An estimated 80% of media owners rely on Google Ads Manager to monitor inventory performance, and 40% use it for optimization. On paper, it promises to "grow ad revenue and protect your brand wherever users are watching, playing, or engaging."
But let’s be honest – there’s often a gap between the promise and reality. In this post, we’ll explore that gap, and highlight ways that forward-facing media owners are accelerating revenue with decision intelligence.
Why Google Ads Manager Isn't Enough for Modern Media Owners
If you’ve ever experienced technical issues or service disruptions, you are not alone. In January of 2024, a widespread GAM outage was reported. While many saw access restored, others continued to experience issues, causing the media industry to rethink their reliance on Google.
In today’s real-time economy, where capturing and acting upon data-driven insights quickly is critical to success, relying on methods that do not accelerate time-to-insights leads to abundant missed opportunities. Quite literally, time is money.
The media industry can no longer afford these inefficiencies. Manually aggregating performance data across supply-side platforms not only leaves room for error but also results in missed revenue potential.
What’s more, as with any business, Google’s primary incentive is to optimize its own ad platform—not to deliver comprehensive performance insights across the entire ecosystem. And yet, media companies need timely insights into which supply-side platforms are driving returns and which aren’t. By focusing on building performant relationships with the right partners, media owners can enhance site responsiveness, boost page rankings, and still maximize ad yield.
What the industry needs is a solution that is built to empower action. One that accelerates the time it takes to go from data to decision, and is accessible to those without technical expertise.
Enter SCUBA – Your Solution for Unified Ad Insights
Introducing SCUBA– the only collaborative decision intelligence platform that’s reshaping media monetization. SCUBA moves beyond outdated static reporting, it seamlessly integrates first-party data with your first party data in third-party platforms, like GAM or GA4, for example, such as GAM or GA4 and allows you to get a more holistic view of your business. It helps you make decisions in the moment that drive revenue.
What makes SCUBA’s unified view stand out?
- Seamless first-party data integration that gives you a holistic view of ad performance.
- Real-time decision-making at the speed of programmatic to drive impactful results.
- Granular insights into revenue across supply platforms– all within a single, unified view.
Let’s break each of these down.
The SCUBA Advantage: Seamless First-Party Integrations
SCUBA simplifies and expedites data collection through its seamless integration with different data sources. The platform automatically processes this data in real-time without requiring complex setups or data restructuring. Using SCUBA, publishers can integrate your data effortlessly, eliminating the wait and allowing you to take immediate action. SCUBA also ensures that all data stays secure and compliant with privacy regulations, so businesses can collect and use data faster and with less effort.
The SCUBA Advantage: Unified View of Supply-Side Performance Across Platforms
SCUBA enables real-time, in-the-moment insights by continuously processing data as it comes in, without needing predefined structures or batch delays. Its powerful real-time query engine lets users analyze both streaming and historical data instantly, providing actionable insights on demand. For example, when tracking SSP performance, SCUBA unifies data from various sources—like campaign metrics, auction data, and customer interactions—into a single view, allowing ad yield to be monitored and optimized in-the-moment.
The SCUBA Advantage: Built for Activation
SCUBA makes data actionable by allowing users to quickly turn insights into decisions and actions without requiring technical expertise. With its real-time analytics and self-service tools, users can explore data, create custom queries, and visualize results instantly. For example, marketers can use SCUBA to create specific audience segments based on real-time behavior and historical data. Once these audiences are defined, they can immediately tailor content and messaging to each group, ensuring that campaigns are optimized and personalized on the fly, leading to more effective engagement and conversions. All of this happens without the need for complex data preparation or engineering support.
Take Control of Your Ad Revenue: Unlock New Opportunities with SCUBA
In an increasingly fast-paced media landscape, relying solely on tools like Google Ads Manager holds forward-facing publishers back from unlocking their true revenue potential. As modern media owners face more complex challenges and competition, the ability to quickly access, analyze, and act on real-time data is critical to driving growth.
SCUBA's decision intelligence platform offers a smarter, more comprehensive way to unify ad performance data and make it actionable, empowering publishers to optimize yield across all supply-side platforms without missing opportunities. By embracing SCUBA, the media industry can leave behind the limitations of static reporting and unlock new opportunities for revenue, all while ensuring privacy compliance and reducing dependence on third-party platforms like GAM. It’s time to take control of your data and your future—because in today’s economy, every sub-second counts.
