TARA Media CEO Jeff Kaplan shares insights on AI-driven media buying, ad fraud detection, and why trust and data transparency will define the next decade.
In an era where digital noise is louder than ever, few leaders like Jeff Kaplan, CEO and Co-founder of TARA Media, are cutting through the chaos. With a 25-year career in direct marketing and a passion for data-driven clarity, Kaplan is steering the conversation around how AI, attribution, and advanced analytics will define the next wave of adtech.
In this exclusive interview, he unpacks the hard-earned lessons behind audience segmentation, ad fraud detection, and the evolving role of agencies. Kaplan’s insights offer a compass—and a challenge for anyone navigating the tangled web of digital media.
Full interview;
As a “self-proclaimed data geek,” how do you see AI and analytics transforming media buying and ad fraud detection over the next 3–5 years?
AI and advanced analytics will fundamentally reshape media buying and ad fraud detection by applying predictive analytics and real-time identification techniques. For media buying, automation and predictive analytics will enable real-time campaign optimization and the delivery of addressable ad creatives that dramatically increase efficiency and ROI. At the same time, AI will become critical in combating ad fraud. Advanced machine learning techniques will help identify and block sophisticated fraudulent activities, including deepfakes, bots, and MFA sites, in real time.
What’s the most advanced shift you’ve led in audience segmentation or attribution modeling during your 25 years in marketing?
Attribution has long been a source of ad campaign frustration. Historically, determining how ad campaigns receive the proper conversion credit has relied on last touch attribution. Still, this approach ignores the impact today’s programmatic digital advertising has on campaign results. The evolution of identity graphs and their ability to be used with programmatic campaign results enables visibility into where ads are seen and how they influence future decisions. I’m proud to be a part of the continued innovation in identity resolution and attribution to help reveal the actual impact of ad campaigns.
What’s a key technical challenge you faced while building TARA Media’s buying platform, and how did you solve it to boost campaign performance?
Our biggest hurdle has been ad inventory management and refinement. How do we ensure our media buys are delivered in trusted, high-quality environments? With the advances in AI, we have created and added superior capabilities to our media buying platform that normalize inventory across suppliers and refine the supply path to remove the bad players.
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What’s your vision for how agencies must evolve to stay indispensable brand partners over the next decade?
Our strategic vision is rooted in transparency and accuracy, which builds trust as our agencies and partners rely on us for data and inventory supply that scales at all levels. We’ve evolved and advanced our creative services by developing and adding our DSP to help those same agencies and brand partners detangle the webs in the digital ecosystem.
What’s your secret to building long-term trust and driving consistent results in a fast-changing digital landscape?
Our entire team supports and is deeply invested in the success of each campaign. These are not the typical big agency relationships. Instead, we are an extension of the teams we serve, and we handle those relationships closely and authentically, which often results in long-term, even decades-long partnerships filled with shared journeys throughout the industry.
What’s the biggest misconception about using data for marketing success, and how do you help clients move past it?
The most important aspect of leveraging data for marketing success is finding people where they are consuming content. Most brands have a misconception that they know where consumers will be, rather than trusting the data that reveals what channels and media are being consumed.
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How do you balance innovation with client needs and sustainable growth as a CEO and co-founder?
Managing innovation and sustainable growth with the everyday realities of client management is a delicate balance that requires working seamlessly with our innovation team and technical programmers to mutually identify our position in the market, the role we play and the solutions that we offer. The help of our Chief Innovation and Product Officers is critical.
