73: Augustine Fou believes programmatic advertising needs to clean up its act
73: Augustine Fou believes programmatic advertising needs to clean up its act
In this week’s episode of “Marketing Today,” Alan talks with Augustine Fou, a digital marketing thought leader and cybersecurity and ad fraud researcher. In the course of his conversation with Alan, Fou speaks at great length about the damage rampant fraud is causing in the programmatic arena and how critical it is that industry begins to police itself in earnest to clean things up to provide solutions for a healthy, thriving digital marketing landscape. In talking about ad fraud and programmatic as the culprit, Fou says, “It’s way bigger than anyone thinks it is, and that’s because the bad guys — who are the bot makers and the hackers — have really good technology. And their bots are able to avoid or basically get by our defenses, and most of our detection.” But Fou does have hope: “If we can solve for fraud, and if we and eliminate fraud, the digital marketing industry is going to look very, very different a year from now — and years from now.” Highlights from this week’s “Marketing Today” podcast include: Fou talks about his background and the path of his career. (1:16) Fou provides his perspective on rampant fraud in digital programmatic advertising. (4:06) Digital programmatic advertising needs to clean house in order to survive in the long run. (10:09) Where does responsibility lie for industry transparency? (20:55) Fou believes the onus is on the buyers, too. (22:39) The issues with reselling inventory. (28:27) Fou examines the role of media agencies: “Their financial incentives are not aligned with transparency.” (36:16) Accentuate the positive: Fou ends on a high note. (38:42)