Not that programmatic was ever really the belle of the Cannes Lions ball, but picture the situation this year: shrinking ad budgets in the open programmatic marketplace, the MFA controversy blowing up, domain spoofing concerns, Google delaying third-party deprecation (again). The list goes on.
Media execs hold close that they need to foster more direct sales, and took this week to do so in the South of France — schmoozing over rosé and concerts on the beach in casual encounters that they hope will pay off in signed contracts with advertisers later this year.
But they, too, concede that programmatic advertising remains a meaningful revenue stream for many of their businesses. And with publishers reporting a gradual undercurrent of media dollars shifting away from the open marketplace in favor of programmatic guaranteed deals and PMPs, addressing the above concerns with marketers was almost just as important as the creative conversations happening along the Croisette this year.
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