Tacoda CEO Responds to Network Transparency Piece

Curt Viebranz from Tacoda also called out Advertising.com's Mollie Spilman, bringing up some interesting points about transparency in a piece on iMedia today. And, unlike me, he did it without saying the word "horseshit," which is admirable. Curt did, however, say the s-word (spyware), which is something I didn't address in my rant. I'm sure Spilman would respond by saying that good ad networks don't have spyware affiliates, but without transparency, how would a media buyer know? Certainly, ad networks in the past have bought inventory on spyware apps in the past, taking some agencies and advertisers by surprise. There's no reason to think a blind buy wouldn't represent a signficant risk of placing ads with spyware companies. A "no spyware" clause in the contract can't protect you if you have no visibility into network affiliates.

Kudos to Curt for responding in a very intelligent way to a very self-serving piece (of horseshit).