Blockchain-based systems have the potential to transform the advertising supply chain through its unique properties. Blockchain can improve efficiency, and trust and to some extent, privacy across the advertising industry. Trust is the initial area of focus for blockchain and many use cases inside and outside of advertising consist of replacing bodies like institutions, firms and even jobs to build trust. Traditionally trust is created through reputation, experience and achieving scale. But there is a difference with blockchain i.e, it doesn't rely on reputation, experience or credentials but blockchain delivers security, transparency and immutability inherently.

1. B L O C K C H A I N I N
D I G I T A L
A D V E R T I S I N G
I N D U S T R Y
N O V . 2 0 1 9
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U

2. Blockchain-based systems have the potential to transform the advertising supply
chain through its unique properties. Blockchain can improve efficiency, and trust and
to some extent, privacy across the advertising industry.
Trust is the initial area of focus for blockchain and many use cases inside and outside
of advertising consist of replacing bodies like institutions, firms and even jobs to
build trust. Traditionally trust is created through reputation, experience and
achieving scale. But there is a difference with blockchain i.e, it doesn't rely on
reputation, experience or credentials but blockchain delivers security, transparency
and immutability inherently.
Blockchain provides an opportunity to rethink several key elements of the advertising
value chain. Let's take a look at the use cases and limitations of blockchain in the
advertising industry
O V E R V I E W
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U

3. Outlining the following advertising blockchain usecases
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
U S E C A S E S
C o r e U s e C a s e s f o r
A d v e r t i s e r s
Ad Inventory Requisitions
Ad Verification
Content Collaboration
Digital Asset Management
Identity Management
Media Buy Management
Royalties Contract Management
Volume Discount Management
I d e n t i t y M a n a g e m e n t
Using the above mentioned building blocks, the blockchain technology provides
an opportunity to rethink several key elements of the advertising value chain
Making use of cryptographic techniques present in the blockchain
system to understand the identity of the consumer and their
buying behaviors across a multitude of media platforms, content
providers, advertisers, and devices while being privacy-compliant is
surely possible. Without exposing personal data to network peers,
multiple parties could securely match identities against a
marketer's target audience. This allows the marketer to strategize
his/her audience based planning but with less risk exposure to
consumer privacy laws.
Via blockchain, customer preferences previously recorded on
cookies located on the user's machine could be accessed and
saved.

4. B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
U S E C A S E S
C o r e U s e C a s e s f o r
A d v e r t i s e r s
V e r i f i c a t i o n , V a l i d a t i o n &
M e a s u r e m e n t
Ad deliveries could be verified through digital signatures, a
distributed ledger and an application-based criteria to make
tampering infeasible and align behaviours. Blockchain could
eliminate the bodies to rely on third party based services that
validate transaction authenticity for billing and accounting. This
new technology if implemented to verification could reduce costs
and create efficiency.
V a l u e T r a n s f e r
To appropriately transfer value throughout the supply chain -
digital signatures, software encoded rules and parameters, an
immutable ledger of transactions records - could be leveraged to
provide the building blocks required for smart contracts.
Smart contracts work similarly like paper IOs or automated
workflow systems. Smart contracts could be used for payment
collection and regulate the work structure through contract
parameters.
Smart contracts work similarly to traditional contracts and this will help to simplify
and I automate supply chain and cut out the need for third party intermediaries.

5. No full blockchain solution has yet launched for general availability - its
important application of this technology in the ads industry is still new.
Lets have a look at the limitations:
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
L I M I T A T I O N S
It is still
very early
to assume
that
blockchain
may solve
issues
related to
marketpla
ce and
really
provide a
value.
Blockchain
may not be
one's best
choice if
the person
is racing
for speed.
C h a l l e n g e s i n t h e A d
I n d u s t r y
L i m i t a t i o n s f r o m t h e T e c h n o l o g y s i d e
It is still very early to assume that blockchain may solve issues related to
the marketplace and provide real-value. Blockchain may not be one's best
choice if the person is racing for speed. With slower processing time,
blockchain faces speed-related challenges. The current technology may
still be used for record-keeping but it would be a perfect fit for transaction
tracking, that too individual-impression level
C o s t s r e l a t e d t o I n f r a s t r u c t u r e
Companies are still not 'friendly' because the current
applications/solutions are not fully viable and ready for enterprise level
use. As the technology requires all the bodies in the supply chain to
participate, the major problem blockchain currently face is related to the
scaling of operations. A true blockchain solution may result to be
expensive as it will need standard implementation and maintenance, this
means that the participants of the network will have to beat the costs -
resulting in lack of participation as of now. Keeping in mind that the
current operations-structure of the industry is already very expensive,
adding extra blockchain fee may not be viable for advertisers.

6. No full blockchain solution has yet launched for general availability - its
important application of this technology in the ads industry is still new.
Lets have a look at the limitations:
B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
L I M I T A T I O N S
The
future
goal of
blockchai
n is to
maintain
a ledger
of bid
stream
level
data,
which
would
include
all
transacti
ons won
and loss.
C h a l l e n g e s i n t h e A d
I n d u s t r y
D a t a M a n a g e m e n t
Fraud free and brand safe inventory is the #1 priority for the market.
Brands, agencies, vendors and publishers must come up with a plan -
before implementing blockchain technology - to take action on the influx
of data unveiled by the solution. The future goal of blockchain is to
maintain a ledger of bid stream level data, which would include all
transactions won and loss.
B l o c k c h a i n R e a l i z a t i o n
There is a need for education on the existence and benefits of the
blockchain technology. Most of the participants of the industry are yet to
realize the benefits of blockchain. Blockchain solutions will lack scale and
adoption until case studies on the industry giants show how the leaders
are leveraging blockchain to strategize its branding and overall business.
It will require some time for the challenges to be eliminated and moving
into enterprise-level applications may take a couple of years more.

7. B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
U S E C A S E S
PrivacyChai
n was
designed to
allow
companies
to more
easily
manage
and control
how they
handle and
share
users’
personal
data, while
providing
users
control over
opt-in and
opt-out.
P R I V A C Y C H A I N
Companies still face problems to systematize the managing and
controlling of their handling and sharing mechanism of user's personal
data. PrivacyChain was designed to allow companies to manage these
mechanisms efficiently. Companies collect or update hundreds of
millions of consents a year - data ecosystem is fragmented, it must be
made sure that all the participants of a data supply chain have the most
current consents.
The PrivacyChain ensures its participants have a single, consistent, up-to-
date view to consumers opt-ins or opt-outs to help publishers and
advertisers build more trusting relationships with their customers.
PrivacyChain helps the companies to speed and simplify deployment for
all their partners in the data supply chain, this is done through
PrivacyChain's standardised consent management. And because of this
consistency and ease of deployment it simplifies companies’ ability to
prove that they are complying with numerous consumer privacy
regulations worldwide, including(GDPR, the European Privacy Directive
and the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as a company’s own
privacy policies.
Consent Collection: Data Collector captures consent when an individual’s personal data and
opt-in preference is being collected.
Data Movement Tracking: advertiser tracks audience data movement when personal data is
transferred to a third party.
Data Movement Tracking: third party tracks audience data movement when data is transferred
to another third party. All third parties. delete audience data post campaign
Consent Collection: Data Seller captures individual’s consent when individual’s personal data is
being collected
Data Movement Tracking: Data Seller tracks data movement when individual’s data is sold and
transferred to third party.
Individual Inquiry: individual inquires consent status and data movement.
Data Propagation: individual manages his/her consent and updated consent propagates to
downstream entities.
Auditing: regulator auditing Data Collector and Data Processor’s privacy practice.
External Governance and Monitoring: regulatory authority and consumer advocacy group
monitors the integrity of the consortium.

8. B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
U S E C A S E S
The
blockchai
n ledger
will have
the
identify,
financial
stake
data and
location
of all the
involved
party in
the
digital
advertisin
g
transacti
on
U N I L E V E R A N D I B M
To track the digital and buying ecosystem via blockchain, a pilot tracking
program has been launched by Unilever. The technology enhances the
trust in the supply chain and enables increased efficiency by reducing
costs and fraud in these two key aspects; Fraud Transparency and Supply
Chain Transparency.
Financial transparency is an important key aspect that reduces
discrepancies by tracking a media buy from a media insertion order
through delivery.
Supply chain transparency tracks an impression’s delivery path from bid
to fulfilment, including each vendor, charge and impact on performance.
This system by Unilever and IBM is currently under development. With this
system not only issues with buyer verification will be eliminated but also
will help the participants involved to outline and visualize every important
part of their advertising strategy. The blockchain ledger will have the
identify, financial stake data and location of all the involved party in the
digital advertising transaction.
The system will be transparent, so that the advertisers and the ad
platforms will have the correct data and insights about the performance
of their campaigns. They will be aware of how efficiently their program is
working. The brand managers will also be aware of the parties involved in
the process.

9. B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
U S E C A S E S
a d C h a i n A u d i t s b y
M e t a X
adChain Audits aims to detect and neutralise the impacts of fraud in digital
advertising campaigns. By measuring the validity and authenticity of each
supporting channel, adChain Audits ensures marketers reach intended audiences
and optimise their supply chain.
adChain Audits gives clients the ability to cement a historical record of their
campaign data on the blockchain. This allows them to demonstrate that their
campaign data hasn’t been altered or manipulated in any way since its original
flight dates and to check the validity of the campaign data on the blockchain, in
real time, to ensure it has not been tampered with.

10. B L A C K C H A I N .
G U R U
C O N C L U S I O N
As said earlier, blockchain is still in its infancy phase and still under development -
here are some important point that needs to be addressed systematically.
- Web 3.0 should have a data strategy in place as more than 70% of the
information will be scattered all around the web.
- We need to Align on selecting the consensus protocol best suited for the
advertising industry. PoW or PoS protocols need to be discussed before
implementing. Management of nodes needs to be outlined. The alliance between
participants forming the network must be discussed.