This chart tells you all you need to know about what public investors think of ad tech right now.
A half dozen ad tech companies have gotten nuked this year while the broader market is relatively steady, up ~14% from this time last year.
Tom Dotan at The Information says this public market trouble is infecting the funding of private markets. Dotan doesn't cite any examples other OpenX, which we've previously reported struggled to raise money.
Why are ad tech companies getting destroyed?
We have yet to hear a really satisfying answer. People toss out theories that ad tech is too complicated for public investors to full grasp. And maybe that's true, but if there's money to be made, investors will figure it out. Other people say there are too many companies chasing too few ad dollars. This seems more likely.
We're asking around... but in the meanwhile, if you have some ideas, toss them in the comments.
