Written by Alex Johnson • March 15, 2026 • 5 min read •
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After an enlightening discussion at the Programmatic Marketing Summit in January, Kerel Cooper, the head of advertising at Group Black, returned to the latest episode of the Marketing Mixer Podcast to delve deeper into his ongoing mission to highlight the outdated programmatic media buying practices that put Black-owned media companies at a disadvantage.
In collaboration with ad verification company Double Verify, Group Black conducted research that demonstrates the extent to which ad inventory on Black-owned media platforms is excluded from media budgets when basic tools like keyword blocklists and domain-level categorization are utilized in media purchases.
Cooper is now actively working with Double Verify to raise awareness about these findings, educating advertisers, and collaborating with industry associations to establish guidelines that prevent the exclusion of Black-owned media from programmatic spending.
In this podcast episode, Cooper explores the outcomes of the research conducted with Double Verify and discusses how the phasing out of third-party cookies is influencing advertisers to overhaul their programmatic purchasing strategies this year.
Highlighted below are key takeaways from the conversation, presented in a concise and edited format for clarity.
Challenges in Programmatic Advertising
Upon joining the organization two years ago, one of my initial initiatives was launching our programmatic services. We soon encountered challenges as some buyers struggled to expand their purchases across the publishers we represent. A major obstacle that emerged was the prevalence of outdated buying practices.
The algorithms used in programmatic advertising prioritize large inventories at low costs. Due to the smaller size of many Black-owned and diverse media companies, their domains may not meet the scale requirements of these algorithms. As a result, smaller inventory is often overlooked in favor of larger pools.
Addressing these challenges involved our team engaging with individual advertisers to encourage them to adjust their purchasing methods. However, this personalized approach was not sustainable in the long run.
Moving Beyond Limitations
Recognizing the need for a more comprehensive solution, I reached out to DoubleVerify directly, as many of our clients used their services for brand safety. After discussing the issues we faced with DoubleVerify,…