Continuing our look at “Transparency and Exchanges” (see post), Yahoo! Right Media‘s Senior Director of Professional Services, Megan Pagliuca, discussed her company’s view in answer to the following question:
Regarding the recent dust-up between an ad network and several publishers as highlighted in Mediaweek, is more transparency needed from exchanges, for example? Or should this be managed better by ad networks, demand-side platforms… and/or publishers for that matter?
- “Transparency isn’t black and white. The level of transparency varies depending on the requirement of the buyer and what the seller is willing to share. This could be a full or partial site list, details such as “above the fold,” “below the fold,” the specific section or just the site. The key is that the platform must enable the transparency option. Whether or not the publisher opts to provide transparency is a separate issue.
Just as large brand publishers, like Yahoo!, require approval for all creatives that run across its sites, many brand advertisers and agencies require site list approval and transparency. Years ago, Right Media built Creative Reviewer and Multiple Universal Targeting Profiles products that ease the operational burden of creative approval and allow
for flexible customization according to the needs of the publisher. We applied the same principles when we built our Marketplace Select program and products, which enable site transparency among partners who choose to work together.”
