‘Remain Vigilant’: Sam Tomlinson Reflects on Transparency Study

In honour of 10 years of innovative, game-changing research, The Media Leader looks back on three Grand Prix-winning projects that continue to be discussed today, with reflections from the people spearheading them.

First up to feature is PwC, which won the Grand Prix in 2022 for its work looking at transparency in the programmatic supply chain. The company’s Marketing & Media team (now part of MediaSense) worked with ISBA, the Association of Online Publishers, 15 major advertisers, 12 premium publishers, eight media agencies, five demand-side platforms and six supply-side platforms.

The supply chains involved in programmatic advertising are notoriously opaque, so the study aimed to investigate these further to foster greater transparency in order to encourage smarter and more efficient investment in a crucial part of online advertising.

This was the first study in the world to go beyond buy-side data and use data science techniques to match and map impressions and supply chains from advertiser to publisher.

You can read the Media Leader Q&A with Sam Tomlinson in full here.