Scott McKinley, Founder &amp; CEO of Truthset, discusses the state of data quality, identity, and measurement in digital advertising. Scott shares why the industry continues to prioritize scale over accuracy, how data quality deteriorates throughout the supply chain, and why advertisers need to rethink legacy metrics like reach and CPMs. The conversation also explores identity, walled gardens, authentication, and the future of the open internet. Takeaways Data accuracy often declines significantly as data moves through the ad tech supply chain. Scale is frequently prioritized over quality, leading to inefficient advertising spend. Advertisers should focus on precision and outcomes rather than reach alone. Authentication is critical to improving identity and publisher monetization. Independent measurement remains essential for trust and accountability in advertising. Walled gardens continue to outperform because of durable identity systems. IP addresses are an unreliable long-term replacement for cookies. The open internet must improve identity infrastructure to remain competitive. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Scott McKinley and Truthset 01:05 From Olympic cyclist to ad tech entrepreneur 03:01 The trust crisis in advertising and lessons from sports 05:25 Why advertising lacks accountability and regulation 07:00 Nielsen&#x27;s role in independent measurement 09:00 Why Scott founded Truthset 11:17 Common misconceptions about data accuracy 14:20 The industry&#x27;s obsession with scale over quality 17:53 Why reach is becoming an outdated metric 19:13 Signal loss, walled gardens, and measurement challenges 23:16 The future of identity in advertising 25:34 Why authentication is the path forward 25:51 The biggest misconception about IP addresses 26:43 What the open internet must do next 28:05 Closing thoughts Guests: AdTechGod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ep. 137: The Data Quality Crisis in Digital Advertising with Scott McKinley of Truthset

AdTechGod Pod

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** AdTechGod Pod

## Participants

- **AdTechGod** (None)
- **Scott McKinley** (Truthset)

## Transcript

This episode is brought to you by The Build, a new podcast from the guys behind Sincera. Michael Sullivan and Ian Myers, they built their company by figuring out clever solutions to a few important ad tech problems in our industry. And that's exactly what the show is all about. Mike and Ian interview some of the smartest tech minds in the biz to hear about how they identified opportunities, solved those hardest challenges and grew their business in the process. Listen to The Build with Michael Sullivan wherever you get your podcasts.

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Again, connect with the team at freewheel.com slash ATG. Welcome to the AdTechGod Pod, your window into the world of advertising technology and the people behind it. I'm your host, AdTechGod. Welcome to the AdTechGod Pod, where I speak to the founders in the advertising technology industry.

Today's guest is Scott McKinley. He's the founder and CEO of Truthset. Ed, I've known Scott for quite some time now. He's got incredible background having worked at companies like Nielsen. He's also a guest lecturer, was a guest lecturer at Stanford. He's got incredible background, really understands data and the importance of what needs to be brought to the market to improve performance and intelligence in order for you to make the right decisions with clients. I'm really happy to have Scott with me today. Thanks for joining me on the pod.

Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. Let's get into it. I know a little bit about you, and I know you spent quite some time at Nielsen. You have a great understanding of data and the importance of that data and what makes it valuable and what data is not valuable. But I'd love to hear kind of from the beginning how you got into the industry, your time at Nielsen, and then what made you start Truthset.

Yeah. It's a pretty consistent thread, even from, as you say, from the start. I was actually a professional athlete. I was a cyclist. I didn't know that. I was a captain of the US Olympic team for the road race in Seoul, Korea, which is relevant for two reasons.

One is because you don't do that thing. You don't do a sport like that unless you're really attracted by the sheer truth of it. I mean, the nice thing about racing a bicycle is 150 guys start at the same time, and then one person gets to the finish line 100 miles later first. And there's just no ambiguity. You can't take shortcuts.

It's just the purest discipline in terms of what's the merit that's going to aw...

Ep. 137: The Data Quality Crisis in Digital Advertising with Scott McKinley of Truthset

Transcript

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Ep. 137: The Data Quality Crisis in Digital Advertising with Scott McKinley of Truthset

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.