The ad tech industry is taking a more coordinated approach to tackling long-standing challenges around transparency and inefficiency.
The IAB Tech Lab has launched a new Programmatic Governance Council (PGC), bringing together buyers, sellers, platforms and ad tech companies to create clearer “rules of the road” for a complex and often fragmented programmatic ecosystem. The council, co-chaired by OMD’s Chief Media Officer Ben Hovaness, is designed to move industry debates out of public disputes and into a structured forum where stakeholders can work through issues collaboratively.
At its core, the initiative aims to address persistent friction points—like transparency, data sharing and supply chain inefficiencies—that have contributed to significant waste in the programmatic market. With billions of dollars lost annually to duplication and unnecessary intermediaries, the group plans to focus first on practical fixes that can deliver measurable improvements.
The PGC will aim to create alignment beyond just technical standards. Previously there wasn’t a place for business leaders to come together and “sort out what we think the rules of the road should be for this ecosystem in terms of how the technical specs are applied,” Hovaness commented.
He added, “The technical component is just one piece of what’s necessary to have a vibrant, effective, efficient, trustworthy and scaled marketplace.”