ABOUT THIS EPISODE
What happens when one of the world's most influential technology companies turns its focus to the future of advertising?
For nearly 50 years, Microsoft has helped shape personal computing, enterprise software, search, gaming, and cloud technology — and today it's investing heavily in AI. Our guest has had a front-row seat to that evolution: from AppNexus and the rise of programmatic advertising, to helping build Xandr's video and connected TV business across Asia Pacific, and now leading Microsoft's Monetize Partnerships business across Japan and Asia Pacific.
Tom Dover, Senior Director, JAPAC Partner Sales Lead at Microsoft Advertising, joins Daevid Richards and Paul Luckett to trace his 15+ year career across IBM, AppNexus, Xandr and Microsoft — and unpack what Microsoft's advertising stack actually looks like today, from the buy side to the sell side, LinkedIn's data spine, Xbox and gaming monetization, and how Microsoft is helping publishers navigate an AI-driven internet where referral traffic is down and content usage by LLMs is reshaping the economics of publishing.
Chapters:0:00 – Cold Open: Microsoft's Bet on the Future of Advertising0:44 – Meet Tom Dover1:25 – Welcome to Media Tech Talk1:35 – Calling In From North Sydney2:16 – From a Humanities Degree to IBM to AppNexus4:43 – Working Alongside AppNexus Co-Founder Brian O'Kelley6:53 – Inside the Early Days of Programmatic Advertising10:46 – From Servers Under the Desk to Cloud-Scale Data Centers12:17 – Building Xandr's APAC Video & BVOD Business16:50 – One of the Few Ad Server Challengers to Google17:42 – What Microsoft Advertising Actually Does Today20:15 – Xbox, Gaming & In-App Monetization24:10 – What Publishers Are Telling Microsoft Right Now26:38 – Referral Traffic, Microsoft Clarity & the Publisher Content Marketplace29:07 – Microsoft Invest Is Gone — What Comes Next?30:02 – Coming Up in Part 2Guest:
- Tom Dover, Senior Director, JAPAC Partner Sales Lead – Microsoft Advertising
- https://linkedin.com/in/tom-dover-9b3a3122
- https://about.ads.microsoft.com/
Hosts:
- Daevid Richards
- https://linkedin.com/in/daevidrichards/
- Paul Luckett
- https://linkedin.com/in/paul-luckettHashtags:#MediaTechTalk #MicrosoftAdvertising #AdTech #Programmatic #Xandr #AppNexus #CTV #Publishing #AI #DigitalAdvertising #Podcast
