How Ekstra Bladet kept political ads live under TTPA and beat budget by 5x with Livewrapped
The EU’s TTPA (Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising) rules were designed to make political advertising clearer for readers, but they created a problem for publishers.
Political ads had to be clearly labelled and show the sponsor, and they also had to explain which election they related to. If personal data was used, publishers needed specific consent for political advertising, and the normal consent route couldn't provide that. Many large platforms and SSPs stepped back, so publishers needed another way to keep political ads live.
We spoke to Søren Johansen, Head of Ad Operations, Ad Tech & Products at JP/Politikens Hus, about how Livewrapped, in partnership with Adnuntius, helped Denmark's largest news site keep campaigns running.
**When the TTPA came into effect, what were the biggest operational challenges Ekstra Bladet faced in continuing to accept political advertising? **
SJ: There was real scepticism at first, because when big platforms like Google/Meta decide political advertising is too complicated, a publisher has to ask whether it can solve the problem safely. Ekstra Bladet is Denmark's largest news publisher and we sell most political advertising as sponsorships, so the challenge was executing those campaigns without the ad server route.
On the other hand, compared with global platforms like Google and Meta, we had fewer moving parts to work around. That made it easier to adapt the ad stack quickly once the team had found a route that worked. Political intent could appear outside party campaigns, including union messaging, so our adops team still had to make judgement calls.
Every ad also needed a visible political label, and that label had to send readers to a transparency page, which named the sponsor and explained the campaign goal. The page also had to show the budget and running period.
**How did your adops team adapt its workflows to remain compliant while still giving political advertisers a way to reach your audience? **
SJ: The team had to move quickly, because everything came together almost overnight once the election was called. The partnership gave us a way to route political ads outside the normal ad server flow and render them directly through Prebid. While Adnuntius supported the campaign execution and transparency layer, Livewrapped provided the alternative rendering path through Prebid. Some formats, including high-impact executions, still had to be solved while the campaign period was already moving. Once the first campaigns had gone through the process, though, the workflow became routine.
**Many publishers relied on traditional programmatic workflows before these regulations. How did the new approach compare in terms of implementation, complexity and day-to-day management? **
SJ: It was more complex than a normal campaign setup, because we suddenly had two ad server routes to manage. Forecasting had to be rethought, and campaign priority needed closer attention. The first couple of weeks also pushed parts of the stack that had never been used in that way - we ended up touching every corner of the setup and knocked the rust off things that hadn't been stress-tested before.
The upside was that we already had Livewrapped as a partner. They brought a wealth of local knowledge, and their CTO, Björn Andersson, is the most responsive contact I've ever worked with.
**What impact has Livewrapped’s solution had on your political advertising business? **
SJ: Without the Livewrapped route, we wouldn't have had the dynamic setup we needed. The likely alternative would have been hardcoded ads, which would have meant more manual handling and less flexibility. Instead, the team had its best digital sales month ever, and political advertising came in at around 5x above the expected budget.
That result was striking because the team had feared advertisers might hold back. Once the setup worked, budgets grew through the campaign period, and the withdrawal of some large platforms pushed more money towards publisher-owned media.
Looking ahead, what advice would you give to other publishers preparing for stricter political advertising regulations or facing similar platform restrictions?
SJ: The first lesson is to start early, but not to assume that being early protects you from disruption. We thought we were ahead of the process, but the rules of the game still shifted as large platforms pulled out and internal interpretations of the regulation developed.
Better protection lies in having partners who can adapt when the situation changes, because that will probably happen. I think this setup will be useful beyond this election period, especially if future EU rules affect sensitive areas such as gambling or advertising around children’s products. It could also act as a fallback if wider political instability creates new platform restrictions. Having a parallel setup that can activate within minutes is a practical form of resilience.
***When platforms decide regulated advertising is too complicated, you don't have to walk away from it. Talk to the Livewrapped team about building a parallel setup that keeps political and other sensitive campaigns live, and ready to activate within minutes.