A Q&A with Luke Judge, NED of Tangoo

By R. Larsson, Advertising Week

Q: How is the digital advertising landscape evolving, and what key considerations should brands keep in mind when planning their strategy and budgets this year?

The digital advertising landscape is undergoing a rapid, fundamental shift toward deeper intelligence and measurable outcomes, requiring brands to rethink their entire approach to strategy and budget allocation.

One of the biggest challenges is the sheer fragmentation of user attention across a widening range of media types, accelerated by AI answer engines like Google’s AI mode and LLM chats, where users research products or specify outcomes directly. This impact on publishers’ traffic is fundamentally challenging traditional ad-funded models.

On a more enthusiastic note, the big screen is becoming a playground for businesses of all sizes. Video is now fully programmatic, blending TV’s massive reach with CTV’s precision. DOOH and Audio similarly unlock high-impact opportunities.

However, the regulatory environment remains a bit of a headache. We are still navigating cookie deprecation’s back-and-forth, like Chrome’s recent walkback, as AI regulations vary by country. Compliance and data privacy must remain a non-negotiable foundation for any brand.

The rapid rise of agentic AI tools brings incredible innovation alongside real risks. In programmatic display, a fascinating battle is emerging, as Scope3 and its partners’ revolutionary AdCP approach challenge the IAB Tech Lab’s more evolutionary MCP approach.

Brands that thrive will fuse human ingenuity with intelligent automation, whilst staying within the regulated, privacy-first rails.

Q: Programmatic advertising has become pivotal for many advertisers. How does it specifically help brands maximise ROI and optimise campaign performance?

Programmatic has become the engine room of modern advertising simply because it removes the guesswork, gutfeel or “analysis paralysis” that used to bog down marketing teams.

The primary way it boosts ROI is through its surgical precision. Decisions are now informed and executed in real time by detailed audience and performance data. This real-time nature of decision-making means brands no longer have to wait for weekly reports to make a move. Instead they can leverage rich real-time data and clean signals to meet shoppers in their exact moment of inspiration.

The programmatic approach enables brands to choose the right environments for them, ensuring every placement is brand safe and suitable. It also lowers the barrier to entry for innovation, enabling them to test, learn and expand with smaller budgets with more real-time feedback on performance.

Optimisation is now an “always on” process powered by multimodal and agentic AI. This technology learns from behavioural signals across web, search, and even audio to build a coherent view of a brand’s best customers. This frees up brilliant human minds to focus on strategy and breakthrough creative, while the intelligent automation handles the heavy lifting of execution, tracking, and reporting.

The most exciting part is that we have only just gotten started. When you combine that level of intelligence with genuine partnerships, you stop just buying ads and start driving real-world growth.

Q: With new privacy regulations, especially concerning minors’ data and ad targeting, how is the programmatic industry adapting to ensure responsible and compliant advertising?

Responsible advertising is not just a checkbox anymore. It is a critical issue that we must get right, especially regarding the protection of minors. We are seeing an imperative collision of regulation and business ethics where the industry must step up responsibly.

It is not just about data privacy either. We now have to take into account climate considerations, such as the carbon footprint of the supply chain of a deal, alongside the human-centric protections.

The industry is adapting by moving toward much deeper transparency. For example, programmatic partners are increasingly using data to ensure that any decisions are based on detailed, neutral insights about the publisher site and the health of the supply chain. This allows them to assess inventory quality at the domain level before a single penny is spent.

At Tangoo, for example, we have built a tool specifically to ensure real-time decisions about the suitability and safety of every single placement. This means if a page contains content unsuitable for minors or sensitive topics, the system reacts and plans accordingly.

Furthermore, those operating within the programmatic space also have to navigate the increasing locality of regulations. Whether it is the specific AI regulations in Italy, the strict youth protection laws in Germany, or the overarching EU Digital Acts, the landscape is incredibly fragmented. However, by building on well-guided and regulated rails, we can protect the most vulnerable users while still delivering value. It is a journey that demands resilience and a relentless belief in a safer digital vision.

Q: What is the one piece of advice you would give to business leaders and marketers for the year ahead?

It is the same as always: be ready to explore and focus. This means specifically allocating budget to testing and learning, and expanding the media mix to include a combination of CTV, Audio, DOOH, and Commerce Media.

These channels are advancing rapidly and still present tremendous opportunities for growth, especially if you’re able to efficiently operate and optimise within them. Getting ahead means trialling what works, and leveraging first-party data to see how you can get more from the data you have available to you, both for your own performance and for providing audience opportunities to others in the commerce media space.

Alongside this,  the industry also needs to be taking agentic AI developments seriously. They are coming whether we like it or not, meaning the focus needs to be on getting your product data in shape, checking your connections and permissions, and testing early.

Fundamentally, my advice is this: be agile, fail fast, and then fail again. In this landscape, progress always wins over perfection.