Assessing The ISBA/PwC Programmatic Supply Chain Study – An Essence Report

This month, ISBA & PwC released the findings of a comprehensive and forensic study of the programmatic supply chain for 15 advertisers and 12 Publishers in the UK. Seven of the 15 advertisers included in the study were GroupM agencies and Essence participated through our client, BT. The intention was to provide a more transparent view of the UK programmatic supply chain, for the benefit of all participants and the industry as a whole. The key findings are that 51% of advertiser spend reaches the end publisher, 15% of the spend is unaccounted for (labelled the ‘unknown delta’) and that there is a great need for improvements in access to and standardisation of data across ad tech vendors.

Essence believes this is an incredibly important report that will bring some collective focus across the industry on further improving the transparency and effectiveness of programmatic. For advertisers to achieve the best value from their investments and for publishers to get a fair deal, it is vital that we understand the composition of the ‘unknown delta’, assess its value and reinvest any wasted spend effectively. Over the coming weeks and months, we plan to work on these priorities in collaboration with industry wide work streams and our own individual investigations with various tech partners and clients.

Read and download the full report on Essence’s website here.