In this week's member guest blog post we hear from Tanisha Briere-Edney, Group Director, DoubleVerify, as she explores social media’s shift toward a more programmatic future. She examines how platforms are enhancing measurability, embracing AI-powered optimisation, and introducing tools like pre-bid suitability controls to meet growing advertiser demand for transparency and outcomes. As social evolves beyond reach into a true performance channel, Tanisha outlines what brands need to do to stay ahead.
While the fundamental drive for advertisers to achieve measurable outcomes is not a new concept, what has shifted is the velocity and sophistication with which media investments are being reallocated across digital channels, and the heightened emphasis brands are placing on transparent measurement.
This shift is intensifying competition between digital environments and putting performance under greater scrutiny. Brands now demand more accountability across their digital investments, including social platforms.
To meet these expectations and compete with the open web, social platforms are prioritising measurability and evolving towards a programmatic-like ecosystem.
So, does this mean a new era for social platforms?
Social platforms are rapidly developing new capabilities to produce more intelligent, outcome-based campaigns, largely powered by agentic AI. They are becoming more interoperable by integrating features that allow advertisers to apply open web thinking to social buys. For example, these platforms are advancing how impressions are bought and managed with DSP-like features such as custom bidding, pre-bid suitability filters, and greater transparency around performance. This gives advertisers more ways to optimise their campaigns toward the business outcomes that matter.
In particular, pre-bid brand suitability controls that are traditionally associated with the open web are now being adopted within walled gardens. Having these tools means advertisers can better align social campaigns with brand values, even within environments shaped by user-generated content. This helps to reduce waste against content categories that are misaligned with the brand’s key audience. For example, a finance brand targeting ads against kids’ cartoons is simply a waste, unless you have a savvy toddler ready to invest in their Junior ISA.
These tools also extend to media quality signals such as attention, viewability, and contextual relevance. This is helping advertisers to drive quality media outcomes and ensure spend is delivering value.
For DoubleVerify, this means helping brands apply the same standards to social media that they apply across the rest of their digital media mix, where all buys are looked at holistically with the same unified methodology. Measuring media now becomes less about impressions and more about outcomes.
The evolution of social reflecting a programmatic ecosystem is still unfolding, but the direction of travel is clear: social is no longer just a reach play, it’s a results channel. As platforms are opening up, advertisers are leaning in, and the tech stack is getting smarter by the day. To keep up, advertisers need to bring their most sophisticated strategies to social; leveraging AI-powered tools, outcome-based KPIs, and independent verification to drive meaningful impact
