Tatari’s cofounder and CEO Philip Inghelbrecht penned a LinkedIn article lamenting poor transparency across the adtech ecosystem, calling The Trade Desk “the poster child for a massive industry problem.” The company paid to promote a post linking to the article.
“First Dentsu and WPP, now Publicis,” Inghelbrecht wrote in the promoted post nodding not only to Publicis’ audit, but also to Dentsu’s and WPP’s recent decision to exit The Trade Desk’s OpenPath service. “These are not one-off instances; this is an entire industry, ” he added.
Asked about the post, Inghelbrecht told ADWEEK: “I’ve said for years that the open programmatic model is the wrong infrastructure for TV advertising, not because of any one company’s challenges, but because the model itself is structurally misaligned with how TV supply actually works….When content I’ve written speaks to that reality and to what buyers are actively evaluating in the market, we amplify it because it reflects the view we’ve held and acted on since day one. The broader question for the industry is not simply which platform to trust, but whether traditional DSP infrastructure is the right fit for TV in the first place.” (Tatari is not a DSP but a direct-to-publisher TV buying platform.)
Around the same time, Illumin’s chief revenue officer, Brian Garrigan, wrote a lengthy post about the imperative for DSPs to provide advertisers with “accountability” and “transparency” in light of “recent discussions with agencies and brands.” Illumin paid to boost that post just days after the Publicis news broke.
Asked about the post, the company suggested it was part of its routine marketing activities and not a direct response to audits of The Trade Desk.
“Illumin engages in paid and organic promotion from time to time to amplify thought leadership content from company executives and industry partners, consistent with standard B2B marketing practices,” said Steve Hosein, head of investor relations at the company. “These activities are part of our ongoing broader brand and communications strategy and are not tied to any single company or market event. Transparency has long been central to how we build and communicate our platform, and we remain focused on delivering clear, performance-driven solutions for media buyers.”
