52%.
That’s the chunk of Google search referrals UK publishers have watched evaporate since AI summaries started gobbling queries. Brutal, right?
And here’s Danny Spears, COO of publisher alliance Ozone, calling it a “perfect storm” on AdExchanger Talks—macro squeezes, signal apocalypse, traffic nosedive, all slamming at once. Publishers aren’t just whining; they’re wiring up defenses.
Ozone? Born in 2018 from big UK names like The Guardian and The Telegraph. Back then, AI wasn’t the boogeyman, but margins were already getting shredded. The pitch: pool inventory and data, muscle up against platforms and these so-called corrosive intermediaries—middlemen whose whole game is siphoning publisher cash into their own pockets.
“These companies, he argues, ‘do a good job of taking money from publishers and moving it into the pockets of intermediaries through various schemes to reward their customers.’ ‘It’d be naive or even irresponsible for us to dance around that,’ he adds.”
Spears doesn’t mince words. Love it. After 20 years watching Valley hype machines churn out buzzword salads, it’s refreshing to hear someone spit facts: who’s actually pocketing the dough here?
Can Publishers Actually Escape the Supply Chain Trap?
Short answer? Maybe. But don’t hold your breath. Large players like Daily Mail—Ozone member—are “premiumizing” their UX, spinning up creator programs to chase audiences off-platform. Smart. Smaller fry like Our Media ditched Google SEO addiction, pivoted to Apple News, now they’re a top content feeder there.
These moves scream control what you can: distribution choices, partner picks. Can’t fix the whole broken programmatic chain? Fine. Starve the leeches by rerouting the flow.
But let’s pump the brakes. I’ve seen this movie—remember the newspaper syndicates of the ’90s? Everyone pooled content, swore it’d crush the chains. Then digital nuked print, and poof. History’s littered with alliances that fizzled when platforms flexed. Ozone’s betting publishers create “a heck of a lot of value”—undeniable—but retaining it? That’s the rub for sustainable journalism.
Here’s my unique twist, one the original glosses over: Ozone’s US expansion smells like desperation dressed as opportunity. UK’s a sandbox; America’s a Thunderdome with Google, Meta, Amazon owning 70% of ad spend. If they can’t scale stateside fast, this is just another feel-good UK story that evaporates.
Spears pushes back hard—publishers aren’t helpless. Experimenting everywhere. Healthy supply-side? Buyers get clean paths, sellers keep more cut. Platform attribution? Makes it murder for pubs to prove worth. (Kind of like Billy Elliot dancing through coal-mine gloom—Spears’ odd parallel, but it sticks.)
Cynical me wonders: is this premiumization jazz real, or PR spin to justify hiking CPMs? Daily Mail’s off-platform push—sure, but who’s buying those creator extensions when TikTok’s free?
Why Should Advertisers Care About Ozone’s Rebellion?
Because your performance dollars might flow cleaner. Intermediaries arbitrage margins like pros—bid high from you, pay pubs peanuts. Ozone promises direct-ish paths, less leakage. But skeptical vet says: prove it with numbers, not quotes.
Traffic dips from Core updates, AI search shifts? Publishers scrambling. Marketers fleeing to walled gardens—Meta, Google—where signals still shine. Ozone’s data pool could flip that script, give pubs use for cookieless targeting.
Yet. Always a yet. Platform dominance isn’t cracking. Google’s third-party cookie death? Still vaporware. Signal loss? Accelerating. Pubs need wins now, not 2025 maybes.
Look, I’ve covered enough adtech cycles to know: intermediaries won’t vanish. They’ll rebrand—“transparent platforms,” anyone?—and keep skimming. Ozone’s noble, but without regulatory teeth or buyer buy-in, it’s publishers tilting at windmills.
Bold prediction: if Ozone nails US beachhead by 2025, merging with stateside groups like Prebid.org, they force real supply chain reform. Botch it? Back to margins migrating north.
Who wins? Follow the money. Always.
🧬 Related Insights
- Read more: Upfronts 2024: AI Hype Crashes Into Measurement Reality
- Read more: Liquid Death Just Weaponized Real-Time Sales Data to Slaughter Ineffective Ads
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Ozone and what does it do?
Ozone is a UK publisher alliance pooling ad inventory and data to bypass programmatic middlemen and retain more revenue.
Are programmatic intermediaries really ‘corrosive’?
Danny Spears says yes—they siphon publisher cash via margin tricks. Results vary, but many pubs agree the chain’s leaky.
Will Ozone expand successfully to the US?
Tough market, but they’re trying. Success hinges on data use amid signal loss—watch for partnerships.
