Greenwashed, Backslapped, and Budget-Jacked: A Love Letter to AdTech Week

The AdTech circus came to New York last week, and like the actual circus, it left a heap of excrement along the Avenues as the Elephant-sized egos of the AdTecherati paraded themselves throughout the city.  From the virtual velvet ropes for events with “limited capacity” to the absurdity of an all-day greenwashing event put on by an SSP who filled a room with people flown in for the week, it really was a sight to behold, and definitely not for children. What is so absolutely galling about all of it is that the adtech grift keeps growing, stealing anywhere from 30%-65% of ad budgets before an ad is even seen by a consumer. That’s like paying for your beer at a ball game and having sixteen people each take a swig as it’s passed down from the vendor to you. By the time you get your beer it’s mostly backwash from people you really don’t know. Don’t like the metaphor? Stick around, it’s only going to get better. (Or worse.)

This clique of back-slapping, budget-thieving, truth-defying tech bros maintain their own little bubble of self-denial so well you would hardly think that they sit on top of a $20 Billion annual fraud scheme. To put that into perspective, they are the size of a small Mexican drug cartel, yet haven’t *yet* been named to the list of international terrorists by the current administration. [Then again, if you believe that Trump whisperer E. Musk-owned X/Twitter isn’t more than 75% bot traffic, I want some of what you’re smoking, or what he’s smoking. ]  Yes, that’s right, a lot of the entire adtech theft ring depends upon the suspended disbelief of agencies, middlemen, platforms, and publishers to keep the gravy train running. That train runs on Bulgarian crypto schemes and the tears of Chief Marketing Officers. 

There were some bright spots in the AdTechapalooza, notably a well-produced event that had actual media executives and actual investors speaking openly about the issues and problems to solve in an industry that is “mildly radioactive,” as one panelist so gently put it. You see, the money folks are onto the scam and have “Won’t Get Fooled Again” running in the background of every adtech pitch meeting. When you hear VCs and PE folks who command 9 figure investment pools telling you that the business you are in is poisoned at the root, you should probably listen. This was a breath of fresh air when compared to watching has-been East Bay adtech CEOs desperately trying to present themselves as some type of “Eminence grise” with their former lackeys in tow posing for pictures on LinkedIn. These shameless apes, many of whom now command serious positions in adtech at other firms, are part of the perpetual good-time PR machine upon which the industry depends. A more loathsome set of drunken degenerates has rarely been seen since the time of Charles Dickens. 

Another bright spot was one of the two large verification vendors effectively admitting they “have some ‘splainin to do” after the debacle that has been happening since the release of a scathing CSAM report by Adalytics that pulls back the covers on just where big brand money has been going, and it’s hard stuff to read. Again, the adtech industry is a cartel by any other name, and there are real victims of the very real crimes. I suggest not reading this report until you are somewhere you can quickly reach should you need to vomit. So to misquote Elvis Costello, if the guardians of brand safety are this inept, who is watching the fucking detectives?

From shady SSPs with valuations based on bullshit to the filthy offshore money being laundered through the digital advertising ecosystem, you just had to squint a little bit last week to see the true face of adtech. Perhaps “They Live” should be the theme next time AdTech comes to town.

This Week’s Music: Elvis Costello: Watching The Detectives

She is watching the detectives
Ooh, he’s so cute
She is watching the detectives
When they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot
They beat him up until the teardrops start
But he can’t be wounded ’cause he’s got no heart

The views and opinions expressed by The Streaming Madman are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Streaming Wars or its affiliates.