In this MadTech Sketch, Ciaran O'Kane outlines fundamental changes across the ad tech stack, amounting to the unbundling of core elements across the supply chain.

The dog days of Summer are over. European ad tech emerges from its slumber, readying itself for Q4. ATS London kicks off this frenetic media buying season. ExchangeWire has been doing some bespoke sketches for the event - here, we focus on “the unbundling of ad tech”. There have been numerous new ad tech startups in the signal, algorithmic, and infrastructure categories that have recently emerged, offering innovative capabilities that have often been bundled into bigger buying platforms. What we are seeing is a demarcation in ad tech specialism - not feature companies, but real specialists.

This is not a broadside against DSPs. They have their place. Areas like signal and algorithm-based trading are exciting new fields - all made possible by the scaled infrastructure being built by companies like Index Exchange. We will be discussing the evolution of cloud computing and how ad tech’s “AWS moment” is unlocking value and giving rise to new solutions in the ecosystem. Two companies to note in this new “unbundled” world are Nodals (a super signal aggregator of publisher data) and Bedrock Platform (a new breed of infrastructure layer) - both will be speaking at ATS London. This, good ad tech people, is probably the most cutting-edge conference we have put together since ATS started nearly 15 years ago. Look forward to seeing you there.

Last-minute tickets for ATS London 2025, held at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre on 9th September, are available to purchase here.

(High-quality PDF download)