In our latest MadTech Sketch, Ciaran O'Kane draws out the pipes for data distribution...

The recent acquisition of Lotame by Publicis raised a few eyebrows in ad tech circles. I'm not sure why, as it was a perfectly logical piece of M&A. Publicis was getting increasing pushback on the effectiveness of Epsilon outside the US and UK. With Lotame’s global footprint, Publicis' data story becomes an even stronger selling point for brands.  

In this week’s sketch, I lay out the importance of these “data distribution” companies in terms of scaling data across walled gardens and the open web.  

From data enrichment to onboarding, the plumbing for data-driven buying is a critical piece of the ecosystem. Here, we focus on four vendors: LiveRamp (the leading indie ad tech company), Lotame (now the agency leader), Eyeota (with a regional footprint), and digitalAudience (with a European focus). 

Campaign activation is the primary reason to use those vendors mentioned above. But there is also a data sales angle for publishers and data companies, making segments available for buyers in DSPs and in (the ever-growing) sell-side marketplaces.    

The Infosum purchase by WPP is an interesting counterpoint here. AI plus clean room is a tasty narrative, no doubt.  But in reality, clean rooms are a feature, not one widely used at scale. There is a strong CTV use case though, and WPP could make it work.

Let the shouting match ensue...

• Check out more on this subject in our Data Distribution hub, in association with digitalAudience