How Publishers are Navigating Advertising, AI's Impact on Search Traffic, Biased Incentives of Ad Industry, Future of Publishing | Jared Siegal Founder of Aditude Inc | #104

About the episode:

Join Nataraj as he explores the world of online advertising with Jared Siegal, founder and CEO of Aditude. Discover how programmatic advertising empowers publishers to scale their revenue and the evolving landscape of online monetization. They discuss the roles of different players in the ad industry, the impact of AI on search traffic, and the future of publishing. Gain insights into how Aditude is leveling the playing field for publishers in a Google-dominated world. If you are a publisher, this episode can provide actionable strategies to maximize your ad revenue and maintain control over your content.

What you’ll learn

• Understand the basics of programmatic advertising and how it works in real-time.
• Identify the key players in the ad tech ecosystem, including publishers, ad servers, and exchanges.
• Discover how header bidding and real-time auctions have transformed online advertising.
• Learn about the impact of AI on search engine traffic and content strategies for publishers.
• Explore strategies for publishers to diversify revenue and maintain control in a changing landscape.
• Evaluate the pros and cons of SaaS pricing models versus commission-based models in ad tech.
• Recognize the challenges and opportunities for publishers in a Google-dominated ad market.
• Understand how Aditude helps publishers compete and maximize ad revenue.

About the Guest and Host:

Guest Name: Jared Siegal is the Founder and CEO of Aditude, a programmatic advertising solution that empowers publishers to scale their revenue.

Connect with Guest:

→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-siegal-tude

→ Website: https://www.aditude.com/

Nataraj: Host of the Startup Project podcast, Senior PM at Azure & Investor.

→ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natarajsindam/

→ Twitter: https://x.com/natarajsindam

→ Substack: ⁠https://startupproject.substack.com/⁠

In this episode, we cover

(00:00) Introduction to Jared Siegal and Aditude

(00:51) How Jared got into the ad business

(03:34) Growing revenue and traffic at Answers.com

(04:21) Understanding Google Ad Manager (GAM) and real-time bidding

(07:30) Lay of the land in the ad industry: players and roles

(09:30) Aditude's role in connecting advertisers to publishers

(12:20) How brands place bids and the role of ad exchanges

(13:33) Why choose Aditude over Google for ad management?

(14:35) Creating fair competition across ad platforms

(15:11) Aditude's SaaS pricing model and its advantages

(18:08) Ideal publisher size for using Aditude's services

(19:47) Google's acquisition of DoubleClick and monopoly concerns

(23:46) High-frequency trading analogy in ad tech

(26:20) Transition from consulting to a product company

(32:04) Customer acquisition strategies for Aditude

(33:27) Impact of AI and Chat GPT on publishers and traffic

(36:19) Is AI making the internet better or worse for publishers?

(38:04) How Google and Facebook sustain ad revenue despite traffic shifts

(40:35) Move from search to answer and its impact on traffic sources

(42:15) Challenges for new content creators in the current landscape

(44:08) Trends in publishing: consolidation an