It’s not the sexiest topic, but ad serving infrastructure is absolutely critical to making the media business operate. Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners chief digital media officer Darren Herman believes ad serving, which is an old technology, gets overlooked in the mania for ad tech. He notes that it’s the only category in the (in)famous Luma landscape slide in which most of the companies have been acquired, including the recent acquisition of Mediamind by DG for $517 million. Herman sees a need — and an opportunity — for a modern, independent ad serving company.
I think this is an area for massive innovation because the vision that the industry hasn’t recognized the full vision for the future… I believe that all media will be served, tracked, and optimized across all channels. Television, print, radio, and out of home will all in some way or another be served, tracked and optimized. This obviously cannot happen overnight as there are quite a few barriers and obstacles to go through, but the opportunity is huge. There is a reason why 87.5 percent of the companies in the ad serving segment have been acquired.
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