Infinitive Principal Jeremy Hines recently contributed an article to AdExchanger’s “Data-Driven Thinking” column, highlighting the complexities surrounding the digital advertising technology tax. Simply put, as Jeremy writes in “The Taxing Complexity of Digital Advertising,” publishers should simplify and standardize technology to save money:

[P]ublishers are looking for “deductions” to reduce their tech tax rate. Because the tech tax is a symptom of the excessive complexity in digital advertising, the cure is the simplification, standardization and rationalization of the tech stack.

According to Kargo’s Ryan McConville, the so-called technology tax can be defined as “the whittling away of every dollar spent on advertising by a new programmatic supply chain stuffed with media agencies, trading desks, DMPs, DSPs, exchanges and SSPs.” As McConville sees it, for publishers, the tech tax is a potential negative consequences of advertising automation. We’ve discussed the implications of the tech tax before, and encouraged publishers to be cognizant of these costs.

3 Ways to Lower the Tech Tax

Jeremy offers a few  ways to for publishers to reduce their “tax burden,” so to speak:

1.       Align the ad tech stack by determining which technologies are essential
2.       Maintain a healthy level of skepticism by carefully investing in new platforms
3.       Select solutions that can integrate with established and effective processes

Read the complete article over on AdExchanger’s website. Get more of Jeremy’s perspective on digital advertising industry news and trends by checking out his insights.