We look advertising square in the face on the 7th edition of this 10-part miniseries on the future of podcasting. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6)

Digital advertising changed the game of advertising forever. Rather than deal with the largely made-up numbers offered by print, radio, and TV publishers, digital ads came with data. Data not just about who saw/heard/read the ads, but what those people did after that.

And then Cambridge Analytica came and ruined the future.

 Since then, a sort of cold war has developed between consumer advocacy and privacy watchdogs on one side, and innovative ad tech companies still trying to make advertising better and more relevant. 

This is not a winnable cold war, I’m afraid. Of all the 10 predictions I wrote for the Podcast Business Journal’s inaugural print edition, this was the toughest for me. Which is why left it as a never-ending cold war.

While you wait for episodes eight, nine, and ten to wrap this puppy up, I again leave you with three possible next steps:

• If you have your own predictions about the future of podcast advertising, I’d love to read it! Leave a comment right here or join a few other Podcast Pontifications listeners who have downloaded and joined -- for free-- the app at Flick.group/podcastpontifications