The DMP Prisoner's Dilemma

Data buyers and data sellers can both benefit if they choose to collaborate

Last week I had the opportunity to present at AdExchanger’s San Francisco Programmatic IO Event. The topic was how data strategy can be seen through the lens of the prisoner’s dilemma.

The gist of the talk is that advertisers and publishers often have competing incentives when it comes to leveraging data in their media strategies. Both sides might be better served by finding ways to cooperate with each other, but it is rare to see this done well in the real world.

One proposed solution would be to create an independent third party who would effectively hold the publisher’s and advertiser’s data in “escrow” only to release it as a net new data set for the buy that acts in the best interest of both sides.

While I’m unaware of any such solution that has been widely adopted I’m convinced that as data becomes more prevalent such a solution is needed.