck with Congress.
— David Armano (@armano) July 7, 2014
Ari Paparo, svp of product management, Bazaarvoice
@bmorrissey “There are some who give us a false choice between complexity and efficiency. We will choose instead the path of results.”
— Ari Paparo (@aripap) July 7, 2014
Nic Hodges, founder, Swarmdeck and Blonde3
@bmorrissey Brightroll: “But before we stream the TVC from the CDN, the MREC calls the DSP, which queries the DMP for any BT” Obama: “FML”
— Nic Hodges (@nichodges) July 7, 2014
More in Media
Digiday+ Research: How Dow Jones, Forbes, The Guardian and other publisher revenue streams are shifting in 2026
Digiday+ Research’s third annual report on publishers’ revenues examines the current and future state of the group’s revenue streams, from traditional ad revenue to events and subscriptions.
Publishers see double-digit growth from TTD’s OpenPath, but volatility remains
Several publishers said that TTD is temporarily allowing duplicate bids on those integrating with OpenAds, as a sweetener to ease onboarding. One publisher said it plans to accelerate integration with OpenAds, to capitalize on this “likely temporary window.”
Time pitches GEO insights into a new brand offering
Time is turning its AI insights into a new product, selling branded content to shape how brands are talked about inside AI-generated answers.