In-depth: How blockchain is the answer to many problems in advertising

Blockchain technology, as we all know, permits digital information to be distributed, but not copied and was originally put in place for the digital currency, Bitcoin. But over a period of time, it has found other potential uses - also being utilised in the business of advertising and brands. While synonymous with crypto-currency, new transactional use cases are emerging for blockchain such as buying and selling digital or advanced TV ad inventory, fraud prevention; whitelisting authorized sellers of inventory, campaign reconciliation, enabling the use of smart contracts to simplify the IO process, validating advertising assets, etc. The benefit of blockchain is that it has the ability to keep a fully verifiable and immutable ledger or database that is available to all members of the blockchain. “It provides a layer of trust and transparency that is not always available within media and advertising processes,” reveals Som Shekhar Singh, Director Technology, Publicis Sapient. With the application of blockchain technology, the digital advertising supply chain can leverage benefits such as greater efficiency, reliable and high-quality data.