Why Ad Tech Is Splitting Into Two Incompatible Businesses
Source: Madison & Wall
The advertising stack is bifurcating into two operating models—pooled, algorithmic decisioning for mid-market brands versus bespoke, account-team-driven service for enterprise clients—because each segment has opposite requirements for speed, customization, and margin. This creates an immediate problem for ad platforms and agencies trying to serve both: the infrastructure, talent, and P&L structures that optimize one tier actively cannibalize the other, forcing real choices about which customer base each vendor prioritizes. Winners will be specialists who accept the operational trade-offs required to dominate one tier while exiting the other, not generalists claiming to serve both.