The Big Takeaways from IAB ALM 2023

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As a whole, the advertising industry is in flux. Changes in privacy regulations, changes in technologies, changes in how people consume media—everything is in transition. 

So how do we stay relevant in this everchanging state of the industry? That was the underlying topic of every conversation at the 2023 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting (ALM). Leading experts banded together to discuss the realities of today’s media landscape and how, together, we can rally to problem-solve and meet these new demands. 

KERV’s leadership team jetted off to sunny Florida to mingle with fellow industry leaders and listen to what the experts had to say about the current state of advertising. Here are the big takeaways they gleaned from this year’s IAB ALM.

  • Data clean rooms and the trend towards cleaning up the digital ad supply chain is real
  • Case studies say that context matters when it comes to serving ads
  • Streaming will continue to change the way consumers engage with ads

Clean rooms are sweeping the industry

In the face of stricter privacy laws, the ability for advertisers and publishers to collect, store and analyze shared data has taken a severe hit. And the stronger the push for privacy becomes, the higher walled gardens become.

“Now, you could—and many have—synthesize all these separate data sets to find correlations, but it requires a significant amount of heavy lifting to do. In the long run, it’s not sustainable,” said Marika Roque, COO and Chief Innovation Officer of KERV. 

That’s where data clean rooms come in. And according to experts at IAB ALM, they’re poised to take off.

What’s a data clean room?

Google was one of the first to offer a data clean room. Essentially, it’s where these walled gardens (Google, Facebook, etc.) share aggregated data with advertisers, instead of customer-level. Advertisers then take their own first-party data and see how the data sets match up.

From conversations at the conference, the consensus seems to be that there are three core use cases for data clean rooms:

  • Audience insights and segmentation
  • Audience modeling and activation
  • Measurement and attribution

We’re still in the early stages of adoption with data clean rooms, and there’s a lot of work needed to standardize the practice. Those that optimize towards quality, transparency and simplicity will come out on top.

It’s all about the context

Contextual had its minute of fame back in the day. Then, like the 80s one-hit wonder “Come on Eileen,” it faded. And again, just like 80s one-hit wonder “Come on Eileen,” contextual is seeing a resurgence in popularity. 

In fact, prominent players in publishing shared case studies during IAB ALM 2023 that showed that fewer ads per page—that are contextually targeted—are outperforming ads using third-party audience targeting. 

“Consumers are ad-fatigued. To catch their attention we need to think deeper about the experiences we offer them. By leaning into contextual advertising, advertisers and publishers can provide more relevant and impactful content. It’s a win-win-win,” said Jay Wolff, CRO of KERV.

Give consumers what they want

The way people consume has changed substantially. And we’re not just talking about media (did you know that streaming accounted for 36.9% of US time spent with TV as of September 2022?). A year or so in lockdown means that online shopping saw a jump in adoption—and while people are back in physical stores, the consumer journey will never be the same. 

With things like #tiktokmademebuyit taking off, brands and advertisers are keenly aware that any moment of exposure, even for just 10 seconds, can result in a purchase. 

Have you connected the dots yet? Do you see where we’re headed? We’ll give you a hint: Where else does this “just saw it, gotta have it” feeling emerge for consumers? 

Television

“You’ve had that moment. You’re watching your favorite show on your favorite streaming platform and you pause because you’ve seen a product you just have to buy. With the right technologies in place, the future of shopping is television,” said Gary Mittman, CEO of KERV.

That’s exactly what Jeremi Gorman, President of Netflix Advertising Worldwide pointed to during the conference, stating, “I was watching a Modern Family show and I saw a chandelier, I tried to find it. Wouldn’t it be great if it was a simple process to buy right off the show?”

Eventually, as the industry continues to innovate, consumers will be able to purchase from their television as easily as they do on social platforms, like TikTok. Luckily, there are some good AI/ML-driven image recognition technologies out there that can bridge those gaps. 

“And looking beyond the TV screen, the industry will need to continue to adapt as we prepare for Web 3. The same way we’re innovating now thanks to streaming, we’ll need to be mindful of innovation for the next generation of the internet,” said Mike Fleischman, CFO of KERV

There you go—the big hits from IAB ALM 2023! Do you feel like you were there? We hope so. 
We’re always eager to share the trends and insights we see going on in the industry. If you’d like to stay ahead of the KERV curve with us, contact us today to learn more.

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Rich Kentopp
VP, Product Management

After his career of being a pastor and touring musician, Rich started his technology career almost a decade ago with many of the KERV leadership at Lin Digital. Since then he has been a Product leader at three different scaling startups, learning how to build valuable products with teams who love to work together.

Devin Monds
Head of EMEA Sales

Devin is a dedicated and experienced media sales professional with over 15 years in the digital media space in both North America and EMEA. He most recently headed up the International Team at Adludio, the premier advertising platform for delivering strong creative on mobile devices. Prior to his role at Adludio, Devin worked on the Global Brand Partnerships team at CAA Sports in London, and was International Sales Director at LoopMe where he built out the US West Coast Sales Team from Los Angeles. With a proven track record of new business development and revenue generation, Devin has a multitude of solid relationships with brands and agencies, globally.

He relishes the opportunity to engage with new clients on a daily basis, in order to identify tailored solutions that can drive their desired outcomes. Furthermore, he takes pride in his culinary skills, often experimenting with new recipes and delivering delectable results.






    Brad Quinn
    Senior Vice President, Enterprise & Publisher Partnerships

    Brad Quinn is the Senior Vice President, Enterprise & Publisher Partnerships based out of our NYC office. He has over 15 years of experience across Agencies, Publishers and Tech. At KERV, Brad leads the Partnerships team focused on content providers and distributors. He integrates KERV’s tech capabilities across ads and content to create a real‑time interactive/shoppable experience.

    David Knight
    VP of Engineering

    Before joining KERV in 2018, David Knight spent over 31 years building software products for large corporations like IBM and Schlumberger, 3-person “garage” startups and everything in between. He’s spent the last 15 years discovering and refining the tools, development process, and necessary culture that create great Engineering teams capable of meeting the special demands of technology driven startups.

    Dan Bloomfield
    VP of Technical Ad Operations

    After spending time living in New York and working for NBC Universal’s first digital operations team Daniel moved to Austin in 2009 to further pursue ad tech. During the next decade, he built a career working on interactive video first for Sizmek and then Nexstar. He immediately jumped at the idea to work for KERV and was one of the first to join the company in 2017.

    Creed Pettit
    SVP, Head of Partnerships

    Creed Pettit is an entrepreneurial sales executive offering experience in all aspects of solutions selling, team management, negotiation, organizational leadership, go-to-market strategies and momentum driven models. Prior to joining KERV, Creed served as Media & Entertainment Vertical Sales Leader, Global Business Solutions at TikTok.

    Karen Germ
    VP of Marketing

    Karen Germ is a seasoned marketing and communications professional with a nearly 15‑year history serving in leadership roles across the advertising and technology landscape. Most recently, Karen served as OAAA’s VP of Marketing where she implemented industry leading initiatives to elevate and promote the power of OOH for advertisers, agencies, partners and consumers. 

    Ryan Schoenfeld
    VP of Digital Strategy

    Ryan Schoenfeld’s career started as an intern at a smaller digital media agency while attending the University of Texas. Since then, he has spent over 15 years working in the programmatic advertising/video space.

    Bill Roberson
    VP of Media

    Bill Roberson has worked in the digital space for over 17 years, spanning Media Buying, Ad Operations, Analytics and Optimization, Account Management and now Creative.

    Grant Gorton
    VP of Creative

    Grant has been with KERV as VP of Creative for over 5 years, and has worked as a designer and creative director at agencies and media companies for the last 17 years.

    Michael Fleischman
    CFO

    Michael Fleischman serves as the CFO at KERV Interactive in addition to being an Executive Residence at Progress Partners, a Merchant Investment Bank and Venture Fund. Prior to KERV Interactive, Michael was the CFO and current Board Member at Digital Remedy, a privately-held media execution company supporting agencies, publishers, and brands in navigating the complex adtech landscape of digital success.

    Previous to Digital Remedy, Michael spent 20 years at Cablevision and Rainbow Media Holdings during which he was instrumental in the launch and management of multiple regional sports networks and a number of national cable networks including American Movie Classics, Bravo, The Independent Film Channel as well as the structuring of partnerships with companies including Liberty Media, NBC, Fox/NewsCorp, and MGM. 

    A native of the New York City area, Michael resides with his wife where he enjoys biking, tennis  and spending time with his wife and three adult children.

    Taylor Pate
    CTO

    Taylor Pate serves as CTO at KERV Interactive. Taylor’s experiences in the advertising and creative industry spans 14. He began his career in 2008, working as a designer, animator and art director specializing in the design and production of interactive art. Early in his career, he created 3D character animations and tools for best-selling video game series The Sims while working at Edge of Reality, who developed video games for Nintendo 64, GameCube, PlayStation and Xbox.

    In 2012, Taylor made the shift to work in-house at an online advertising and media services agency, LIN Digital, where he was promoted multiple times in a four-year span. He worked on a variety of online, interactive projects for clients while also developing and automating internal tools and processes. Taylor then spent the next two years working as the director of engineering at multi-platform digital media company HYFN Local, a division of multi-billion-dollar corporation Nexstar Digital LLC.

    Jay Wolff
    CRO

    Jay Wolff serves as Chief Revenue Officer at KERV Interactive, leading global revenue and partnerships, in addition to being the Executive Vice President of 212 NYC, New York’s leading organization for the digital advertising industry. 

    Jay’s expertise in revenue and partner growth in the advertising industry spans 19 years. Most recently, Jay served as CRO of Varick Media, and Chief Growth Officer at Boostr, the first end-to-end SaaS revenue management system for media companies. Previously, as Regional Vice President of SambaTV, Wolff built the revenue organization and east coast market from the ground up. 

    Prior to joining SambaTV, Wolff served as Vice President of agency and brand partnerships at PulsePoint; instrumental to the merger of ContextWeb and Datran Media.

    Jay holds a BS in Marketing from Syracuse University and a Certificate of Management from the University of Chicago. He resides in Rye Brook, NY with his wife and daughter, Olivia. 

    Dan Bienenfeld
    President

    Before co‑founding KERV in 2017, Dan Bienfeld spent the previous 35 years founding six start‑ups in various verticals such as publishing, licensing, med‑tech and ad‑tech. Within these companies, he enjoyed two meaningful exits, which provided him with the ability to continue his passion as an entrepreneur. 

    Aside from bringing together ‘Rock Star Talent,’ his main focus has been raising over $50M, primarily for the startups identified above, as well as creating strategic partnerships. Currently he lives in Westlake Village, CA with his wife and two kids. In addition to his entrepreneurial journey, he also enjoys working out, traveling and an addiction to sushi.

    Gary Mittman
    CEO

    Gary Mittman brings more than 30 years of experience in technology and direct marketing, as well as substantial experience in building startups to exit with creativity and agile development. Before starting KERV, he held numerous top‑ranking leadership roles, including Founder & President of Nami Media (which was acquired by Lin Media/Nexstar Media Group), CEO & Founder of Marina Communications (also acquired), and Vice President of New Business Development, Direct Response at Western International Media (now Initiative Media).

    Gary also brings a decade of experience in the entertainment industry, including managing all booking for New York City’s premiere performance night club, The Ritz, as its Executive Manager and Booking Agent, Executive Producer of the MTV concert series ‘Live At The Ritz’, a Professional Manager at Chappell Music Publishing, and started out as an Assistant to legendary Clive Davis at Arista Records.

    Andi Fenster
    CPO

    Andi Fenster went into the profession of Human Resources 30 years ago, because she believed from a young age that the way you treat your employees is what you get out of them. Her goal as an HR professional has been to help create the type of work environments that inspire folks to want to come to work. She is also a Management/Leadership/Career Coach and her focus is optimizing humans focusing on the mind‑body connection. 

    “We, each, have tremendous potential and the abilities to level‑up if we choose to understand how to get the support we need to get us there. Helping talent thrive and helping them create success is my reason for doing what I do.”

    Marika Roque
    COO & Chief Innovation Officer

    Marika Roque is a top expert in digital media, data and organizational infrastructures recognized with over 15 years of professional leadership experience. Previous to KERV, Marika worked as the vice president of digital operations for Mass2, a division of multi-billion-dollar corporation Nexstar Digital LLC. Prior to Mass2, Marika served as vice president of digital media activation at LIN Digital.

    Marika has held senior-level positions for leading advertising agencies in the Austin, Texas area including Sizmek and GSD&M. She also spent years in Chicago working for FCB Global and Starcom MediaVest Group. While at Starcom, Marika was recognized for her involvement in the creation of the first agency-side programmatic pipelines and what the industry now refers to as an agency trading desk.

    Marika holds a Bachelor’s in Advertising from The University of Texas at Austin, which she achieved while also participating as a former D1 collegiate athlete.