Dive Brief:

• Programmatic ads may be popular with marketers and publishers alike, but some new media publishers are actively avoiding working with automated ad tech firms.
• Notably Refinery29, Vice Media, Vox Media, Mic and BuzzFeed are nixing the use of ad tech, citing too many ads and obnoxious tracking as reasons why the companies aren’t subjecting their audience to automated ads.
• Instead the publishers are creating internal tech to sell ads directly to marketers.

Dive Insight:

Refinery29 Co-Founder Justin Stefano recently told The Wall Street Journal, “Consumers are tiring of disruptive ad experiences across the board. The way people use ad tech is very toxic for a user.”

And in a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this summer Mic CEO Chris Altchek laid out more reasons why it’s not making use of third-party ad tech, "We are not running any programmatic whatsoever. If you look at how the mobile ad industry evolved, for example, you have these incredibly low [ad prices]. It’s not super effective, and not a lot of publishers and advertisers are happy with it."

Refusing to work with ad tech firms is an interesting decision for the publishers as programmatic ad budgets are on the rise overall at a time when digital ad spending is taking up an increasing market share of advertising spend. According to eMarketer, automated display ads are expected to increase 37% next year going past $20 billion.