Just when you thought the media landscape was quieting down,
a new non-profit research and development foundation called the AdLedger
Consortium has been created to further disrupt the buy/sell model, this
time by using blockchain. This consortium is charged with implementing global
technical standards, protocols and solutions for digital media and blockchain.
The group’s founding members consist of a range of companies
from technology, advertising agencies, media sellers and data vendors who are pooling
their expertise and efforts to, according to the press release, “bring
transparency and data security to the ad tech supply chain through blockchain
technology.” According to their press release, founding member companies
include, Canoe, GroupM, Cadent, Meredith, IPG Mediabrands and Neustar, among
others.
Why Apply Blockchain to Digital Media
At a recent Frankfurt Kurnit event, Gordon Platt, President, Gotham Media,
explained that when it comes to media and advertising, "Blockchain
technology will bring media licensing and distribution into the 21st Century,
enabling creators to control access to their work and ensuring that they get
paid for its use."
Eric John,
Deputy Director, Video Center of Excellence at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)
noted that in the areas of fraud and safety, “It takes automation to and
entirely new level.” On the plus side, blockchain offers a failsafe,
verifiable, immutable protocol to permanently link data for use in transactions
and data tracking. Privacy compliance is part of this focus.
But caution
is advised. “Putting a social network on the blockchain is harder than you
think,” warned Benji Rogers, CEO and Co-Founder, Dot Blockchain Media. “If it
links to extremist content, you can never take it down,” he explained. “You
might siphon millions of dollars to the wrong person and can’t turn it off.”
Privacy Compliance Legislation
The concern
about data privacy is being addressed through legislation by the EU called the General
Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) scheduled to go into effect in May
2018. Its implementation is a call to action for companies interested in creating
and supporting a privacy compliant peer-to-peer decentralized network for
media. Through the use of blockchain, companies can address a range of data
issues from transparency to supply chain inefficiency to data security and
portability to reconciliation and payments that comply with the new EU
regulation.
According to Gabe Greenberg, CEO and Co-Founder of GABBCON,
Global Audience Based Buying Conference and Consultancy, “Blockchain has the
ability to help media by illuminating the current opacity in the supply chain
and, by extension, eliminating fraud and moving economic value back to
publishers and advertisers.” And, importantly, it offers a secure,
privacy-compliant ability to transact that protects the user's private data.
AdLedger Proof of Concepts
AdLedger is
working on two different proofs of concept right now. The first is OpenGPDR,
which will cryptographically store data on a data controller’s private
blockchain, creating an audit trail. This will help companies manage the new
privacy rights under the GDPR regulations of the Right to Access and the Right
to be Forgotten.
The second proof
of concept is Campaign Reconciliation which focuses on streamlining the
campaign reconciliation process showing “what a campaign transacted from cradle
to grave would look like on a blockchain,” stated Greenberg. Led by Amichai
Lichtenstein, Director of Product Management at AppNexus, the project includes
the creation of a contained blockchain network with a set number of players
that combines disparate sources of immediate metrics based on measurement KPI’s
tied to campaign delivery. Touted as a single source of truth, the ledger will
ideally showcase blockchain’s ability to reduce the amount of campaign
discrepancies and offer more transparency for buyers and sellers.
Challenges to Implementation
But there are still some challenges to overcome. The most
frequently cited challenge, Greenberg noted, is speed. “The traditional ad tech
landscape has high QPS (queries per second) demands that blockchain today would
struggle to support, but we are confident that the technology will continue to
evolve,” he stated, and added, “Saying that this will remain a challenge forever
is assuming no innovation or iteration -- it's like saying a 5-year-old will
never be tall enough to ride a roller coaster.” Even with this challenge, the
expectation is that there will be increasing traction to embed blockchain in
digital media throughout 2018.
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