Independent consulting · Boulder, Colorado
Trust isn’t a claim. It’s a system you can verify.
Cunningham.Tech helps publishers, marketers and platforms fix the supply chain behind digital advertising: standards, transparency, identity, measurement and certification. Advice comes from Scott Cunningham, who founded the IAB Tech Lab, co-founded TAG, and has spent three decades building the infrastructure the industry now depends on.
scott@cunningham.techWrite with the problem. You’ll hear back from Scott directly.
Trust infrastructure
Building the infrastructure marketplaces run on
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, which brings local publishers together, he built a support system for local news that has contributed more than 200 journalism jobs’ worth of revenue.
| 1 | # The rules and proof the global ad supply chain runs on |
| 2 | iabtechlab.com, founder, DIRECT |
| 3 | tagtoday.net, co-founder, DIRECT |
| 4 | auditedmedia.com, fractional-chief-product-officer, DIRECT |
| 5 | brandsafetyinstitute.com, publisher-chair, DIRECT |
| 6 | iabtechlab.com, programmatic-governance-council, DIRECT |
| 7 | ana.net, instructor, DIRECT # programmatic transparency training |
| 8 | localmediaconsortium.com, newspassid-architect, DIRECT |
| 9 | # Authored the L.E.A.N. Ads principles. Built USATODAY.com. |
Practice
Where clients bring us in
Scott leads every engagement, with a network of engineers, data analysts, UX designers and operations specialists brought in as the work requires.
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
Record
From the newsroom to the standards table
- Student press
BadgerHerald.com
Early web publishing at the University of Wisconsin’s independent student paper.
- Newsroom
USA TODAY
Architect of USATODAY.com and a multimedia journalist covering 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Olympics, Super Bowls and western wildfires.
- Publishing
President, MNGi
Led MediaNews Group’s interactive division: a team of 100 and $25 million in annual revenue.
- Ad tech
Federated Media · Sovrn
Grew revenue 500 percent year over year.
- Standards
Founded the IAB Tech Lab
Built the industry’s technical standards body and the specifications publishers and buyers still 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.
- Identity
Designed NewsPassID
A shared, publisher-controlled identity solution for the Local Media Consortium.
- Today
Alliance for Audited Media · Brand Safety Institute · 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 BriefJuly 2026, with TAG TrustNet, ANA and Fiducia. Programmatic quality, AI-generated content and supply-path transparency.
- On AI intermediariesJuly 2026 essay for Digital Content Next on what AI answer engines mean for publishers.
- Seeing in the DarkThe 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 storyThe Drum. Scott is featured among the industry pioneers marking the IAB’s 30th anniversary.
Bring the hard problem.
- scott@cunningham.tech
- Scott Cunningham
- Based in
- Boulder, Colorado. Working with clients worldwide.
