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Ari Paparo
This podcast is brought to you by danads. This is Ari Paparo. Did you miss out on the incredible Danad Summit in New York? The event brought together over 180 ad tech experts to tackle the biggest challenges and opportunities facing our industry. Today. I had the honor of kicking off the day with a keynote presentation on the current state of the advertising landscape. Want to hear my insights and predictions for the future? You're in luck. Recordings from the danaad subbits are being released and you can catch my keynote right now. Head over to the danads website@danads.com and find it under webinars. Another exciting news. Danads is already planning their next summit. If you'd like to sponsor the event or even be a speaker. Registrations are now open, so check it.
AdTech God
Out@Danads.Com welcome to the EdTech God Pod.
Your window into the world of advertising technology and the people behind it. I'm your host, AdTech God.
Welcome to the EdTech God Pod where we chat with some of the top leaders in business development in our industry. On this episode, we're joined by industry veteran John Rogers, SVP at Nexon. If you don't know, John, where have you been? Starting his career@advertising.com in 2002, John has held roles at Videology and Emobi, building a legacy that's hard to overlook. Now, as a leader at Nexon, he's here to share insights from his career, some industry trends and what he sees for the future. John, I'm happy to have you here. Welcome to the edtech.pod.
John Rogers
Thanks for having me. ATG. I'm glad to be here.
AdTech God
Yeah, thank you. And sorry it took so long. I really wanted you on here for quite some time. It's just, you know, once a week takes, you know, a long time.
John Rogers
It's all good. I'm not going anywhere. I appreciate it. I'm really happy to be here. Thank you.
AdTech God
Of course. And I've heard nothing but great things about you from mutual friends. So thank you for being here. So we're going to go back and I don't want to say way back, but it's pretty much way back. 2002, you. You started in the industry really, with advertising dot com.
John Rogers
Yeah.
AdTech God
I'd love to kind of hear your journey, how you got to where you are today and kind of the significance of that role and others.
John Rogers
Yeah, it was August of 2002. It was advertising.com, which was a one of the earliest ad networks. We were based in Baltimore. The advertising.com crew was a pretty big group. So when I started, it was 2002. The company started in the late 90s, got really big when the bubble burst. They had pretty deep layoffs. There's a lot of cuts. And then my group within advertising.com was kind of the first hiring class post layoff. And we really accelerated in the early 2000s. AD.com kind of had its own culture. You'll meet a lot of us around the industry. That's sort of the trunk of my family tree is ad. And there are other sort of big branches from the Baltimore crew. Videogy for sure. Millennial Media was started there even by some advertising.com people. And just to take a beat on my history, it's worth noting there's so many of us around there. And then the Baltimore world and Baltimore ad tech people, you sort of see us all around a lot. And we all sort of have gotten our ad tech habits, leadership style, way to run the business from the Ferber brothers, John and Scott Ferber. I don't know if people have heard of those guys. They are sort of founding fathers and certainly mean a lot to us in the Baltimore World in that we learned how to run an ad tech business that a lot of us still run this way. Meaning super high energy, creativity, bias for action, culture of accountability. We manage our business sort of in a daily. You know, I'm not that creative. I call my team's daily meeting a war room, which is what we started. They ad advertising.com thing. It became cultural around sort of how do we do today, what happened yesterday, what's going to happen tomorrow. And it was a certain level of detail and rigor around sort of managing our business. And I think everybody in that Baltimore ad tech world sort of has that lineage. Even folks that might have worked in New York but were@ad.com videogy, millennial, everyone sort of has that sort of root and then their family tree. So I was there 2002 to 2007. AOL bought us in 0405. So a little before the big company bought us and a little bit after that was one of the early ad tech exits. And I oversaw the supply side team. So back then we called it media buying, which was, you know, and then evolved it to publisher services. And then one thing as we talk about my history, I'm. I'm a one trick pony. I have been doing ad tech publisher stuff for over 20 years. I like to think of my trick has evolved, but it's one trick. I'm a one trick pony. So full disclosure atg. I left the ad tech for a year 2007, went to a leadership development company. And then in 2008 I bumped into Scott Ferber at the Baltimore Zoo. We were pushing our kids around in our strollers and he said he was up to something new, which was Tidal tv, which ultimately became Videology. And that was super exciting. We started as Tidal tv, which the first thing we did was actually content aggregation, sort of in the video, sort of a video first party site, and then evolved that to an ad network, to a platform. You know, we were winning until we started losing. We went bankrupt in 2018. That was a bummer. That was tragic. But also a great learning experience and sort of motivates you for everything that you have going forward for sure.
AdTech God
Do you feel. And you mentioned, you know, you worked for Ferbers and then you worked with them again with videogy. What was it about them? What was it about their energy? What is it about, you know, your war room meetings that really motivates you and prior employees to just keep doing that same type of management style or team meeting style that you think really resonates? Because, you know, you mentioned how much you like it and how much it's become a culture thing. But why is that?
John Rogers
Well, mostly because it works. So I think ad tech is such a data driven and fast paced environment that it's not the kind of thing that you can check in on once a week and say, like, how are we doing this week? Or once a month or once a quarter to see how it's going. Like it's a day to day thing. So that sort of gets ingrained in you mostly because of sort of the positive reinforcement of it all. Like, it, it works and that's how you have to manage it. John and Scott@ad.com and then Scott was the CEO of Ideology, they're good people. So a lot of us in the, in the Baltimore world when we worked for them, just enjoy that and have happy memories just because they were good guys and they showed me personally, like what good leadership looks like, you know what I mean? Like, they would get under the hood, they would ask you specific questions, they helped me be on my game because they understood the business so well that I knew I had to understand the business well, which is that culture of accountability piece. There's a certain rigor to that that I'm still trying to replicate on my teams and that there's a little bit of lightning in the bottle with AD.com, i think, like we all are trying to replicate what we had in this piece for sure. You know, I'm like, on a text thread with, like, 10 people still from my old team, and we all sort of feel like we, you know, kind of grew up together. You know what I mean?
AdTech God
I have that with former colleagues. I have, like, a group chat. It's five or six of us, and we're constantly talking about industry stuff, asking each other questions, asking for intros, sharing news. And it's nice. It's nice to have that connection to where you work together for years and now you have, you know, a friendship of trust and just knowledge sharing.
John Rogers
And one thing I take a lot of pride in is, like, some of those. A lot of those folks were on my team back then and are leaders in the industry now, too. And I love that. That's one of the things that I love the most, is to see where they are and where they're succeeding and how they're doing too. But ultimately, it's a. It's like your high school graduating class, right? Like, you just sort of feel like you all kind of are in that, you know, you went through that shared experience, which was exciting at the time, for sure.
AdTech God
And then what happened after that? It was videogy, a mobi. And then you moved into Next in.
John Rogers
I was Videogy and then Amobi. Yep. And oversaw the supply team at Emobi for about three years. And then I left a MOBI and came here to. The first iteration was Unruly, if anybody knows, Unruly. And it was part of the Tremor Tremor. Dsp. Unruly ssp. Amobi was great and it was a great crew. When you oversee supply at a dsp, you're an expense. When you oversee supply at an ssp, your revenue more fun. So I like this. This job the most. Then we rebranded. I don't even know. It was a summer. A couple of summers ago, we rebranded to Nexon. So weird ad tech story, right? I leave a Mobi, and then two years later, my new company acquires a Mobi. So everybody that I worked with up and until 2021 came back at the end of 2022. Ish. They just couldn't live without you, John, I guess, right? Most people boomerang the employees boomerang it. The whole company boomerang back then.
AdTech God
Companies just follow you.
John Rogers
Yeah, yeah, Right. Because I'm irresistible again, trick pony. I'm like the only person like, oh, good. So we can manage supply here now. So, yeah, that's been an interesting journey, and that is my journey. You tell me if it's interesting, but the, the Nexon rebrand and really the core of our business has accelerated, I think, after that, because it really helps with your storytelling, your positioning, your. Just everything about your image really starts to fall or come together when you're able to kind of tell that unified story and market, which has been exciting and there's been, it's a great crew here too. It's been exciting to watch this business grow.
AdTech God
So, I mean, here's, here's a question. So a lot of the, you know, supply side platforms are starting to, you know, dabble. You know, they're becoming buy side and sell side platforms. They're establishing direct publisher relationships, direct brand and agency relationships. How do you feel about that? And what's, what's Nexon's position with that? Because I'm just, I'm just not too familiar with it.
John Rogers
It fits right into our strategy in a lot of ways because we have a DSP and we have our own SSP that the on the supply side, the market initiative, you know, a lot of people on the demand side do supply side optimization, right? It's all about sort of the cleanest path to everything that Chris Kane does at Jounce around, sort of cleanest path to supply. There are certainly publisher initiatives over the last, I would say two years, give or take, around demand path optimization, where it is help me understand the incremental demand that you can bring to me, which is an evolution of the space, right? Like when@advertising.com, way back in the day, or at least at ad networks, like you had your own salesforce and the supply folks were aggregating supply and you had your own salesforce selling against that supply. And then there was this weird. Not weird, it was an evolution, it's not that weird, but it was like sort of SaaS focused, where it was, you've got your agnostic and you need to pick a side. You have to be a DSP or you have to be an ssp. And then the most recent evolution is everybody's sort of moving into full stack, sort of to your point. And it's a requirement from the supply side to be able to show that I can bring demand to publishers that they wouldn't get otherwise, right? And I have to, I have to be able to work seamlessly with premium publishers, direct sales forces, sales channel conflict, all that kind of stuff still holds, but I've got to be able to bring something new and different, you know, and from a Nexon standpoint, we're super excited about that we've been told by publishers that we're bringing, you know, 75, 80% incremental demand to them. It's not the open market wrestling match, it's stuff that they wouldn't get otherwise. So we're excited about that for sure.
AdTech God
Yeah. Because historically it was, you know, publishers just basically signed up any supply side platform that they could just because it was revenue. And then that kind of flopped when you started to see, you know, some SSPs, you know, shut their doors and payments didn't go through. But the reality is, is that I guess they are becoming smarter with who they work for in terms of, you know, payment and payment terms unique demand that they bring to the table. So now you have a lot of these platforms going out trying to secure exclusive budgets and differentiated budgets and advertisers to bring to publishers. So I could see how publishers now are pickier with who they work with. But at the same time, you know, it's no longer like, sure, let's just run it. It's really turned into what are you going to bring that's different than every other supply side platform that's connected to the same top five or six DSPs in the market?
John Rogers
I think that's, that's exactly it. And I think at least from our team's standpoint, and even in my early days too, taking a sales approach to buying, making sure that our clients, and in my case publishers, understand and are reminded of the value that my company is able to bring to them is critical. We have to be in market. Right? Like as a buyer, I guess it's possible that when you're, if you're paying somebody that at, you know, if you go out to breakfast, lunch or dinner or something like that, like that that person would pay the check. Like we need to grab the check. It's important, it's competitive and we are a client oriented team in market and have to really be present and remind our clients of, of the work that we're all doing together and then grow with them. Like that's the fun part, you get into a conference room and you can start to understand their roadmaps and where they want to go and then try to grow alongside with them. As opposed to the early days where it was just sort of like, hey, we're cutting them in check so they should, they should do this or whatever, right? Which is arrogant, but is happening. Right?
AdTech God
So obviously the buy and sell side kind of combining and bringing unique supply and unique demand is something that we've seen over the last couple of years. What other trends are you seeing in the market, especially now that political season is over and kind of the holiday season spend is going to start picking up or by the time this podcast is released, it has picked up. What other trends are you seeing in market that you feel is important to keep an eye on?
John Rogers
Yeah, I don't know. I listen to this podcast and I like it. And I hear a lot of times people bring up ctv and I guess I would have to say that CTV continues to accelerate and grow. If you're just talking about headwinds and tailwinds, it's exciting. And even through the political season, the reach that you're able to get in certain localities. Right. Because that's what a lot of political is really centered around, GEO targeting. Right. Like certain DMAs or whatever it is. You know, my mom lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. That's where I grew up. And that was a swing county in the middle of a swing state. And she was getting ads no matter what format she was using, whether it was her connected T or regular TV or mailers or anything like that. But the evolution of the industry and how much CTV is really starting to become or to grow and be so viable as it relates to linear television is still interesting, but also creates a lot of market opportunities. And the one thing to bolt onto that is my experience through all the years is quality within CTV matters. People go where the money is and that includes sort of like, you know, fraud and that kind of stuff. So you've got to be really particular about who you work with and understand that, you know, Pub direct or app direct platforms matters a ton because the TV buyers expect that. But also, like, the bigger it gets, the more you've got to rely on your partners to help make sure that your inventory is performing well and clean. That kind of stuff.
AdTech God
Yeah, I think, I think that continues to be a problem. We still hear about it all the time and unfortunately is such a constant topic of discussion and it's been going on for so long, but it's. It's really kind of become more prominent in just general conversation, is just the amount of, you know, BS inventory that flows out there and bad actors. And unfortunately it's kind of shedding some darkness on an industry that is generally really good. Like, I think a majority of the companies out there doing good stuff, I think there's a few bad actors out there, which it'll all come crashing down at some point. And it does. A lot of times you hear about major cutoffs of inventory or some sort of, you know, fraud detection solution, catching it and blocking it all. So there's a constant fight for it. But it's kind of a shame that it continues to exist at such scale. It's not even just trickling through. There's a lot of it out there. And it's sad. It's sad to know that, you know, there's people out there doing this well.
John Rogers
And it slows our industry down. But it's not unpredictable behavior in that, like, I'm really going to age myself here. Atg. I remember the Can Spam act when email marketing was giant and a lot of people listening to this podcast were probably in high school or younger. But I'll tell you, and the people that had their email lists squashed due to Can Spam act, which, you know, was whatever in the, you know, mid-2000s, they went to Co Reg, which was this thing Cool Savings and these other sites I know I'm throwing out stuff that's probably never been mention.
AdTech God
Yeah, that one I've never heard of.
John Rogers
Cool Savings. Oh my God. All right. So anyway, we're going to do a whole other podcast on code. But anyway, every business unit that sort of evolves or go wherever the money is. Right. So these quote unquote bad actors will continue to follow the money. But the good news is there's a tool sets involved now and whole companies that are doing very well and partnering and helping brand dollars and agencies be comfortable and help teams like mine steer through this. Because the last thing we want to do is be responsible for something like that too. So our tool sets now, I guess again being around for a while like the tool sets now are great and we certainly want a partner to help improve those every time. They're going to improve for sure.
AdTech God
So we talked about kind of the, your, your background in the industry. You started in baltimore@advertising.com in 2002. Trying to think if I was even in the industry in 2000. I think I was. Maybe I was. Maybe I heard of it. Yeah. I'm not going to say, but yes.
John Rogers
Isn't it a major now? Aren't people at least there was somebody who used to work here that was a digital marketing major. I think she went to Syracuse.
AdTech God
Does that exist?
John Rogers
I think digital marketing exists as a college major now, which is.
AdTech God
That's interesting. It used to just be marketing.
John Rogers
Yeah.
AdTech God
Which had nothing to do with anything we do today.
John Rogers
No. They probably talk about Google search and stuff. But it's still. It's a long way since O2. That's for sure.
AdTech God
What do you think in the industry? We have talked a lot about curation in the market spo. We talk about IVT and fraud in the industry, we talk about AI in the industry. Which one of those do you feel is something that has tailwinds behind it? And what do you think the future holds for any one of those types of solutions? And I'll let you pick the one that you want to talk about.
John Rogers
Yeah, I'm interested in the, in curation I think because it's. Well it's going through the marketing evolution where everybody was interested in it and then now people are starting to debate what it is or what it isn't. And I think it was actually in a, wasn't it a market email list where somebody or a newsletter where somebody said it's, you know, it's just an ad network. And he said, Ari, I think said like it is or it isn't or whatever, who cares? Like I'm sort of in that thing. Like it actually does provide the intersection of media and data is valuable to advertisers whether they use their first party data or can extend their campaigns into media that they don't own. And that seems very smart. Right. So retail media networks are kind of, in my mind sort of fall into that curation world because you can leverage first party data on media. But it could also be, you know, an audience extension business where local companies are extending their iOS into they're tight geos. Right. Like a, you know, Comcast, Salesforce or something like that. Like that. Those are all places that are could be considered curation. And I think it's just a nice evolution. It doesn't have to be, you know, revolutionary. But to make the intersection of media and data more accessible is going to be valuable to brands. I think it's a good one.
AdTech God
My opinion is I think it's an easy solution. I think it's a good solution. I don't know why it took us so long to really, I guess label it. I feel like we have had it labeled, but we're just now really talking about it. I think a lot of companies out there are really leaning into the improvement of transparency, the improvement of data signals, being able to collect it the right way and make that available to buyers. And I think that even though in a weird way we've always kind of done this, I'm glad that it's becoming a highlight. I think it does help the industry and I think that transparency is what everybody's looking for on both sides. So I feel good about It, I actually think that it's not just a trend. I think this will just continue to be a nice curation of inventory, the way buyers want it. And I think some will look like curated inventory and others will actually be curated inventory. It just depends on the company's, I guess, tactics and strategy on how they want to package it.
John Rogers
The problem with ad networks was not the aggregation of supply using data and managing portfolios. It was the transparency part and that we've certainly gotten more evolved with. Right. The advertisers know where they're running, they're able to curate where they want to run. We'll build packages for them to specifically show this is where you can run. And we're able to navigate sort of programmatic in that way. You know, early days, that was less disclosure. That's, in my opinion, was. That's the tough part with ad networks, people deserve to know where they ran. It's not the aggregation of supply and demand that seems to me to present a lot of values. And now with data, it makes total sense. It makes your targeting better.
AdTech God
I mean, John, you remember blind networks?
John Rogers
Yeah, I do, yeah.
AdTech God
Do you remember blind networks? Like, hey, you can buy this. It's going to be whatever, an automotive vertical. But if you're not interested in automotive vertical, we have this other inventory, but we're just not going to tell you where it runs.
John Rogers
Right.
AdTech God
But it's over 10% or 20% of the actual cost of you knowing where it runs. And like, I don't think anyone knew where it ran. This is now like at least 10 years, 15 years old. And it was shocking that people are like, yeah, just run it on the blind network. It's performance only. Who cares? Cpc, just run it.
John Rogers
Yeah.
AdTech God
And it was pretty crazy time for it to be done that way. And now that's totally unacceptable. And it seems like if you're not able to provide detailed reporting of where campaigns ran, it's not good for you, it's not good for your business. So.
John Rogers
Yeah. So in that context, then whatever is sort of called an ad network, quote unquote, is going to have the right attributes to drive business in a way that's acceptable, you know, to criticize something for calling it an ad work in 2024 is a lot different than the.
AdTech God
Old ad network in the early days.
John Rogers
Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
AdTech God
So last question for you. If you weren't working in ad tech, which I know you probably can't picture, but if you weren't working at Nexon or working in the industry, what do you think you'd be doing or what do you want to do when. When the time comes for you to retire, which I would guess is a long time away, considering you're 27. That's nice.
John Rogers
Anybody who's watching this online can see my giant, old, gray, bald head. That's a good. That's an interesting question in that it does feel like I've been doing this forever, and I like it. So I had a job that was. I was a trainer, a sales trainer. Here you go. I'm going to age myself again for mci, which doesn't even exist anymore. That's a phone company, back when people had phones in their houses.
AdTech God
And I remember oci.
John Rogers
Okay. Okay, good. Thank you, atg. I appreciate that. But I do love training, leadership development. I could see myself being sort of a college professor in this type of thing. Now a lot of people are talking about digital marketing majors, except you. And maybe it's just you and I, but anyway, I would do that. I like the mechanics of ad tech, but a lot of the joy in the job that I have right now is working with my team to watch them grow and to help them grow as sort of professionals even to the. A couple years ago for Christmas, my wife bought me a corduroy jacket with patches on it, which is very collegiate professor. I haven't worn it very much, but I do, in fact, have that.
AdTech God
I should. I should introduce you to Vance over at University of Southern California. He's a professor there. Well, he says he's not a professor, but he's a. He's a teacher there, and he has people from the industry actually speak to his students. So they had Tal from CARGO do it a couple weeks ago. I introduced them to someone at Magnite just a week ago. I think they're setting it up, but I'll introduce you to him. I think it's a great experience for you to talk to kind of, you know, students who are looking at digital advertising as an industry. And he teaches this kind of, you know, this course at University of Southern California.
John Rogers
First of all, I would love that. And then, yeah, I live close to Towson University in suburban Maryland, and their business program is really growing, too. And I've thought about going over there, and I haven't yet, mostly because my work at Nexon takes up a lot of time. But I do like the idea of that adjunct professor and leveraging this experience, this business experience that I've had mostly in sales, marketing and, you know, now this ad tech stuff. So that's What I would do, I think, and I would love it. It excites me to think that that's possible even.
AdTech God
I mean, I basically would want to relax on a beach somewhere. But that's fine. I mean, if that's your goal. You know, I feel like if I could ever retire, which I don't see that ever happening with the way, you know, kids cost and life costs, it's going to be a while.
John Rogers
I hear that a long time. And again, because this is a podcast, nobody can see how pale I am. The last thing I'm doing is going onto a beach. That's just not happening.
AdTech God
I'm going to use SPF 100.
John Rogers
Yeah, SPF 100.
AdTech God
Any. Any last words before you say goodbye to people listening on the podcast?
John Rogers
I mean, listen atg. First of all, thank you. I've enjoyed your evolution just from sort of the start of what it was and how much fun it was to the podcast and now this, you know, your new evolution in the business. I do have a business idea for you.
AdTech God
Sure.
John Rogers
Which I'd love to hear. Because adtech, God, I do think, has provided a ton of value and interesting things. I recommend your content to my team as sort of training things. Have you thought about being a God or franchising your godness to other industries? So oil and gas God, renewable energy God. Is it possible to get to be a God of another industry? This is my idea. Free franchising. That's what I'm thinking.
AdTech God
Last night, crypto Bitcoin hit 75,000. And I kind of regret, number one, selling all my crypto two years ago.
John Rogers
Yeah.
AdTech God
And number two, like not leaning into crypto.
John Rogers
Like, what about insurance? Like, there's a lot of insurance sales people out there. Insurance, God insurance.
AdTech God
There's a. There's like car people. There's like a famous guy who does this for automotive industry. Oh, is there really? Yeah, and like, he's kind of like a big deal. Like he started like a website and like a used a new car sales site and he like leaned into it quite a bit and has turned it into a big business. There's that guy. Have you heard of him? Litquidity?
John Rogers
No.
AdTech God
Okay, so there's a guy, Liquidity, who was a meme account. And then somebody leaked his identity to the Wall Street Journal, I think, and they found out that the guy had like 30 different investments in fintech companies. He was like an Advisor to like 10 or 15 companies.
John Rogers
He was manipulating.
AdTech God
Oh, yeah, no, the memes are just like the front. He's like behind it all. I have worked in the industry and I'm an investor and I have businesses and it was pretty crazy. But, yeah, I'll franchise it out if somebody wants to pay me a franchise fee and percentage of the revenues and I'll give them some marketing.
John Rogers
Yeah. I'm just saying I have friends in other industries and they do not have gods in their industries. And I've enjoyed you as the ad tech God, so thank you. That's all. I'm just saying there's. There's market there. I love it. Let's workshop it. Let's do it.
AdTech God
I mean, yeah, let's. I mean, that's next. I got to check my contracture, but yeah, do it. Thank you, John, for being here and great to meet you. And thank you to Nexon for having you as my guest.
John Rogers
I really appreciate it. Thank you. And I'm not joking about the things that you've done for our industry. It really is exciting and thank you for that.
AdTech God
Thank you, John.
John Rogers
Yeah, thanks.
AdTech God
I appreciate it. Speak soon.
John Rogers
Yep. Thank you.
AdTech God
Thanks for tuning in to another episode.
Of the Ad Tech godpod, a podcast.
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AdTechGod Pod Episode 57: The Rise of CTV - Trends in Advertising with John Rogers from Nexxen
Release Date: December 3, 2024
In Episode 57 of the AdTechGod Pod, host AdTech God engages in an insightful conversation with John Rogers, Senior Vice President at Nexxen. John brings over two decades of experience in the advertising technology (adtech) industry, having held significant roles at advertising.com, Videology, and Emobi. This episode delves deep into John's career journey, the evolving landscape of adtech, and emerging trends such as Connected TV (CTV), curation in advertising, and the persistent challenges of fraud and transparency.
John Rogers begins by recounting his initiation into the adtech world in August 2002 with advertising.com in Baltimore. He highlights the company's resilience during the post-dot-com bubble era, where he was part of the first hiring class after significant layoffs. John emphasizes the strong cultural foundation laid by leaders like the Ferber brothers, which fostered a high-energy, accountable, and creative work environment.
John Rogers [02:01]: "The Ferber brothers... taught us how to run an ad tech business with super high energy, creativity, bias for action, culture of accountability."
John's tenure at advertising.com spanned until its acquisition by AOL in 2005. After a brief interlude in leadership development, he rejoined the adtech sphere with Videology (initially Tidal TV) alongside Scott Ferber. Despite Videology's eventual bankruptcy in 2018, John drew valuable lessons that propelled his subsequent roles.
The conversation underscores the enduring impact of Baltimore's adtech culture on its professionals. John credits the Ferber brothers for instilling a rigorous, detail-oriented approach to business management, which he continues to implement at Nexxen.
John Rogers [05:42]: "They showed me what good leadership looks like... a culture of accountability and rigor that I'm still trying to replicate on my teams."
John also reflects on the camaraderie and lasting relationships formed within this community, likening it to a "high school graduating class," fostering both professional growth and personal friendships.
Transitioning to his role at Nexxen, John discusses the company's strategic rebranding and acquisition of previous ventures like Unruly and Emobi. This consolidation has enhanced Nexxen's capabilities in both demand-side platforms (DSP) and supply-side platforms (SSP), providing a unified approach to managing advertising supply and demand.
John Rogers [08:41]: "The Nexxen rebrand... helps with your storytelling, your positioning... it’s been exciting to watch this business grow."
A significant portion of the episode focuses on the rapid growth of Connected TV (CTV). John highlights CTV's expansion as a critical trend, driven by its ability to offer precise geo-targeting and high-quality reach, especially in politically significant regions.
John Rogers [13:29]: "CTV continues to accelerate and grow... quality within CTV matters. You’ve got to be really particular about who you work with."
However, he also acknowledges ongoing challenges, particularly regarding fraud and inventory quality. Ensuring clean and high-performing inventory is paramount as CTV's prominence increases.
The discussion shifts to the transformation of traditional ad networks into more curated and transparent platforms. John argues that modern curation bridges the gap between media and data, enhancing targeting efficacy and transparency for advertisers.
John Rogers [18:19]: "Curation... provides the intersection of media and data... it makes your targeting better."
He contrasts this with older ad networks that often operated opaquely, withholding details about where ads were run, which has become unacceptable in today's demand for transparency.
AdTech God [21:15]: "Do you remember blind networks?... it's over 10% or 20% of the actual cost of you knowing where it runs."
John emphasizes that contemporary ad networks must attribute transparency and data-driven capabilities to remain relevant and trusted in the industry.
Both hosts touch upon the enduring issue of fraud within the adtech ecosystem. Despite advancements in detection and prevention tools, fraudulent activities continue to impede industry progress.
John Rogers [16:32]: "Bad actors will continue to follow the money... our toolsets now... are great and we certainly want a partner to help improve those every time."
The conversation highlights the importance of robust partnerships and advanced toolsets in combating fraud and maintaining industry integrity.
Towards the end of the episode, John reflects on potential future endeavors outside of adtech. He expresses interest in roles such as a college professor, aiming to impart his extensive industry knowledge to the next generation of marketers and adtech professionals.
John Rogers [22:36]: "I do like the idea of that adjunct professor and leveraging this experience... I would love it."
Additionally, John proposes a franchising idea for the AdTechGod brand to extend its influence into other industries, showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking.
John Rogers [25:21]: "Have you thought about being a God or franchising your godness to other industries?"
The episode concludes with mutual appreciation between AdTech God and John Rogers. John commends the podcast for its evolution and value to the adtech community, while AdTech God expresses enthusiasm for potential future collaborations and initiatives.
John Rogers [27:07]: "I recommend your content to my team as sort of training things."
Overall, this episode offers a comprehensive exploration of the adtech industry's current state and future directions, enriched by John Rogers' extensive experience and thoughtful perspectives.
Key Takeaways:
For those interested in the intricacies of adtech and the dynamic trends shaping the industry, Episode 57 of the AdTechGod Pod provides valuable insights and expert analysis from a seasoned leader.