Principal-based media buying is dying. That’s the real headline regarding the wa
By Jasonlandro · March 20, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Principal-based media buying is dying. That’s the real headline regarding the war between Publicis and The Trade Desk
For the past 5 years in the digital marketing world, everyone cared about attribution and measurement, not accountability and transparency
In the past 6-12 months, it seems marketers have realized that we don’t need to over attribute everything because the buying journey isn’t linear
With Amazon’s rise in the ad space and the availability of Amazon Marketing Cloud, a data clean room that allows you to attribute your full-funnel marketing mix among other things, it became clear that a new way of reliable attribution is possible at scale
In the recent past, the convo shifted to accountability and transparency in the industry
We’ve now seen that erupt with Publicis dragging The Trade Desk across the carpet
But the reality is that brands want full transparency from the publishers AND agencies
They want to know whether they are fully utilizing their ad dollars on ads and that their ad dollars are being put to the best use
It’s why independent agencies like Nectar are primed to continue to disrupt the industry because principal-based media buying is dying
Creating advertisements and buying ads is easier than it ever has been
Brands want transparency and profit along with growth
Principal-based ad buying isn’t in brand’s best interests 100% of the time
They are realizing they no long have to tolerate it
I’m excited for this shift and where the industry is going