Blockchain has already revolutionized a lot of different industries. Now a growing number of digital marketers are using the technology as an aide for a variety of tasks, including to see how many of their ads are actually being viewed by real people.

Advertises are drawn to blockchain for a couple of different reasons. Some hope new developments will increase the speed of blockchains and make it possible for digital ad transactions to be fulfilled in real time.

Others see the immutability of blockchain as an advantage when it comes to proving work. Some advertisers have run into trouble with publishers about the number of impressions that were delivered in an advertisement campaign. Blockchain is seen as a verification tool to ensure proper billing.

Transparency Is Key

Transparency is a very important factor for many top advertisers and is why blockchain has arguably attracted so much interest. Many advertisers worry about wasting money on campaigns that might only see ads being viewed by computer bots – not real people.

There are also concerns about middlemen who eat up a lot of expenditures. Marketing intelligence firm Warc believes 40 cents out of every dollar spent on so-called “programmatic ads” actually gets to the publisher.

The rest often finds its way into the pocketbooks of a long line of vendors right in between a marketer and website.

While marketers do have the ability to manually review and audit their campaigns, many see blockchain as a smoother and faster solution to review spending and highlight any discrepancies.

As a result, a growing number of top advertisers are starting to turn their eyes to blockchain. Places like Aneheuser-Busch, InBev, AT&T and Nestle are just a couple of companies who are starting to use it to help out with advertising endeavors.

Nestle has started to test a product that pays advertising vendors at the same time who fulfill their job commitments. This simplified payment system is said to be a step in the right direction compared to traditional methods.

Steady & Growing Acceptance

Lucas Herscovivi, global marketing VP at Aneheuser-Busch, says the new technology is more about ensuring “we are reaching consumers in the most relevant ways.” He believes most programmatic media will “move to being blockchain based” in the next two to three years.

As advertisements and blockchain become more closely intertwined, a number of businesses have popped up to help entities reach viewers. ATM Chain focuses on China’s media advertising industry and utilizes blockchain to reward viewers, which boosts engagement and leads to better overall metrics.

Even though blockchain is becoming a popular trend in the digital advertisement world, some worry about its drawbacks. Implementation cost can be a big barrier for some companies, and many of today’s blockchains are only able to recognize and clear transactions in minutes. Many advertising exchanges already processes millions of transactions per second.

But others think the pros of blockchain will outweigh the cons. Many in the online ad industry see blockchain as a useful tool to restore public trust and confidence, especially in the wake of scandals concerning data-collection practices.