What is a walled garden?
In the AdTech industry, a walled garden refers to a closed ecosystem or platform where a single company controls the ad inventory and data. Walled gardens typically control the user experience and limit access to external data or ad inventory. An example of a walled garden in AdTech would be a social media platform that only allows advertisers to target users within its own network and doesn't allow them to access data or inventory from other platforms. This can make it difficult for advertisers to reach their desired audience and can limit competition within the industry.
Pros and cons of a walled garden?
While walled gardens in AdTech can provide some benefits, they also have some drawbacks that should be considered.
Pros:
- Walled gardens can provide a more controlled and secure environment for advertising campaigns. Walled gardens can prevent fraud and protect users' privacy by limiting access to their inventory and data.
- Walled gardens can also prevent unwanted tracking. By limiting access to external data and inventory, walled gardens can prevent third-party advertisers from tracking users without their consent. This helps to protect users' privacy and prevent unwanted targeted advertising.
- A walled garden can be beneficial for advertisers because it provides a more accurate measurement of their campaigns, as the data is not being spread across multiple platforms and sources. Thus, walled gardens can be a way to provide advertisers with a more streamlined and efficient way to measure and optimize their campaigns.
Cons:
- They can limit advertisers' freedom and choice. By restricting access to external inventory and data, advertisers will have fewer options and cannot fully customize their campaigns.
- They can make it difficult for advertisers to reach their desired audience. By limiting access to external inventory and data, advertisers may be unable to target the right users for their campaigns.
- They can create a barrier to entry for new competitors, limiting competition and innovation in the AdTech industry. By controlling access to their ad inventory and data, walled gardens can make it difficult for new competitors to enter the market.
