IAB Tech Lab Summit: Cadi Jones from Index

Summary

Marketecture Podcast Summary
Episode: IAB Tech Lab Summit: Katie Jones from Index Exchange
Release Date: November 18, 2024
Host: Ari Paparo & Eric Franchi
Guest: Katie Jones, SVP of EMEA for Index Exchange

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1. Introduction to the Episode

In this episode of the Marketecture Podcast, hosts Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi engage in a comprehensive discussion with Katie Jones, the Senior Vice President of EMEA for Index Exchange, during the IAB Tech Lab Summit. The conversation delves into the evolving landscape of programmatic advertising, the challenges and innovations within Europe, and the pivotal role of Index Exchange in shaping the future of digital media.

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2. Conference Theme: "The End of the Beginning"

The episode kicks off with an exploration of the summit's theme, "The End of the Beginning. Nothing will be the same," which Katie interprets as a reflection of the transformative phase the programmatic advertising industry is undergoing.

Katie Jones [01:05]: "...programmatic is pretty much the dominant transaction method when we come to digital media now."

Katie draws a parallel to Churchill's quotes from the Second World War, emphasizing that the industry is transitioning from its underdog status to becoming the mainstream powerhouse in digital advertising.

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3. Programmatic Dominance and Responsibility

Katie highlights the ascent of programmatic advertising from a niche, "geeky" background process to the forefront of digital media transactions. With this significant shift comes increased responsibility to uphold industry standards and best practices.

Katie Jones [02:16]: "The geeky kids in the foreground, running the show."

She underscores the importance of the IAB Tech Lab's work in establishing unified standards to preempt regulatory impositions that could complicate operations.

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4. Challenges in Europe: Programmatic Execution at Scale in a Privacy-Safe Environment

The conversation transitions to the specific challenges faced in Europe, particularly balancing large-scale programmatic execution with stringent privacy regulations.

Katie Jones [03:08]: "Effective targeting no longer means one to one user targeting."

Katie explains that Index Exchange is shifting towards contextual and environmental data to enhance targeting efficacy without compromising user privacy. Partnerships with data providers like Peer39 and Scope Three are pivotal in this strategy, ensuring advertisers can achieve desired impacts while adhering to environmental considerations.

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5. Curation Products: Solutions to Supply Path Optimization

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Index Exchange's curation products, designed to address issues arising from header bidding and supply path optimization.

Katie Jones [04:09]: "Curation solves for that, allowing them to curate on the supply side..."

She elaborates on how curation mitigates the problem of duplicated bid requests and throttled QPS (Queries Per Second), ensuring that publishers receive fair and transparent bids without additional fees.

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6. Transparency Concerns and Business Practices

Addressing criticisms regarding transparency in curation, Katie clarifies Index Exchange’s stance and business practices to maintain fairness in transactions.

Katie Jones [05:26]: "We don't charge an additional curation fee... curated demand is competing on a fair way with the other demand in the system."

This approach ensures that publishers experience true transparency, with net bids reflecting genuine demand without hidden fees or manipulations.

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7. CTV and Streaming in Europe

The dialogue shifts to Connected TV (CTV) and live streaming, where Katie discusses Index Exchange's strategic advancements in this rapidly growing sector.

Katie Jones [06:01]: "We re-architected the platform from the ground up in 2021 with video @ its core."

By embracing a video-centric platform, Index Exchange has positioned itself to capitalize on CTV's potential, integrating advanced specifications like OpenRTB 2.6 to support functionalities like ad podding. This reengineering has facilitated seamless growth and adherence to Europe's strict broadcast regulations.

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8. Navigating Privacy Regulations and Technological Innovations

Wrapping up the discussion, Katie emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary team at Index Exchange that synergizes privacy, legal, and product development efforts. This collaborative approach ensures the company remains agile and compliant amidst evolving regulations and technological advancements.

Katie Jones [08:37]: "...combination and that collaboration which really make Index a brilliant place to be."

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9. Conclusion

The episode concludes with hosts thanking Katie Jones for her insightful contributions and acknowledging the pivotal role of the IAB Tech Lab in fostering industry standards. Katie reiterates Index Exchange’s commitment to innovation, transparency, and collaboration to navigate the dynamic landscape of programmatic advertising.

Katie Jones [09:05]: "Thank you."

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Key Takeaways:

• Programmatic Advertising's Rise: Transitioning from a niche to the dominant method in digital media, bringing both opportunities and responsibilities.

• Curation as a Solution: Addressing supply path inefficiencies and ensuring transparency without additional costs to publishers.

• CTV and Live Streaming Growth: Leveraging a video-centric platform to harness the full potential of CTV, especially under Europe's stringent regulations.

• Collaborative Approach: Integrating privacy, legal, and product teams to stay ahead of regulatory and technological changes.

This episode offers a deep dive into the current trends and future directions of programmatic advertising, particularly within the European market, showcasing Index Exchange's strategic initiatives and industry leadership.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

I'm Ari Pipero. I'm here for the Advertising Forum. We're here with the IAB Tech Lab at the International Summit. And I'm happy to be joined today by Katie Jones, the SVP of EMEA for Index Exchange.

[C]

So happy to be here, Ari. Thank you for. It's nice to see you again.

[B]

It's good to see you, Katie. You worked for me for many years and I haven't seen you since, I guess Covid and we sold beeswax. Everything's changed.

[C]

I mean, everything's changed. It's the beginning of the end, but not the beginning of the end again.

[B]

Yes. Right. Well, I was going to actually ask you that. So this conference is called. I'm going to read this. The End of the Beginning. Nothing will be the same. So what does that mean to you and to Index Exchange?

[C]

I think it's. I quite like that Tony and the team have picked that. I think it's a Churchill quote. So it's giving some kind of. Yeah. A link to the Second World War. It was the.

[B]

Sure.

[C]

I remember that before both of our times.

[B]

Calmer time.

[C]

Potentially. Actually, given some of the things that have been going on this week, in terms of what I think it means in the context of programmatic and to everyone here at the IAB Tech Lab event, I think it's that programmatic is coming out of that underdog period. Right. If we learn anything from the DOJ trials that have been ongoing so far, we learned that 51% is considered to be dominant in any space. And I think we can probably say that programmatic is pretty much the dominant transaction method when we come to digital media now. And actually every type of media is available programmatically. Right, right. And so I think we've come out of the era of this being something that's like the geeky kids in the background. And this is actually. We're the mainstream.

[B]

We're the geeky kids in the foreground.

[C]

The geeky kids. Yeah, in the foreground, running the show. And I think with that great power that we have now, kind of comes great responsibility. Right, right. And so I think that's why some of the work that the tech lab does is so crucial. Right. You're sitting here in London, you're very familiar, as I am, as everyone here is, what happens where regulation gets. Gets brought in. We need to come together and build standards as an industry to make sure we're putting best practice in place. Otherwise it gets done to us. And that can be complicated to deal with.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

We want to control our own destiny. That kind of leads into my next topic, which is in Europe. What are the challenges with executing at scale, with programmatic, but in a privacy safe environment?

[C]

I think if I hear it one more time, you can roll your eyes here, but what's old is new again.

[B]

Right.

[C]

When I think about what we're seeing at Index Exchange, I think effective targeting no longer means one to one user targeting.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Right. Where I look at what we're doing in with our curation product with marketplaces, I think some of our most popular curation is the data that people are adding on when they are, when they are curating their media buys is contextual data from partners like peer39 and then also environmental data. We have a huge amount of demand in Europe for the partnership we have with Scope three and effectively ensuring that advertisers are able to buy the formats that they want with the impact that they want to the audience that they want.

[B]

Right.

[C]

But with the environmental impact that they want as well.

[B]

Is curation taking off here in Europe the way I hear about it in the US all the time?

[C]

Yes, absolutely. I think it is because it's solving a real problem for people.

[B]

Okay, right. What problem is it really solving?

[C]

Just the so problem that header bidding really created. Right. This proliferation, this duplication of bid requests.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And thinking back to our beeswax times, a number of conversations we would have around supply path optimization. This is effectively like you talk to any trader in any entity, any agency, and they were so frustrated that they're setting up campaigns and those campaigns are not delivering because the QPS is being throttled from the SSP going into the dsp and that DSP just can't buy the audience that they want or the targeting they want at the scale that they need. And so curation solves for that, allowing them to curate on the supply side, meaning that they get enough of the inventory that they want to deliver their campaigns in full. And I think it has real advantages for publishers, for media owners too. It's much, much more transparent, certainly Index, and it allows the publisher to be able to potentially release the data, the first party data that they want to, but in an extremely controlled way, buyer by buyer, rather than DSP by dsp.

[B]

It's interesting you're saying that about transparency because some there are critics of curation that say it's not as transparent, especially on the publisher side. Maybe you could unpack that for. Are they misunderstanding it or is it different business practices?

[C]

I think at the moment there's potentially different business practices at Index Exchange. We don't charge an additional curation fee. So the net bid that the publisher sees is the net bid for their inventory. And unless they negotiate otherwise with the buyer, they're transacting in a unified auction. Right. So that curated demand is competing on a fair way with the other demand in the. In the system.

[B]

Makes sense. So CTV consumers are changing their behaviors. They're getting content from streaming. How is that happening in Europe and how is Index Exchange taking part in it?

[C]

Well, you missed a brilliant event. Earlier this year, Andrew spoke at ATS London and he used the analogy that we're like the kid that shows up late to the party, but when we turn up we've got like a whole keg of beer. I think you're probably aware maybe some of your listeners aren't. We re architected the platform from the ground up in 2021 with video @ its core. And so we kind of missed the messy, scrappy sort of first period of CTV and we're able to like by being slightly late to the party, we've been able to leapfrog to have a sort of best in class video platform ready to go. So things like the involvement of Mike McNeely and our tech team with the tech lab building out the OpenRTB 2.6 spec which allows for ad podding with all of the advantages that brings. We've got some great integrations as well and it just seems to be really flowing. It's very much our fastest growing components in an index in emea.

[B]

Right.

[C]

But it's also a place where standards are really important again as well. Right. Particularly in Europe where you have very, very strict broadcast requirements.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

And like what? I'm not as familiar and things like managing duplication and different legislation about what sort of ads can be shown of day and that sort of thing. Even like that.

[B]

No liquor ads during the day kind of thing.

[C]

Yeah. And high fat sugar salts things are regulated. So even if you're drinking a cup of coffee, if there's milk going into that coffee, that counts as a high fat. You can't show that during children's programs, for example.

[B]

Okay, that's fascinating.

[C]

So I think that's somewhere where standards really kind of come into their own. And I think we're very excited about the work that is being done with the IAB sub working group around live. I think that's the really sort of next frontier for streaming.

[B]

And CTV Live is such a great opportunity.

[C]

Huge opportunity. It is really hard. I mean, if you think about at the moment, the fact there's not even a way to communicate in the bid stream whether something is actually live and being watched for the first time. Or is this like me coming downstairs on a Saturday morning and seeing my husband re watching the rugby World cup final from four years ago? It was streamed. It's a live stream.

[B]

Live stream, right?

[C]

Yes. Of a prior streamed event. But the spikes in traffic in particular are very, very hard for platforms to be able to control.

[B]

So in general, just to wrap up, how are you keeping on top of the latest innovations in Europe and things changing all the time between privacy regulation, new technologies, etc.

[C]

I think we have a brilliant team here who help to keep on top of everything that's going on. And it's really that combination of privacy, of legal, of products all working together, hearing the feedback from our customers, both in terms of our publisher customers, but then also the demand side to make sure we're taking into account what they need. And it's that combination and that collaboration which really make Index a brilliant place to be.

[B]

Wonderful. Well, Katie Jones, SVP of EMEA for Index, thank you for being here. Thank you to the IAB Tech Lab for having us.

[C]

Thank you.