In this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Ari Paparo, whose new book, Yield, is currently on pre-sale (see my review here). Yield follows Google's growth in the "open web display market", starting with its acquisition of DoubleClick and ending with the company being found guilty of abusing its monopoly power in the "ad tech" antitrust suit brought against it by the Department of Justice.

But Yield also documents the history of modern digital advertising, from the advent of the advertising exchange to cookie targeting to yield management. The book provides a fascinating and engaging chronology of the events that shaped the internet economy, anchored to the characters that participated in them.

In this episode, among other things, Ari and I discuss:

The atmosphere in early 2000s-era New York as programmatic advertising took shape
How and why Facebook's business model diverged from Google's
The flaws in the open web advertising business model and whether the current state of the open web was pre-ordained

Additionally, we discuss Ari's current venture, Marketecture, which is hosting its next event, Marketecture Live, in New York in October. I'll be presenting a keynote at the event, and tickets are currently available for purchase.

Thanks to the sponsors of this week’s episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast:

INCRMNTAL⁠⁠. True attribution measures incrementality, always on.
ContextSDK. ContextSDK uses over 200 smartphone signals to detect a user’s real-world context, allowing apps to deliver perfectly timed push notifications and in-app offers.

Interested in sponsoring the Mobile Dev Memo podcast? Contact ⁠Marketecture⁠.

The Mobile Dev Memo podcast is available on:

Season 6, Episode 3: An insider's account of the genesis of digital advertising (with Ari Paparo)

Mobile Dev Memo Podcast