Independent – fractional executive consulting · Boulder, Colorado
Trust is a system you can verify. Growth follows.
Digital Publishing, Advertising and Technology Strategies by the Founder of the IAB Tech Lab. Cunningham.Tech Consulting helps publishers, marketers and platforms navigate the supply chain behind digital advertising: growth, transparency, identity, measurement, ROI, standards, and certification.
scott@cunningham.tech
Write with the problem. You’ll hear back from Scott directly.
Trust infrastructure
Building the infrastructure marketplaces run on
Advice comes from Scott Cunningham has spent three decades building the marketplaces and infrastructure the industry now depends on. Named one of the leaders who built digital advertising by the Drum over the last 30 years, Scott builds the shared systems that let markets work. The technical standards at IAB Tech Lab helped take digital advertising global. TAG and AAM supply the verification that keeps that market trustworthy. And with the Local Media Consortium, he built the NewsPassID local marketplace, a support system for local news that has contributed more than 200 journalism jobs’ worth of revenue annually.
# The rules and proof the global ad supply chain runs on
iabtechlab.com, founder, DIRECT
tagtoday.net, co-founder, DIRECT
auditedmedia.com, fractional-chief-product-officer, DIRECT
brandsafetyinstitute.com, publisher-chair, DIRECT
iabtechlab.com, programmatic-governance-council, DIRECT
ana.net, instructor, DIRECT # programmatic transparency training
localmediaconsortium.com, newspassid initiative lead, DIRECT
# Authored the L.E.A.N. Ads principles leading to Coalition of Better Ads. Built USATODAY.com.
Practice
Where clients bring us in
Scott leads every engagement with a support network of referrals when projects require.
Supply chain quality and transparency
Find where money and signal leak between buyer and publisher. Supply-path reviews, log-level analysis, and assessments of brand safety and monetization gaps.
Marketers · Publishers · Platforms
Audit and certification design
Build certification programs that hold up: methodology audits, accreditation readiness, and measurement frameworks for CTV, retail media and creator marketplaces.
Associations · Measurement firms · Platforms
Identity and data strategy
Publisher-owned identity, consent and compliance built for a privacy-first market. Strategy, RFPs, financial modeling and execution, drawing on the design of NewsPassID.
Publishers · Consortia
AI, provenance and content quality
Policy and standards for AI-generated content and creative: C2PA provenance, trust registries, content licensing, and keeping low-quality AI inventory out of the buy.
Publishers · Brands · Standards bodies
Standards and governance
Evaluate, shape or adopt industry specifications, from programmatic protocols to new agentic advertising standards, with a clear view of who governs them and how.
Trade groups · Ad tech · Agencies
Publisher advocacy
Represent the independent open web in rooms where blocking, keyword lists and opaque fees decide what journalism earns.
Independent and local media
Experience
From the newsroom to the standards table
Student press
BadgerHerald.com
Early web publishing at the University of Wisconsin’s independent student paper. First banner.
Newsroom / Early Web
USA TODAY
Architect of USATODAY.com, worked the ad experiences and systems, and a multimedia journalist covering 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Olympics, Super Bowls and western wildfires.
Digital Executive – Technology, Advertising, Publishing
President, MNGi
Led MediaNews Group’s interactive division: a team of 100 and $25 million annual entity supporting the $2 billion MediaNews Group portfolio.
Ad tech
Federated Media · Sovrn
Grew revenue 500 percent year over year.
Standards
Founded the IAB Tech Lab
Built the industry’s global technical standards body and the specifications system buyers and sellers run on.
Standards
Co-founded TAG and authored L.E.A.N. Ads
Fraud and trust certification for the ad supply chain, and principles for lighter, less intrusive advertising leading to the Coalition of Better Ads.
Commercial
Marketers · DSPs · SSPs · Measurement · Publishers
Advisor and Fractional Executive across the media spectrum.
Media / Identity
Designed NewsPassID marketplace
A shared, publisher media network and controlled identity solution for the Local Media Consortium.
Today
Commercial · AAM · BSI · ANA
Fractional Chief Product Officer at AAM, Publisher Chair at BSI, ANA programmatic transparency instructor, and member of the IAB Tech Lab Programmatic Governance Council.
Writing
Briefs, essays and press
Recent industry work
- AI Slop: An Industry Brief July 2026, with TAG TrustNet, ANA and Fiducia. Programmatic quality, AI-generated content and supply-path transparency.
- On AI intermediaries July 2026 essay for Digital Content Next on what AI answer engines mean for publishers.
- Seeing in the Dark The Open Internet CTV Measurability Gap Report, built on Q2 2026 log-level data.
In the press
- IAB at 30: The leaders who built digital advertising tell the story The Drum · 2026
- The AI Reckoning: What media companies are really doing with AI A Media Operator webinar · Jul 30, 2026
- Why IAB’s publisher bill may be journalism’s last best hope in an AI world The Drum · 2026
- MFAs: How did we get here and what’s the best way forward IAB panel · Jun 26, 2024
- Inside the secret meetings to define MFA AdExchanger · Mar 11, 2024
- Episode 7: Scott Cunningham on ad fraud and CTV measurement gaps Sightly podcast · Feb 15, 2023
- The LMC wants to ensure local news publishers actually have a post-cookie future AdExchanger · Dec 1, 2022
- No news is bad news: How advertisers can avoid defunding journalism VideoWeek · Aug 8, 2022
- NewsPassID pilot shows 90% revenue uplift in cookieless environments Local Media Consortium · Feb 10, 2022
- Saving local media isn’t about demonizing Big Tech Forbes · Apr 12, 2021
- How local pubs are taking the reins with their own version of a single sign-on AdExchanger · Apr 7, 2021
- Local Media Consortium launches NewsNext and NewsPassID Local Media Consortium · Mar 23, 2021
- Local News Advertising Inclusion List: Impact and improvement Brand Safety Institute · Aug 12, 2020
- Local Media Consortium’s list of approved publishers 4A’s · Jun 22, 2020
- News is brand safe Brand Safety Institute · Jun 3, 2020
- Local Media Consortium, Brand Safety Institute partner on local news advertising whitelist MediaPost · Apr 2, 2020
- Local publishers get a dedicated programmatic ad channel Adweek · Apr 2, 2020
- Don’t let brand safety turn a pandemic into a publishing crisis Brand Safety Institute · Apr 2, 2020
- IAB Tech Lab founder on “advertising in crisis” FIPP / PageFair podcast · Mar 31, 2017
- Transparent Media Partners and Cunningham.Tech announce programmatic media partnership PR Newswire · Jan 24, 2017
- Founder of the IAB Tech Lab joins Streamwize PRWeb · Dec 7, 2016
- Coverage of the IAB’s L.E.A.N. ads launch The Register · Oct 16, 2015
- IAB “Leans” into ad block solution, says “We messed up” MediaPost · Oct 15, 2015
- The IAB calls ad blocking “highway robbery” Adweek · Sep 29, 2015
- Scott Cunningham joins IAB to lead digital advertising supply chain quality IAB · Apr 11, 2014
Bring the hard problem.
scott@cunningham.tech
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Based in
Boulder, Colorado. Working with clients worldwide.