Observed Signal · Oct 15, 2025 · Interview · Source: Adzine · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Open Web: The Future of Ad Spend and Targeting
The discussion contrasts the Open Web with Walled Gardens, arguing that Google, Meta, and Amazon control about half of German ad spend while the Open Web offers simplicity, scalability, performance, and quality through programmatic advertising. With the end of third-party cookies, addressability now relies on deterministic identifiers and publisher-provided audiences, supported by multi-device strategies and technologies like FedCM. Publishers gain a growing role in audience offerings via DSPs, Data Marketplaces, and SSPs, aided by AI and ML for targeting. Standardization remains essential, driven by privacy and addressability frameworks (DSGVO, TDDDG, TCF), while new AI-related challenges prompt discussion around model data usage and monetization (e.g., MCP). Advertisers should engage in standards-building to sustain a pluralistic media landscape. The OVK Universe highlights about 1,000 high-quality sites that enable selective targeting.
In-depth discussion on open web, addressability, standardization, and AI implications for the Open Web; industry-wide impact
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Google, Meta and Amazon secure about half of German ad spend.
- Programmatic advertising emerged as the open Web's response to scaling beyond Walled Gardens.
- End of third-party cookies has driven addressability via deterministic IDs and publisher-provided audiences (plus FedCM).
- OVK Universe comprises around 1,000 high-quality sites that can be selectively targeted.
- DSGVO and TDDDG have spurred standards like the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF); MCP is an emerging AI-related standard concept.
Connected Companies & Entities
6 Entities mappedRelated Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
Open Web Standards: Key to AdTech's 2026 Growth
The 2025 German digital advertising landscape showed growth largely driven by Walled Gardens, while the Open Web lagged. OVK/BVDW forecast about 8.8% growth for the online display and video market in 2025, but the Open Web’s gains were uneven as large media groups faced cautious ad budgets and declines, with TV broadcasters among those seeing reduced ad spend. Looking to 2026, AI is presented as a foundational capability in AdTech, with emphasis on model quality, transparency of decision logic, and actionable integration into strategy. Attention is identified as the key currency, with expectations for a unified Attention-Quality Score and cross-industry collaboration (IAB and MRC), alongside OWM’s push for independent, auditable, and neutral measurement to steer spend back toward the Open Web. Targeting and data quality are set to improve through platform-agnostic IDs, while market consolidation favors strong technology players. Video/CTV remains central, with Europe’s CTV ad-views up 31% in H1 2025 (Freewheel). Nestlé Deutschland’s Maike Abel highlights open-web standards and brand safety.
Open Web's Path: Embrace Standards for Growth
Ahead of ADZINE CONNECT 2026, industry leaders discussed how the Open Web can remain competitive with Walled Gardens by leveraging its strengths—transparency, contextual quality and cross-publisher control—while addressing technical and measurement gaps. Speakers argued Open RTB works well for single-impression programmatic trading but does not cover many premium, private-deal and direct-booking use cases. Measurement (notably attention metrics and cross-platform frequency capping) and fragmented standards for contextual targeting, identity and creatives are cited as key obstacles. Proposed remedies included new abstraction layers around campaign goals, allowing external measurement in closed platforms, adoption of deterministic identity where applicable, and protocols such as the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) and agentic systems to reduce complexity.
SPUR launches AI content tracking standard, invites OpenAI, Google to board
A coalition of media organizations including the Guardian, Financial Times, BBC, Sky, and the AP has released a new standard for tracking how AI tools use publishers' content. The Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) initiative published its content telemetry standard on October 2, 2026. The standard creates a process to track and report when content is retrieved, grounded, cited, presented, and engaged with by AI tools, and report usage back to publishers. SPUR has invited OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and Microsoft to join its new AI Licensing Advisory Board to help shape implementation. The board aims to ensure tracking rules work for both publishers and AI companies. SPUR is also developing agent tooling for AI companies to adopt the standard, supporting transparent reporting and licensing. Pilot programs with tech and AI companies are planned.
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