The future of publishing is being rewritten by algorithms. The shift to automated media buying promised efficiency, but it has also drained trust, value, and control from the open web. I believe the model can work—if publishers and buyers change their habits. Otherwise, automation will keep starving quality work while fueling clickbait and waste.
The automation of buying media has created significant challenges and opportunities in the publishing landscape.
The Core Problem—and the Opening
Here’s the truth I can’t ignore: automation tilted the market away from quality and toward scale at any cost. Cheap impressions win. Great reporting loses. Fraud thrives in the shadows.
But the same tools that cut rates can also rebuild value. Private deals, smarter targeting, and attention-based metrics can help good publishers win again. Automation is not the enemy; indifference is.
What Automation Broke
Programmatic pipes made buying easier, but they also blurred the line between real audiences and junk. That lowered prices and trust.
- Intermediaries take a big slice before a dollar reaches the newsroom.
- Opaque auctions reward volume over substance.
- Made-for-advertising sites soak up budgets with low-quality clicks.
- Brand safety tools often block good journalism while letting fluff pass.
- Third-party cookies trained buyers to chase users, not contexts.
Each of these forces pushes money away from original work and toward disposable pages.
What Automation Enables—If Used Well
There’s a better way hidden in the same pipes. Precision can serve quality, not just quantity. The fix is not nostalgia. It’s control.
- Direct and private marketplace deals reward trust and reduce waste.
- First-party data helps match messages to real interests, not random IDs.
- Contextual signals and attention metrics value time spent, not just views.
- Simpler supply paths cut fees and reveal who gets paid.
These aren’t buzzwords. They are levers publishers can pull now.
Answering the Pushback
Some argue that automation boosted reach and gave small outlets a seat at the table. That’s true—and worth keeping. Scale matters for discovery. But scale without verification invites waste. Another claim says budgets follow performance. Yet many “performance” signals are built on cheap clicks, not outcomes. If attention and context are priced in, the math changes fast.
How Publishers Should Respond
If we want journalism and strong brands to survive, we need to stop treating programmatic as a take-it-or-leave-it machine. Treat it like a market you can shape.
- Cut supply paths and demand transparency from every vendor.
- Package premium inventory with clear signals: context, viewability, attention, and fraud checks.
- Invest in first-party data with strict consent and real value for readers.
- Build direct deals that use automation for delivery, not for race-to-the-bottom pricing.
- Measure beyond clicks—opt for time, repeat visits, and true conversions.
These steps shift leverage back to the people doing the work.
What Buyers Must Change
Brands and agencies hold the other half of the fix. If they keep chasing the lowest CPM, they will keep getting the lowest value.
Pay for attention, context, and trust. Push for ads.txt and supply-path clarity. Support news and niche outlets that reach real communities. Tie spend to outcomes that matter, not vanity metrics.
The Stakes
This is not just about ad tech. It’s about whether we want an internet built on substance or on tricks. Automation can still help great work find its audience. But it needs guardrails set by people who care about more than the cheapest click.
My view is simple: fix the incentives and the system will heal. Keep rewarding junk, and junk will win.
Act Now
Publishers: simplify your pipes, prove your value, and sell it with confidence. Buyers: shift budgets to verified, quality supply and demand proof of human attention. Readers: support outlets that respect your time and your data.
If we do this, automation becomes a tool—not a trap. If we don’t, the web we rely on will keep getting thinner, louder, and less worth our time.
