Programmatic advertising has transformed the digital landscape through automation and increasingly sophisticated algorithms. Yet challenges such as lack of transparency, fraud, and supply chain complexity persist. For advertisers and publishers alike, transparency is critical—not only to reduce wasted spend, but also to build long-term trust.
According to the ANA, only 36 cents of every advertising dollar actually reaches the consumer (ANA Marketing Excellence), underlining how opacity still plagues the programmatic ecosystem.
While programmatic promises efficiency through real-time bidding (RTB) and advanced targeting, systemic issues like opaque supply chains, fraud, and privacy risks remain major barriers to a transparent and responsible ad market.
The Key Challenges
1. An Opaque Supply Chain
The programmatic supply chain involves numerous intermediaries—DSPs, SSPs, agencies, data providers—making it difficult for advertisers to track where budgets actually go.
Transaction fees, hidden mark-ups, and wasted impressions on low-quality sites or fraudulent traffic can drain ad dollars, leaving fewer funds for meaningful impressions.
2. Rising Fraud Tactics
Fraudulent traffic, bots, and domain spoofing continue to waste ad spend while compromising campaign integrity. Added to this, brand safety issues—ads appearing on low-quality or MFA (Made for Advertising) sites—further erode trust and campaign effectiveness.
3. Privacy Pressures
The phase-out of third-party cookies, coupled with privacy laws like GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California, is forcing advertisers to find new ways to target and measure audiences—without violating privacy expectations.
4. Lack of Standards
Although organizations like the IAB are pushing for standards in data quality, viewability, fraud detection, and measurement, adoption remains inconsistent across the industry. This unevenness sustains opacity and limits advertisers’ ability to fully assess campaign performance.
Solutions to Increase Transparency
1. Adopt Programmatic Curation
Establish clear criteria for inventory quality. Curated marketplaces and standardized practices give advertisers a more accurate view of performance and inventory value.
2. Leverage Verification Partnerships
Work with third-party verification providers and industry bodies (e.g., GARM, TAG) and implement tools like Ads.txt. This reduces fraud risk and ensures campaigns run in safe, verified environments.
3. Demand Better Access to Campaign Data
Access to log-level data and transparent pricing is essential. Granular insights into each impression’s performance help advertisers see exactly where spend is effective—and adjust strategies in real time.
4. Invest in Education and Expertise
Programmatic is complex. Advertisers and agencies must build strong expertise in platforms, algorithms, and data to make informed decisions and maximize performance.
Towards a More Responsible Ecosystem
Unlocking programmatic’s full potential requires tackling transparency head-on. By simplifying the supply chain, standardizing practices, investing in verification, and upskilling teams, advertisers can reduce waste, protect their investments, and improve campaign outcomes.
Transparency is not optional—it’s a collective responsibility. When industry players adopt clear practices and advanced tools, advertisers not only improve performance but also strengthen trust, accountability, and brand safety.
At the end of the day, the goal is a more efficient, fair, and responsible digital advertising ecosystem—one where every dollar is traceable, every impression counts, and every campaign builds value.
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