Advertising Technology: What You Need To Know

Grace Carter
Marketing And Growth Hacking
4 min readSep 19, 2018
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Adtech is easily one of the most used forms of digital technology in the modern-era, perhaps more so than ever before. However, with the growth of adtech across the world in all target markets, there comes an increase in the amount of competition that adtech companies are up against.

Since adtech has been about for a while now, the early stage investors have made their decisions and are sitting tight when it comes to ROI, especially since many companies seem to fail left, right and centre.

However, the stories aren’t all doom and gloom. In fact, the Luma Partners hosted an event not too long again, featuring some of the biggest names in the business, including Shelia Spence, the moderator for Spotify and Paul Martino, an investor for Bullpen Capital, where they, among three other panel members, shared some hard-hitting facts and opinions on adtech and how entrepreneurs in similar positions could win the interest of investors, even now.

Some of these investor insights we’ll share with you today.

Adtech is Not Dead

Despite the rumours that are flying around the industry, it’s definitely safe to say that adtech isn’t dead and there’s still a defined market for the technology.

“While the statistics, conducted by Luma Partner, shows that over 50 adtech companies left the industry, which added up to total value of well over $100m, Chris Fralic, from First Round Capital, was shocked and still firmly believed that adtech companies that exist and will be created have a chance to survive,” shares Paul Rogan, a tech expert for Australian Help.

It’s a Dangerous World Out There

Let’s look at some more figures. Of course, investors are not going to be interested in backing businesses that are trying to compete with major players in the adtech business, most notably Google and Facebook.

Despite huge competitors out there that seem to be taken over every aspect of the internet and online, it’s vital to remember that these businesses are still restricted by their own professional branding and do have limitations. They will not be able to offer every and all solution under the sun that people are going to need, therefore, there is still room for smaller businesses to grow and thrive.

With this in mind, of course, it’s going to seem scary starting an adtech company, and of course, there’s so much importance on getting things right for your customers, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible and not profitable.

Just Going with the Flow

The face of digital marketing is changing all of the time. Typically, the three parties that these services depend on are the publishers themselves, the advertising companies and, of course, the users.

Since the needs of all three of these parties are constantly changing, there’s more than enough space and opportunities for the smaller adtech businesses to ride the flux. For example, consider how the ‘fake news’ scandals that affected the 2016 elections in the US caused a huge ripple in the marketing industry where users decided that they weren’t happy trusting brands.

This, in turn, triggered the opportunity for smaller businesses, such as Writing Populist, Simple Grad, UK Essay writing services and StudentWritingServices, and platforms to launch and manage brand safety campaigns and a huge boost in native advertising.

Likewise, Google had a habit back in 2016 where it was prioritising the bidders for advertising space that used their platforms, rather than going for the highest bid, a move that frustrated publishers from around the world.

“Instead, new header bidding platforms, such as AppNexus and OpenX, were created in order for publishers to keep up with the bidding trends, allowing them to take business from Google, again, assisting them in surviving and making a profit” explains Sarah Thompson, a tech specialist at Essayroo and Let’s Go And Learn.

Conclusion

As you can see, although the adtech industry is not where it used to be, the industry is not as shut off, contained or dead as many people may believe. If you’re looking for investors, it’s vital that you stretch out, get organised and find your niche in order to secure your market space and are able to compete against the big dogs.

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