South Africa, Sept. 11 -- Brands that mastered strategies such as lookalike audiences, interest targeting, behavioural signals, demographic segmentation and continuous optimisation usually had an edge over their competitors.

Today, however, brands can no longer count on smarter targeting as a major differentiator. After years of advances in artificial intelligence (AI), most advertisers have access to the same tools and algorithms on programmatic advertising platforms. AI solutions such as Meta's Advantage+ campaigns, Google's Performance Max and TikTok's Smart Performance Campaigns make automated targeting decisions in real time on advertisers' behalf.

While this saves time, improves accuracy and reduces manual effort, it also means yo...