Redefining control in marketing

Grant Parker at Innovid explores the shift away from closed systems in advertising 

  

After major ad tech provider Oracle Advertising closed their doors to business in 2024, the remaining dominant players moved to solidify their positions. But this growth came at a cost, especially considering some of the biggest ad tech platforms are owned and operated by the largest sellers of advertising inventory. 

 

The result is a closed ecosystem that makes it difficult for brands to track customer interactions across multi-channel campaigns, limiting real-time optimisation and hindering ROI. 

  

While the walled gardens (and their limitations) are unlikely to crumble anytime soon, a mindset shift is clearly underway. Marketers are increasingly calling for transparency and control – things often missing in a closed environment.  

  

These demands fuel growth for independent ad tech providers, showing that advertisers are hungry for a fresh approach. Neutral platforms offer an opportunity to break free from the inefficiencies and conflicts of interest that have long held the industry back.  

  

 

The case for independence and neutrality  

When companies control both the technology that powers advertising and the media inventory itself, there are inherent conflicts of interest. With the same entity dictating bidding, measurement, and optimisation – while also selling media – it becomes difficult to ensure unbiased outcomes. This setup has fostered a lack of transparency, limited healthy competition, and has left brands with very few neutral alternatives.  

  

Legal actions, particularly the U.S. DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Google, have highlighted the critical need for a structural split. Advertisers need to have confidence that their tech providers are prioritising their success, not steering spend toward their own inventory. True independence in ad tech is essential to ensuring fair competition, transparent pricing, and ongoing innovation.  

  

 

Will CTV seize its moment? 

Connected TV (CTV) is a rapidly expanding channel now entering a critical phase of growth. The surge in ad-supported streaming, ongoing media consolidation, and evolving consumer viewing habits have significantly transformed the media landscape. As viewership fragments across streaming, social, and traditional broadcast channels, advertisers face growing challenges in reaching their target audiences effectively and efficiently. 

  

This moment presents a rare opportunity: to build CTV on stronger foundations than digital. Rather than repeat the same mistakes – siloed measurement, walled gardens, and opaque buying practices – the industry can commit to open, transparent, and interoperable infrastructure. That is the only way advertisers can truly retain control over their data, measurement, and execution across platforms. 

  

 

A framework for autonomy and flexibility  

To create a flourishing advertising ecosystem, advertisers must reclaim their autonomy and eliminate any conflicts of interest. This approach is grounded in three essential principles.  

  

First, advertisers should have full ownership over their data and decisions, free from opaque algorithms that prioritise platform interests. They need complete transparency in how their campaigns are executed and measured, ensuring investments work for them rather than media sellers.  

 

Second, they must be free to allocate budgets where it makes the most sense for their business, not where platforms dictate. This flexibility allows them to spend based on performance and strategy, without being restricted by walled gardens.  

 

Third, advertisers require a unified platform for ad delivery, creative personalisation, measurement, and optimisation across CTV, digital, social, and linear channels, free from conflicts of interest. This allows for seamless management of reach, frequency, performance, and audience engagement across screens. 

  

 

The three pillars of success 

Reclaiming autonomy and eliminating conflicts of interest requires more than just strategy. It demands a robust infrastructure founded on three core pillars – independence, intelligence, and innovation – that will define the future of the industry.  

  

Independence ensures that advertisers are no longer beholden to closed systems and can control their data, measurement, and media investments. Intelligence means having real-time, unbiased, and actionable insights to drive better decisions across channels. Innovation requires infrastructure that adapts to change – supporting emerging formats like interactive CTV, AR/VR, and dynamic creative – so advertisers can shape the next era of the industry, rather than simply reacting to it.   

  

Advertisers have been looking for independent alternatives to the closed systems of legacy ad tech. Neutral partners are offering just that: unified platforms for ad serving, personalisation, measurement, and optimisation that return control to the advertiser. 

 

Independent providers deliver scalable, omnichannel solutions that put control back in the hands of advertisers. With mounting regulatory scrutiny on monopolistic practices and the explosive growth of CTV, there’s never been a more important moment to embrace independent alternatives.  

 

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Grant Parker is President of Innovid 

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Supatman