Tesco fights programmatic fears

Brand owners looking to find a solution to growing concerns about programmatic media buying have found an unusual ally in the form of supermarket giant Tesco, whose technology lab is launching a new scheme which it claims will ease fears over transparency and fraud.
Sociomantic Labs, which is owned by Tesco’s data division DunnHumby, has developed an automated mechanism to evaluate supply quality in order to increase campaign performance and brand safety for its advertising clients.
Dubbed Supply Quality Index (SQX), it claims the proprietary algorithm will enable media buyers to grade ad slots on real-time analyses of three measures: transparency, performance and inventory quality.
It works by monitoring abnormal fluctuations in prices, or the qualitative value of an ad impression being auctioned from any given source. In addition, it also measures the actual value of inventory being sold; SQX then assigns each spot a score that media buyers can use to help inform their purchase.
The move is designed to get ad exchanges to act ethically and rethink their business models, putting quality over easy profits. At the same time, publishers will gain an increased awareness about the quality of the exchanges they work with, the firm claims.
In a statement, Sociomantic said: “We will continuously develop SQX in an effort to guarantee access to highest-quality inventory, to improve performance for advertisers and to promote a more transparent industry that will benefit publishers and advertisers alike.”