In a time when trust, transparency and relevance dominate industry discourse, the definition and direction of programmatic advertising are undergoing a long-overdue reset. That was the dominant theme running through a roundtable hosted by New Digital Age’s Editor, Justin Pearse, at Cannes.
Participants included: Eve Hughes, Chief Marketing Officer at Teal and Fractional CMO at Audience Store; Freddie Turner, Managing Director EMEA at Chalice; Matt Nash, Senior Vice President EMEA at Pixability; Sara Vincent, Managing Director UK at Utiq; Fern Potter, Senior Vice President Strategy and Growth at Multilocal; Matt Barash, Chief Commercial Officer at Nova; James Florence, Head of Advertising Technology at Immediate; Sam Wilson, Vice President, Streaming Platform EMEA at Magnite; and Lou Paskalis, CEO and Founder of AJL Advisory LLC.
The evolution of programmatic: from opportunism to intentionality
One of the strongest refrains throughout the session was that programmatic, once seen as the pinnacle of advertising innovation, has strayed far from its original promise.
Matt Barash set the tone early, describing programmatic’s evolution from an opportunistic tool to something that must now be far more deliberate. “It began as a biddable, opportunistic ecosystem,” he said. “But now it’s shifting toward quality, toward premium, and toward incentives aligned with workflow. That, to me, is how we should define programmatic today.”
Lou Paskalis reinforced that sentiment, pointing to a major issue in current usage: the reliance on flawed metrics. “We are using the wrong KPIs,” he warned. “The system is trained to optimise for CPM or CTR, but these are easily gamed. We need to move to real business outcomes, like customer acquisition cost.”
Programmatic’s PR problem
Freddie Turner highlighted the branding issue that programmatic faces, especially at the client level. “Programmatic has been a race to the bottom but it’s evolving into something far more powerful, a channel for intelligent, data-informed decisioning across every environment. When reframed that way, it becomes not just efficient, but genuinely strategic’’
Sam Wilson added nuance from the CTV side, stating that in that environment, programmatic has matured. “In CTV, 90+% of deals are transacted as programmatic guaranteed or PMP,” he explained.
Client engagement: the critical missing link
Several speakers pointed to the lack of client engagement as a central problem. “Too many advertisers have outsourced the logic to agencies,” said Paskalis. “Without direct engagement, the default path is toward low-quality inventory and poor outcomes.”
Fern Potter agreed, adding that a wave of disintermediation had eroded programmatic’s purpose. “It was always supposed to be about bridging audiences and delivering better brand experiences,” she said. “But layers of tech and commercial rigidity have made it about scale and price instead.”
The forgotten power of context
James Florence from Immediate offered an optimistic view of where things might go next, pointing to the renewed focus on context as a differentiator.
“We’ve become obsessed with synthetic KPIs that ignore where the ad actually appears,” he said. “But tools like curated marketplaces and page-level targeting are bringing premium back.”
His hope, echoed by others, was that the rise of curation and better tooling would allow publishers to reclaim some of the value that’s been lost to the open market and platforms.
The trust gap between brands and agencies
Much of the debate centred on the agency model and whether it still serves the interests of marketers. As Paskalis put it, “There used to be a fiduciary bond between brand and agency. Now that trust is gone. Agencies are no longer seen as advocates.”
Matt Nash suggested the issue runs deeper. “Clients drove agencies to this point,” he said. “When you pay for speed and volume over strategy, the system is incentivised to prioritise volume metrics and forget about value.”
Fixing it: metrics, measurement and maturity
So how do we fix it? Sara Vincent urged the industry to focus less on how media is bought and more on what it’s meant to achieve. “Brands shouldn’t care whether it’s programmatic or direct,” she said. “They should ask: what’s the best way to reach my audience and deliver results?”
Eve Hughes added that we also need to better define who within the brand needs to be influenced. “Heads of digital already get this stuff,” she said. “But what about the CEO or CFO? Who’s educating them? And how do we make sure we’re giving them the right insights to influence decision-making?”
Conclusion: a tipping point in sight
Despite the challenges, there was genuine optimism in the room. Whether it’s the rise of curation, the growing use of first-party data, or brands taking more ownership of their media and data strategies, the industry is undeniably maturing.
“Change starts with one,” said Turner. ““It only takes one bold move to shift the landscape. When a brand embraces a smarter, outcome-led model and sees real success, it lights the path for others and accelerates progress for everyone.”.
The key to programmatic’s future? A focus on outcomes, a revival of trust, and a redefinition of value — not in terms of impressions bought, but in impact delivered.
