Dennis Estrella

Mastercard launches Commerce Media Network for targeted advertising With the launch, Mastercard joins a growing number of other payment platforms offering commerce media opportunities, including Chase Bank, Klarna and PayPal. As agentic commerce advances, Mastercard is partnering with Microsoft with the aim of enabling Mastercard Commerce Media in Copilot Studio to provide a connected experience whether a human or an AI agent is driving it. In May 2025 Mastercard debuted Agent Pay, a tokenized payment technology that can be integrated into agentic AI platforms to facilitate secure payments. Mastercard Commerce Network is planning to enter new distribution channels, including POS and digital wallets. https://lnkd.in/gT9W2Qvz

43

1 Comment

Attention is the new currency. Get the playbook behind how top agencies are cashing in on conversions: https://lnkd.in/e98CiTyw High-performing teams are breaking down silos, integrating stacks, and aligning brand with performance to drive consistency across the funnel. Download our latest research report to see how top marketers are shaping their conversion strategies: https://lnkd.in/e98CiTyw

47

1 Comment

Great article by Mark Stenberg around the impact of AI Overviews on Publisher's Affiliate businesses and how creators are positioning themselves to leverage this shift. “Creators are the modern publishers,” said David A. Yovanno, CEO of Impact.com. “They’ve become performance marketers, just with different distribution channels.” https://lnkd.in/eWGxi6xv

36

1 Comment

Why Publishers Are Struggling to Unlock Their True Revenue Potential Digital publishing has never been more complex. On paper, programmatic advertising should be the most efficient way for publishers to monetize their inventory. In reality, most are fighting an uphill battle against challenges that quietly erode performance and revenue. 🔎 The core problems publishers face today: Auction complexity: The wrapper runs hundreds of auctions per second, but small inefficiencies in how those auctions are managed can cost publishers thousands of dollars daily. Low-quality requests: When requests aren’t filtered before reaching exchanges, they waste resources and dilute auction value. Ineffective demand sources: Not all traffic or partners are equal. Unoptimized sources—like certain countries, ad sizes, or apps—can hurt fill rates and reduce overall yield. Invalid traffic (IVT): Beyond just lost revenue, IVT damages trust with advertisers and long-term partnerships. Broken supply chains & cookie syncs: Even minor technical misconfigurations can disrupt accurate tracking and bidding, leaving revenue on the table. Manual work overload: Publishers and their AdOps teams spend too much time firefighting technical issues instead of focusing on strategy and growth. The result? Publishers often end up with lower CPMs, higher fraud exposure, and inefficient monetization, even though they’re running the same auctions as their competitors. 🚀 The turning point What the industry needs is not just another optimization tweak, but a way to make the auction itself smarter, cleaner, and more efficient—while reducing the manual workload for publishers. That’s where AI-powered solutions like Bidlift come in: tools designed to sit inside the wrapper, repair inefficiencies automatically, filter out what’s hurting performance, and tailor auction execution for each publisher. By making the ad auction work for publishers rather than against them, these solutions are redefining what efficient monetization looks like.

12

Everyone’s blaming the ad verification vendors. But if you read the latest Adalytics report closely, there’s another culprit hiding in plain sight: SSPs. Bots don’t buy ads. They sell them — or more accurately, they pass them along through the pipes. And many SSPs are still passing fraudulent bid requests into the market. Every day. At scale. Why? Because when your business is about volume, there’s no incentive to filter.  Bad impressions look just as good as good ones when you’re counting QPS and clipping fees. The problem isn’t just bad actors. It’s bad infrastructure. + Intermediaries that flood DSPs with duplicate or low-quality inventory + Resellers that obfuscate the true source of traffic + SSPs that prioritize fill rate over media quality The path to a cleaner, more efficient ecosystem starts before the bid is sent. That means curating only the most viewable, performant, fraud-free impressions — and filtering everything else out. If we want to fix ad fraud, we need to stop treating verification as the last line of defense. We need smarter pipes, not just smarter scans. #Outcomes #Viewability #Curation #Displayads #Performant #Attention #IAB

75

4 Comments

Excited to see Magnite working with India’s Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) to help leading news publishers unlock the full power of their audience data via Magnite Access! Read more here: https://magnite.smh.re/1bk

12

I can’t recall who first said it, but I remember toward the end of 2016 when I first heard the phrase “tech tax.” It was an unflattering term for the hidden costs buried in the programmatic supply chain—costs that no one could fully quantify or attribute. So it was no surprise when the ANA’s 2017 "Seeing Through the Financial Fog" report exposed that 60% of media budgets never make it publishers. The data point igniting a push from buyers and sellers for real adtech fee transparency. Here we are almost a decade later and it feels like Déjà vu all over again. Hearing the calls from across the industry, my colleagues and I at TRUSTX took an unorthodox step to address the issue. We flipped a switch and started bidding gross. A $5 DSP bid through TRUSTX bought $5 of premium inventory. Period. Why? Because transparency shouldn’t be optional. 1 - Eliminating the waterfall of gross-to-net fees makes it clear exactly what you’re paying and to whom. 2 - Bidding gross lets buyers and sellers validate honesty by comparing the input (in our case, DSP bids) to the output (publisher logs). 3 - It's our view that supply-side tech should be funded by publishers. SSPs that extract a fee *before* buying the media means that advertisers are actually paying. I get why its easier to load fees into the supply-chain. But the complexity makes it really hard to know what you're being charged. As my good friend, Bob Liodice has said many times (quoting Dave Berkus), "where there's mystery, there's margin." Indeed.

33

3 Comments

⚡ Is SSDI the New ACA? Markets evolve, but patterns repeat. A decade ago, ACA reshaped the lead world — new compliance rules, explosive demand, and a gold rush of publishers who learned to adapt or vanish. Now the same energy is pulsing through SSDI. Intent-based data. Compliance frameworks. Real-time tracking. Suddenly, the quiet niche is becoming the next frontier. The question isn’t if SSDI will mirror ACA — it’s who will recognize the shift early enough to lead it. Because in every transition, there are only two kinds of players: those who wait for the market to settle… and those who build it. SSDI isn’t just another campaign. It’s a test of precision, compliance, and persistence — the same values that once defined the rise of ACA. History doesn’t repeat itself — but in our industry, it sure loves to rhyme. #SSDI #ACA #LeadGeneration #HealthInsurance #PerformanceMarketing #Compliance #CallCenters #MarketingStrategy #DigitalTransformation #publishers

25

13 Comments

"𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲" That's how Scott Brinker describes the challenge facing marketers today as AI fundamentally reshapes our industry. After mapping the martech landscape from a few hundred tools to over 15,000, Brinker has seen it all. But he's clear: "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴." 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐖𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 While we've been waiting for martech consolidation, the opposite happened. AI hasn't simplified our stack – it's created new complexity. But here's what's different: for the first time, technology is becoming easier to use even as it gets more powerful. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 "𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡'𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐰": 📈 Technology changes exponentially 📉 Businesses change logarithmically Sound familiar? That growing gap between what's possible and what we can actually implement is hitting every marketing team right now. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 The early wins aren't flashy, but they're real: ✅ 𝐁2𝐁 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬: AI agents prep sales materials, research leads, and create personalised outreach the moment leads qualify ✅ 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬: Cold email sequences, ROI calculators, and research briefs that nobody had time for before ✅ 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬: Finally breaking down silos between marketing, sales, and service 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠... Get ready for a fundamental shift. The predictable seat-based pricing we've relied on? It's giving way to consumption and outcome-based models. We'll need to forecast AI usage like IT teams forecast cloud costs. The maths isn't hard, but the mindset shift is significant. 𝐌𝐲 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮 Where are you feeling that "ferry pulling away" tension most acutely? Is it the gap between AI capabilities and your team's ability to implement them? Budget pressures from new pricing models? Or something else entirely? The opportunity is massive, but so is the risk of being left behind. The good news? You don't need to transform everything at once. Start small, align cross-functionally, and begin building the governance frameworks you'll need. Scott Brinker, Editor-in-Chief of chiefmartec and VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. Andrew Birmingham 🕵️‍♂️ at Mi3Australia https://lnkd.in/gptJk3Vs #MarTech #AgenticAI #MarketingStrategy #DigitalTransformation #MarketingOps #AI #MarketingLeadership

19

2 Comments

Publishers, Are You Ready for What’s Next in Ad Tech? The ad monetization landscape is evolving fast—and those who don’t adapt risk falling behind. Here are three trends we’re watching closely: 1. Retail Media is Booming Retail media networks are redefining how ads reach consumers. The data, the proximity to purchase, and the scale? Game-changing. 2. AI is Reshaping Creative Generative AI is no longer a buzzword—it’s becoming the backbone of personalized, high-performing ad creatives. Publishers who embrace this will win on both performance and efficiency. 3. The Cookieless Countdown Continues The clock is ticking. Chrome’s phaseout is pushing everyone to rethink identity, targeting, and measurement. Are you ready? At MonetizeMore, we’re not just keeping up—we’re building the tech and strategies that help publishers thrive in this new world. Let’s make these shifts work for you, not against you. #AdTech #DigitalPublishing #Monetization #AI #RetailMedia #CookielessFuture #ProgrammaticAdvertising #PubOps #PublisherRevenue

32

5 Comments

People think leadership is a title. What they don't realize is that it’s a responsibility shaped by 'who you are' and 'how you show up' for others. Over the years in AdTech and digital media, I’ve come to believe that every leader, no matter the industry, must carry a few core traits that define their journey and impact. Here are the six that matter the most: 1. Vision A leader must be able to see beyond, to imagine what others can’t yet see, and inspire people to move toward that future. 2. The ability to walk unexplored paths Real leadership takes the courage to step into spaces without roadmaps, trusting your conviction and your people. 3. The maturity to manage success, and more importantly, failure And failure tests your character. A leader must it with balance. 4. Courage to take decisions Indecision kills momentum. Leaders make choices, own them, and stand by their teams through the consequences. 5. Nobility in management This is about how you treat people, how you build culture, and how you uplift those you lead. 6. Integrity, in work and in success Because no achievement is fulfilling if it compromises who you are. These are the qualities, the traits to practice every day. Which one of these leadership traits resonates the most with you in your own journey?

30