The future of ad dollars, the rise of independent agencies and the threat of AI dominated debate at the Future of TV Advertising event, as executives from some of Australia's biggest media companies clashed over the direction of the industry.
In a panel discussion, Melissa Fein, managing director, media, Accenture Song, Peter Vogel, CEO of WPP's Wavemaker, and Peter Horgan, CEO of JOY, debated the rise of independents and where ad dollars are heading.
"Agencies are like lemmings, we'd follow audiences off a cliff to our own destruction," said Horgan.
He lamented agencies' lack of strategic direction.
"There's very little strategic deployment, other than sometimes P&L enhancement," said Horgan, adding the industry did little long-term planning," said Horgan.
On client opacity and the flow of money through the supply chain, Hogan believed publishers were bearing the cost.
"You've got a secondary market that is actually a contagion on your primary market, and the publishers, are the ones having to cough up," said Horgan.
However, Fein believed it was an industry issue rather than a vendor one.
"The reality is that clients, as of yesterday, are still curious about what their CPM is, because the traditional agency model won't share that," she said. "I bet they find out from the publishers that it's half the price of what they think they're paying,” said Fein.
"We still have a huge murky practice, no matter how we're finding ways to audit and govern. The murky practices are living and breathing better today than they ever have. We need a circuit breaker for this to stop,” said Fein.
On the discussion of AI, Vogel undercut the "doom and gloom" narrative, outlining his optimism for the impact AI will have on the industry and on TV planning and buying.
"I've got about 10 AI agents doing my job, so I can just sit back, sort of relax, come to panels, go to lunch…" said Vogel, jokingly.
When questioned about the future of the industry, Hogan pointed to the programmatic era as the origin of today's trust and transparency issues.
"There was kind of a programmatic gold rush of the early teens, where a ton of agency trust was eviscerated,” said Horgan.
Horgan took aim at other indies, stressing he had no desire to be an independent simply recreating holding company-style procurement battles, preferring to work with growth clients over "arm wrestles with procurement people about sweating implants".
When questioned about specific improvements to the TV industry, Horgan urged the audience to push boundaries.
"Collaborate, collude till your eyes bleed.The government is desperate about a thriving domestic media sector - push the boundaries,” said Horgan.
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