The Trade Desk launched OpenSincera, a new tool aimed at enhancing transparency and effectiveness in programmatic advertising.
Sunil Sharma of Boston Coffee Club says OpenSincera as a step towards “Programmatic 3.0,” emphasizing the need for a cultural shift in data usage.
OpenSincera’s independence from walled gardens like Google and Amazon gives it potential as a turning point in the industry.
The lack of infrastructure in programmatic advertising remains a significant challenge despite advanced tools.
Another transparency push, another flicker of hope in programmatic’s often-cloudy landscape. The Trade Desk’s OpenSincera is the latest to generate buzz, but seasoned insiders know that no single tool signals a full reset. Lasting change demands more than features. It requires a cultural reckoning.
Sunil Sharma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Boston Coffee Club, has long been steeped in programmatic and data science. His shift to e-commerce offers a sharp vantage point on the inefficiencies still plaguing ad tech.
It’s a start: “OpenSincera is the beginning of what I call ‘Programmatic 3.0’—a shift from mere efficiency to true effectiveness,” Sharma says. For him, the initiative marks a meaningful step toward rethinking how data is used across the ecosystem. But it’s no cure-all. “This is just the start, not the great panacea,” he cautions. “The key to unlocking this potential is a fundamental cultural shift within the large agencies to truly value and deploy data effectively,” says Sharma.
The lone standout: “At this point, The Trade Desk is really the only independent DSP left as an alternative to Google,” Sharma says. “You have things like Amazon DSP, but those are part of walled gardens.” That independence gives OpenSincera added weight, not just as an upgrade, but as a potential turning point.
Still, he notes, The Trade Desk hasn’t always led the charge on data. “People who were really advanced in programmatic would want to use maybe 10,000 data combinations on a campaign, but The Trade Desk was only allowing us to use two to four variables,” explains Sharma. For a company of its size, he says, it’s long overdue.
Timing is everything: For Sharma, when data becomes available isn’t a detail—it’s a dividing line. “Are you making the data available on a post-bid basis or a pre-bid basis?” he asks. “If it’s available on a pre-bid basis, we can then put it into the algorithm and actually make decisions on it at the campaign level. If it’s post-bid, that’s okay too—it kind of allows you to bracket your strategy,” Sharma explains. “But that’s a very, very big distinction.”
The data delusion: “First-party data in programmatic is really created at the campaign level; it’s the exhaust that comes from the campaign in the form of the log data,” says Sharma. “It’s rich and it’s unique to the campaign, but it’s gnarly to deal with.” The real issue, he says, is the lack of infrastructure. “Let’s say you have the best algorithm in the world. If you don’t have the infrastructure to actually deploy that algorithm, then the worst algorithm in the world is going to perform just as well,” Sharma explains.
A fork in the flowchart: Sharma sees OpenSincera as more than a feature drop. It could mark the start of a new era. “Programmatic 1.0 was quasi-static bidding. Programmatic 2.0 was all about efficiency. Programmatic 3.0 is about moving from efficiency to true effectiveness,” explains Sharma. “OpenSincera could be the start of that shift.”
But it isn’t automatic. “It still comes down to what The Trade Desk does next—I don’t think this alone is enough,” Sharma says. “And more importantly, it depends on what the senior executives at the major ad holding companies decide to do next. They’re the ones who ultimately drive buying behavior across the industry.”
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