The TV advertising business has changed dramatically over the past two decades. What used to be a relationship-driven industry built around upfront presentations and manual negotiations has turned into a fast-moving, highly automated digital marketplace. As ad dollars have shifted to streaming, the system has become more complex, introducing new challenges like hidden fees and widespread ad fraud.

Matt Wasserlauf, the founder of Blockboard and a longtime veteran of both traditional TV and digital video, has had a front-row seat to that evolution. In a recent interview, he explained why ad fraud has ballooned into a nine-figure problem for the industry, how blockchain-based verification aims to ensure ads are actually reaching real humans, and why he believes as much as 90% of ad spend is lost to fraud and intermediary fees combined.