Taking a stand for fairness and transparency in the online world, tech titan The Trade Desk has initiated an enlightening campaign named ‘Unbreak the Internet.’ The campaign is designed to spotlight the monopolistic business practices of digital ‘walled gardens,’ such as Google, and to encourage a more transparent and accessible method of advertising on the open internet.
The intention behind ‘Unbreak the Internet’ is to unite advertisers, publishers, and other parties involved in the advertising ecosystem in a common cause: to improve the internet. A key objective of this campaign is to ensure a balanced and competitive playing field for advertisers, publishers, and consumers.
Executed through The Trade Desk’s own platform, the campaign features a sequence of short video ads distributed across connected TV and online video advertising platforms. This primary approach is augmented by audio, digital out-of-home, display, and paid social engagements in Australia, Singapore, the US, and Canada.
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In the words of Mitch Waters, The Trade Desk’s Senior Vice President, Client Services, APAC, “Advertising extends beyond merely providing a commercial break; it’s integral to the funding mechanism of the internet.” He goes on to elucidate how advertising serves as a revenue source for companies creating beloved content, ranging from high-quality journalism, music streaming, podcasts, to TV, films, radio or mobile apps.
Waters further explains that if advertisers persist in directing the lion’s share of their advertising budget towards ‘walled gardens’ like Google, they inadvertently squeeze the funding needed to produce high-quality content. He points out the inherent bias and lack of transparency that arise when a company like Google profits from both the buying and selling sides of an advertising transaction.
A Kantar report cited by The Trade Desk suggests that ‘walled gardens’ capture nearly 80% of the ad spend in Asia Pacific. As a countermeasure, the ‘Unbreak the Internet’ campaign advocates for increased advertising on the open internet, which includes rapidly expanding ad channels like over-the-top (OTT), music apps, news websites, blogs, and gaming platforms.
Waters refutes the common assumption that consumers’ online time is mostly spent on social media, asserting, “A significant portion (59%) of online time spent by consumers in APAC is now on the open internet.” This, he says, offers a win-win situation for both publishers and advertisers as it allows more effective, data-driven advertising and more transparent access to omnichannel campaign performance.
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Waters believes that this openness and transparency will empower advertisers to make better-informed decisions, thereby optimizing their campaign performance. The ‘Unbreak the Internet’ initiative by The Trade Desk aspires to make this vision a reality.
Meanwhile, Google is exploring the use of generative AI to enhance the relevance of search ads to users’ queries, indicating their adaptation to the swiftly evolving advertising landscape. This development was announced at Google’s Marketing Live event recently and builds on Google’s existing search ad engine. This article is based on information provided by Marketing Interactive.
