In this episode of Unfiltered, Justin Lebbon and Ian Whittaker examine whether ad tech is facing its reckoning. From a finance lens, Ian explains why the market has turned skeptical on the sector — and why the biggest platforms, not the independent DSPs, increasingly hold the power.

• The Trade Desk's fall: Decent Q1 numbers, yet the stock is down ~70% over the period — a story of collapsing multiples, perceived risk, and doubts about future growth.
• Platforms own the pipes: Amazon and Google are taking DSP share while smaller players get squeezed; a handful of companies control up to 90% of new media spend.
• The Standard Oil parallel: Ian argues dominance comes not from sheer size but from controlling the choke points — just as Rockefeller controlled the route to market via railroad deals.
• Differentiation survives: Players with proprietary data and strong client relationships can defend value; commodity middlemen sitting in the gap are most at risk.
• Agencies move back in: As TV money shifts online, proprietary trading and rebates prop up agency margins — but the deeper problem is that media buying and planning is now priced as a commodity.
• AI as the efficiency tool: It has the potential to overturn ad tech economics, driving fewer steps, lower cost and pressure on fees.
• What premium publishers must do: Simplify processes, push money toward working media, and build or white-label their own controlled solutions to protect CPMs.

• The Trade Desk's ~70% share-price decline is driven less by weak numbers than by collapsing multiples, higher perceived risk, and lost faith in future growth.
• Amazon and Google are taking DSP share and squeezing smaller players, who lack the scale and balance sheets to compete.
• Ad tech's power dynamic mirrors Standard Oil: control of the choke points, not sheer size, is what matters.
• Ad tech players with proprietary data or strong client relationships can defend their value; commodity middlemen are most exposed to consolidation.
• Agency margins increasingly rely on proprietary trading and rebates because core media buying and planning is now priced as a commodity.
• Premium publishers should simplify their processes and build or white-label controlled solutions to keep money flowing to working media and protect CPMs.