AdTech AdTalk

Adam and Gareth

Buy Side Meets Sell Side. Live Q&A with CEOs telling the truth about where Ad Tech is headed.

  1. 5 DAYS AGO

    We Think Ads Are Starting To Work Better

    Adam and Gareth log in to the virtual studio to unpack a week of industry backstabbing, gossip, and the true meaning of "transparency." While the industry argues over who is to blame for the lack of clarity in programmatic, the duo highlights a quote from Hershey's Vinnie Rinaldi, arguing that it's ultimately up to advertisers to demand proof of value rather than just hunting for low CPMs.The guys break down the evolution of the enterprise market, explaining why CFOs don't care about vanity metrics like Video Completion Rates when evaluating a $100 million digital investment. They discuss how brands are starting to apply the same rigorous causal inference models to ad tech that they currently use for their physical supply chains.Plus, a deep dive into the CTV ad server wars (Freewheel vs. Publica vs. SpringServe), a look at OpenAds' rapid pivot from LLM networks to a creative-first DSP, and a spicy prediction on what Netflix should (and probably will) do with its burgeoning ad business.Key Topics:The Transparency Debate: Why agencies and ad tech nerds define "transparency" completely differently.The Value of Digital Media: Why the enterprise market must move past vanity metrics and demand real ROI proof.Supply Chain Logic: How brands are treating ad tech data like logistics data.CTV Ad Serving: The rise of Publica and SpringServe, and why legacy players missed the boat.Netflix's Ad Future: Will they open up to biddable programmatic, or build a walled garden for SMBs?00:00 Intro: Virtual Sets & Industry Gossip03:09 Jay Friedman & Vinnie Rinaldi on Transparency08:37 Why Advertisers Must Demand Value11:38 The Enterprise Wake-Up Call (CFO Scrutiny)16:14 Applying Supply Chain Logic to Ad Tech22:02 The "Agentic" Layer Debate24:31 Why Publishers Still Love Direct Sales28:14 SSPs Becoming DSPs (The Blurring Lines)30:30 The CTV Ad Server Wars (Freewheel vs. SpringServe)32:16 The Rise of Retail Media Ad Servers38:09 Vinnie Rinaldi's Media Playbook42:49 OpenAds Pivots to Creative AI46:16 Why Publishers Feel Betrayed by Programmatic49:06 Speculating on Netflix's Ad Strategy55:05 The Danger of Hiding Publisher Data01:00:45 Closing Thoughts: Models & World Peace

    1hr 2min

  2. 13 MAR

    User IDs and the Powers That Be

    Adam and Gareth return from the spring conference circuit (RampUp and Beeler Basecamp) feeling reflective. Adam unpacks the repressed trauma of the startup grind, while Gareth shares a brutal story of getting stiffed for $350k by an industry "partner" and why selling your company doesn't automatically mean a happy ending.On the industry front, the duo tears into the "weird garbageness" of the Connected TV (CTV) market. They explain how 12-hour ad caches create shady "dark pools" for arbitrage, and why premium publishers are fleeing biddable CTV for guaranteed deals. Adam revisits his classic pitch on why relying on Facebook’s algorithm forces DTC brands to subsidize their own competitors, and Gareth drops his spiciest take of 2026: Yield management no longer exists. Plus, a deep dive into how User IDs are artificially inflating programmatic auction prices, why SSPs are effectively becoming DSPs via the Agentic Realtime Framework (ARTF), and a hilarious look at a new AI app for couples founded by a former mobile ad network CEO.Key Topics:Founder Trauma: The emotional toll of bootstrapping, getting scammed, and surviving corporate acquisitions.The CTV Garbage Fire: Why Connected TV pricing is broken and how long cache windows enable arbitrage.The DTC Trap: How Meta captures the value of direct-to-consumer brands by giving away their audience data.The Death of Yield Management: Gareth argues that modern SSPs don't manage yield; they just manage prebid competition.The ID Illusion: Why bidding based on inventory signals is vastly cheaper than bidding on DSP audience IDs.00:29 Intro & Conference Exhaustion02:08 Repressing Founder Trauma06:01 Life After the Company Sale08:46 The CTV Garbage Fire11:44 CTV Arbitrage & Dark Pools13:45 How Facebook Eats DTC Brands16:18 The Unhinged Agency Hiring Process21:30 The Problem With User IDs28:33 Bid Decoration & ARTF30:14 Postmortem: Yield Management is Dead38:05 Why Open Path Isn't an SSP42:11 SSPs are the New DSPs48:49 AI vs Principal Trading52:32 Ad Tech Meets AI Sex Apps

    57 min

  3. 6 MAR

    Crime Don't Climb

    Adam and Gareth return from their respective conferences (RampUp and Beeler Basecamp) to unpack a massive news week in the ad tech world. The duo dives straight into the "knife fight" of sell-side monetization, unpacking why publishers are getting bullied over ads.txt files and why managing prebid auctions is a brutal, low-margin business.Then, they pivot to the biggest stories of the week: The Trade Desk’s soft guidance, the market’s overreaction, and why everyone needs to stop freaking out about OpenAI having meetings with Jeff Green. Plus, they explore the wild theories behind AppLovin’s explosive stock growth, debate whether "performance" is still a moat in 2026, and roast the increasingly aggressive AI bots sliding into LinkedIn DMs.00:00 Intro: Conference Exhaustion & Beeler Basecamp03:03 The Ads.txt Bullying Problem05:46 The Knife Fight of Publisher Yield Management08:24 Publisher CPMs vs. Buy-Side Costs16:08 TTD Earnings & The Market Overreaction23:44 OpenAI Meets with The Trade Desk28:51 Will OpenAI Compete with Google Search?32:00 Anthropic vs. OpenAI: The Enterprise AI Race48:07 Postmortem: AppLovin's Google Playbook51:30 The "Street Thesis" on AppLovin's Growth58:43 StinkedIn: Aggressive AI Bots & "Negging"

    1hr 6min

  4. 07/11/2025

    There Will Be Blood (ft. Joe Zawadzki, GP, Aperiam Ventures)

    Adam Heimlich and Gareth Glaser kick off the "Post Mortem" segment with the "deadly serious" LinkedIn breakup of Jeff Green and Brian O'Kelly, complete with a surprisingly high-quality, AI-generated musical tribute. The episode's main guest is Joe Zawadzki of Aperiam Ventures, who shares his "typosphere" investment strategy, how he uses AI as a "product collaborator," and the nuances of AdTech coopetition.The group dives deep into the plumbing of AdTech, breaking down the buy-side and sell-side reasons for the messy proliferation of PMPs and Deal IDs. Finally, the crew tackles "Hot Sh*t or Horsesh*t," giving a unanimous "hot" rating to OpenAI, and analyzes the latest earnings reports from The Trade Desk (TTD), Meta, Google, and Amazon.0:00 Intro 0:48 Welcome & Banter 1:51 Postmortem: The LinkedIn Breakup 5:16 Guest: Joe Zawatski 6:20 Joe Zawatski on AI & Investing 10:47 Coopetition & Founder Mindset 19:22 The PMP & Deal ID Problem 36:01 Hot Sh*t or Horsesh*t: OpenAI 46:05 Earnings: The Trade Desk 51:56 Earnings: Meta, Google & Amazon 56:25 Gareth's Startup Idea 57:35 Wrap Up

    59 min

  5. 31/10/2025

    Meet the Moment (ft.Stephanie Layser, AWS)

    In this "Meet the Moment" Halloween episode, hosts Adam Heimlich and Gareth Glaser welcome Stephanie Layser of AWS to unpack the industry-shaking announcement of AWS RTB Fabric.Stephanie explains how "customer obsession" led AWS to build a superstructure for ad tech containerization, designed to slash the massive "egress" costs that have historically plagued real-time bidding. They dive deep into how Fabric’s "modules" will lower the barrier to entry, break down integration queues, and create a more efficient, competitive ecosystem beyond the handful of dominant legacy platforms.The discussion also covers the failure of the 2013 App Nexus marketplace, the future of Prebid Server on Fabric, and how this new infrastructure differs from past attempts like BidSwitch. The show concludes with the debut of a new segment, "Postmortem," analyzing the week's spiciest ad tech social media posts.0:52 Halloween Intro & Sponsor: Pontiac1:47 Why We're Talking About "Fabric"2:32 The "Egress" Cost Problem4:44 The Rise of Containerization6:48 Welcome Stephanie Layser (AWS)7:51 The Origin Story of RTB Fabric11:14 What Are "Modules"?13:50 Failed Precedent: App Nexus Marketplace17:40 The Power of Filtering (for RMNs)22:48 How Fabric Architecture Works27:30 Q&A: Examples of Modules33:51 Hardball: How is this not BidSwitch?37:12 The Future of Prebid on Fabric41:54 Amazon Ads (DSP) as Launch Partner42:55 AWS Clean Rooms vs. AMC50:12 IAB Containerization Standard?51:38 New Segment: "Postmortem"51:58 Post 1: "Is RTB Dying?"57:29 Post 2: Spicy Take on Gartner1:00:40 Post 3: Who Created Bid Duplication?

    1hr 7min

  6. 24/10/2025

    The Agents Are Inside the House

    How do you keep a 20-year-old ad tech company on the cutting edge? You rewrite every single line of code.In this episode, Adam Heimlich and Gareth Glaser are joined by special guest Andrew Casale, founder and CEO of Index Exchange, for a deep dive into the past, present, and future of programmatic infrastructure. Andrew shares the story of starting his company in high school and the massive "bet-the-company" decision to re-architect the entire Index platform in 2020. He explains how moving from a monolith to a microservices architecture cut compute costs in half and enabled the platform to handle massive "live" event spikes in microseconds.The crew then tackles the industry's hottest (and most controversial) buzzword: the "agentic future." Andrew and Gareth break down why they believe this new vision is a massive step backward—arguing it's just "bundle trading" that abandons the hard-won gains of real-time, impression-level decisioning.00:00 Intro01:01 Sponsor Shout-out: Pontiac Intelligence01:33 Welcoming Guest Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange02:22 The Longevity of Index: Starting in High School03:33 Why Ad Tech? The "Economic Engine" of the Internet05:27 What Are the Core Innovations in Ad Tech History?07:18 Gareth: Ad Tech Fundamentals Haven't Changed (It's Still a Placeholder)09:49 Andrew: Why Index Rewrote Every Line of Code in 202012:18 The Bet: Moving from Monolith to Microservices (Golang)14:38 How Re-Architecting Enables "Live" Ad Spikes (World Series)17:17 Innovation: AI-Based Creative & Making TV Approachable for SMBs20:47 The Rise of Containerization (Amazon AWS Fabric)22:04 Attacking the "Cost of the Cloud" in Ad Tech25:19 Debate: The "Agentic Future" (Are Agents Just "Bundle Traders"?)29:33 Andrew's Case Against Agents: Standards Must Follow Proof31:52 Agents vs. Real-Time Decisioning (A Step Backwards?)33:02 Agents Are at an "Intern Level" & "Human in the Loop" Doesn't Scale35:58 The GAM Problem: Ad Servers Can't Handle Millions of Line Items39:44 Gareth: RTB Was Built to Replace This Manual Process42:18 The Buy-Side vs. Sell-Side Tension (Supply Path Optimization)43:09 Andrew on SPO: "Prove It" with A/B Tests45:48 Adding Value (Like Data) Without Adding Fees47:50 Goal: Get More Ad Spend into "Working Media"48:32 News: The AppLovin SEC Investigation & "Co-Reg" Installs54:04 Q&A: How Do You Reverse Bid Duplication?55:03 Gareth & Adam: Use Sell-Side Decisioning (Chalice)59:17 Q&A: Are Direct Buys Better for Publishers?59:53 Gareth: No, It's "Wistful" for Selling "Garbage for 20 Bucks"1:01:42 Wrap Up & Halloween Costumes

    1hr 3min

  7. 17/10/2025

    Mimetic Desire (ft. Jonah Goodhart, CEO of Mobian)

    Hosted by two ad industry renegades, this is where the buy side and sell side drop the jargon and get real.Come with what you always wanted to know about the other side — stay to see what happens when innovators come together. Fridays. Noon ET.

    1hr 5min

  8. 10/10/2025

    Duplicate, Obfuscate, and Sometimes Lie (ft. Jeff Green, CEO of TTD)

    In a can't-miss episode of AdTech AdTalk, hosts Adam Heimlich and Gareth Glaser are joined by a very special guest: Jeff Green, the founder and CEO of The Trade Desk (TTD).Jeff dives deep into the strategy behind The Trade Desk's recent moves, explaining why the ad tech ecosystem has been dominated by a strategy to "Duplicate, Obfuscate, and Sometimes Lie." He provides a masterclass on the history of ad tech, from Google's DFP monopoly and the advent of header bidding to the current state of the industry.This discussion is essential viewing for anyone in digital advertising, as Jeff unpacks the motivation behind OpenAds, The Trade Desk's vision for a fair and efficient open internet, and how it aims to create a healthier ecosystem for publishers, advertisers, and agencies alike.0:00 Intro & Welcoming Jeff Green2:11 Why Jeff Green Chose AdTech AdTalk3:30 What is OpenAds?4:15 The History of Google's Ad Monopoly (DFP)8:07 The "Duplicate, Obfuscate, and Sometimes Lie" Strategy10:14 Google's Tactics & The Pre-bid Spec Change12:11 The Goal of OpenAds: A Fair Auction for a Healthier Ecosystem14:24 Exchange vs. SSP: Flipping Houses vs. Representing Publishers20:22 Why The Trade Desk is Acting Alone24:08 Winning Over Skeptical Publishers27:18 Fifth Avenue vs. Canal Street: Rebalancing the Open Internet28:42 Conspiracy Theory: Is The Trade Desk the New Google?32:59 Can Competitors Bid into OpenAds?38:34 OpenPath: The "Stalking Horse" & "Canary in the Coal Mine" Explained40:07 How The Trade Desk Wins in a Fair Ecosystem42:10 The Future of Competition & Collaboration (TTD & Chalice)45:07 OpenAds for Publishers: What Does the End State Look Like?47:23 Audience Q&A Begins47:47 How Will TTD Compete on Price with Amazon DSP?50:25 Will DSPs Integrate with LLMs like OpenAI?52:30 Agency Transparency, Rebates, and the Future58:10 Jeff Green's Final Thoughts: The Future of the Open Internet is Efficiency1:00:57 The Path Forward: Better Information & More Competition#AdTech #TheTradeDesk #JeffGreen #DigitalAdvertising #Programmatic #OpenInternet #Marketing #Advertising #TTD

    1hr 2min
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About

Buy Side Meets Sell Side. Live Q&A with CEOs telling the truth about where Ad Tech is headed.

Information

  • Creator
    Adam and Gareth
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Adam and Gareth
  • Show Website
    AdTech AdTalk

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