The transformation of the advertising ecosystem has ceased to be a hypothesis and has become a tangible fact. This is what the day reflected “Advertising in the ‘digital jungle’: opportunities, challenges and risks”, organized yesterday by the Union of Open Commercial Televisions (UTECA) at the Telefónica Foundation Space. Throughout the morning, more than twenty experts from different fields—from regulation to marketing to journalism—analyzed the challenges posed by an environment dominated by large technology platforms and marked by opacity, fragmentation and loss of trust.
The president of UTECA, Eduardo Olano, opened the day with a resounding speech, in which he vindicated the role of television as a responsible and safe medium. “The excellent social valuation of television contrasts with that of social networks,” he stated. He denounced the platforms’ lack of commitment to the protection of minors and the veracity of audience data, and appealed directly to advertisers: “They will only change when they see their advertising revenue seriously reduced, and that is only in the hands of advertisers, who have the ability to force changes in the way they operate.”
From the regulatory field, the vice president of the CNMC, Ángel García-Castillejo, defended the urgency of approving the democratic media governance law as a “democratic imperative” and a key tool to guarantee transparency, pluralism and traceability. He called for flexible regulation, adapted to new technological challenges, but firm in protecting against misinformation and demanding objective metrics. “Coregulation is presented as an effective way,” he stated, insisting on inter-administrative collaboration.
Lawyer Thomas Höppner, co-author of the Weaponized Opacity report, intervened by videoconference to explain how the lack of transparency on digital platforms harms advertisers, consumers and traditional media alike. In his opinion, the so-called “walled gardens” They prevent informed decisions, artificially raise prices and distort competition.
The round tables that followed served to deepen the conclusions. In “Transparency, measurement and credibility”, moderated by José Luis Pérez, the representatives of Atresmedia, Publiespaña, AIMC, Carat, the Spanish Association of Advertisers and the Nebrija-Presidentex Observatory agreed on the need to move towards a unified, verifiable and independent measurement system. It was reported that while television stations invest in transparent measurement, the platforms avoid any external control: if they agreed to be measured, “their business would fall.”
In the block “Safe, responsible and reliable environments”, moderated by Rafael Latorre, journalists such as Sandra Golpe, Carlos Franganillo, Encarna Samitier, Nacho Cardero and José Luis Hornillos defended the value of verified information. Golpe stressed the importance of adapting to new formats without losing rigor, Franganillo warned of the risk of being carried away by virality and Samitier recalled that “Having a fire extinguisher does not make you a firefighter”: not everyone who spreads information is a journalist.
Chema García, CEO of Dos 30, presented a barometer that reinforces that perception: 84% of citizens ask that platforms and influencers be subject to the same controls as television. 94% defend quality free television, 72.4% remember TV ads better and 63.4% trust brands that advertise on this medium more, compared to 12.1% who cite social networks.
The last panel, moderated by Marta Perlado, explored the “new paths of advertising.” Experts from Moeve, Publiespaña, PwC, Atresmedia and IE Business School participated. Félix Muñoz warned about the disorder caused by artificial intelligence and the absence of rules; Juan Manuel Ramírez defended returning to the emotional purpose; José Miguel García-Gasco called for fair regulation; and Pepa Rojo recalled that, despite algorithms, “intuition is still human.”
The closing was carried out by the general director of UTECA, Emilio Lliteras, who reiterated television’s commitment to a more ethical and sustainable advertising model. In an environment of inflated metrics and opaque data, the conclusion was unanimous: only with trust, traceability and responsibility can a balanced future be built for advertisers, media and citizens.