In advertising, context shapes the value of the message. The environment in which an ad appears determines how the audience reads and understands it. Research shows that brands appearing in trusted, high-quality premium media environments earn greater consumer trust, stronger associations, and higher purchase intent. Quality media, through editorial integrity, user experience, and appropriate ad placement, creates conditions in which advertising achieves higher effectiveness. The key question is how to measure this effectiveness and incorporate it into campaign planning.

In today’s digital landscape, user attention has become one of the rarest and most valuable currencies, measured in just seconds. In this brief window, advertisers make a series of micro-decisions: which content to select, when to display it, and through which channel to deliver it. The shift from static, one-way advertising campaigns to dynamic, multi-channel, data-driven campaigns delivered in real time has become an essential part of modern marketing.
The importance of this transformation was also highlighted in an analytical article by consulting company McKinsey Unlocking the next frontier of personalized marketing. In it, the authors emphasize that the success of digital campaigns increasingly depends on a brand’s ability to reach users with the right message at the right moment. Personalized and timely offers are not merely an upgrade of existing practices but are becoming a sustainable competitive advantage.

The European Commission’s decision to fine Google €2.95 billion for abusing its dominant position in advertising technology is more than a legal measure. It represents an opportunity to reshape the future of programmatic advertising in Europe and our region. Rather than being just another penalty, it signals a move towards a more transparent, fair, and innovative digital advertising ecosystem, in which publishers and advertisers will gain greater influence and independence.

The European Commission has imposed a €2.95 billion fine on Google after finding that the company holds a dominant position in the digital advertising technology market. The investigation revealed that Google’s tools – DoubleClick, Google Ads and DV360 – were used in a way that gave preferential treatment to its own AdX exchange, affecting competitive conditions in the advertising ecosystem. Since the Commission’s decision is also likely to influence future developments in digital advertising in Slovenia, Marketing Magazin sought the opinions of local experts on its implications for the domestic market.