The End of “Dark Spend”: A Deep Dive with Admixer Media
In the lead-up to MeasureCamp Split 2026, we sat down for an in-depth conversation with Ivana Prakiš, Country Director at Admixer Croatia (Google Ads Sales Representative). We discussed the “visibility gap,” the role of AI in 2026, and why the Adriatic region is becoming a global hub for technical talent.
MC: If you compare digital advertising and analytics five, three years ago, and today, what is the biggest change or ‘megatrend’ in 2026 that has completely redefined the industry?
Ivana: The year 2026 marks the definitive end of the “dark spend” era in advertising. The luxury of ‘guessing’ is gone; every advertising dollar must now demonstrably drive results—either by immediately converting existing demand into sales or by successfully generating new demand for future transactions.
The core obstacle today is not budgetary constraints, but a profound “visibility gap.” Fragmented signals scattered across various platforms leave advertisers operating blind, unable to distinguish which advertising efforts are effectively cultivating desire and which are merely recording the final purchase.
MC: We hear a lot about “Signal Loss.” Can you break down what is actually happening behind the scenes?
Ivana: The industry is grappling with a heavily fragmented data landscape. Advertisers are experiencing significant “signal loss” caused by:
- The deprecation of third-party cookies.
- Browser limitations on first-party cookies and click identifiers (like GCLIDs).
- Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT).
- Stricter user consent requirements.
This has left many advertisers navigating with an “incomplete map,” leading to degraded tracking, measurement capability gaps, and undervalued media investments.
To combat this complexity and data loss, the widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence has become the primary way to keep pace with rapid industry changes. Rather than manually optimizing campaigns, the industry is increasingly relying on advanced models—like Google’s Gemini—to power automated tools.
These AI solutions are now necessary to effectively reach consumers who are seamlessly moving across multiple behaviors, including searching, streaming, scrolling, and shopping.
And because AI is only as good as the data it is fed, the megatrend tying everything together is the shift toward “Data Strength”. To rebuild the conversion map lost to privacy headwinds, advertisers are having to create durable, privacy-centric measurement foundations utilizing their own first-party data.
MC: In a world of increasingly strict privacy regulations and “cookieless” environments, what advice do you have for analysts who feel they are losing data visibility? Is the “golden age of tracking” truly over?
Ivana: The answer is yes and no. The “golden age” of easily accessible, third-party cookie tracking is indeed over. However, we have entered a new era of Privacy-Preserving Measurement that is actually more powerful because it is more durable.
We advocate for measurement that remains effective regardless of the evolving technical landscape. Adopting server-side tagging is key, as it provides greater control and security over your data assets. Furthermore, AI, particularly, is essential for keeping pace with rapid industry shifts. When powered by high-quality first-party data, AI can now automate the detection of anomalies and predict user churn with precision.
While the old tracking methods are gone, modern analysts have an unprecedented opportunity to be strategic. The focus must now be on leveraging Data Strength and seamless AI integration to deliver measurable business ROI.
MC: Artificial intelligence is an inevitable topic, but the real challenge lies in implementing it ethically, humanly, and unobtrusively. How does Admixer help brands move past the hype and actually apply data in a human and discreet way?
Ivana: As Google’s local representative in the Adriatic region, Admixer Media leans on Google tools to help brands apply data in a human and discreet way through the following strategies:
- Focusing on Predictive Rather than Reactive Insights: Generative AI in measurement is no longer just about looking at past traffic. It helps brands leverage Predictive Audiences, which use machine learning to remove subjectivity from segmentation and anticipate a user’s next valuable action without being intrusive.
- Prioritizing Privacy-Centric Foundations: We also advocate for building durable measurement foundations powered by a brand’s own first-party data. This shift away from third-party cookies ensures that data usage is secure and respects user privacy by default.
- Implementing Ethical Data Protection: Through tools like Google Tag Gateway and Confidential Computing, Google ensures that data collection and processing are transparent. This technology uses Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) where data is encrypted, ensuring that no one—including Google—can access the data while it is being processed.
- Deepening Technical Expertise over UI Navigation: Admixer Media encourages analysts to move past the standard user interface and learn how to prompt their data to find “hidden” stories. By exporting raw data to BigQuery and joining it with CRM data, brands gain a 360-degree view of the customer journey, allowing for more relevant and helpful (rather than intrusive) marketing.
Admixer Media utilizes Google’s global training and implementation resources to help local agencies and marketing teams to overcome capability gaps and solve universal challenges, so we hope we’ll be seen as go-to-partners that can help address the challenges that our clients face.
MC: Croatia is a relatively small market when it comes to analytics and data tracking, which sometimes limits the variety of problems we can solve locally. How would you say connecting with international experts changes the perspective of the local team?
Ivana: While smaller markets may face limitations in the variety of problems they can solve locally, tapping into global networks (like Google’s ecosystem) provides resources to expand their perspective.
Local agencies or clients can overcome capability gaps and “cultivate a team of in-house measurement experts” by utilizing global training and implementation resources provided by Google and now Admixer Media as their local representative in Adriatics.
By adopting global frameworks like “Data Strength” and implementing advanced tools like Server-Side GTM or Google Tag Gateway, local teams can solve universal industry challenges like cookie deprecation, privacy headwinds, and signal loss. This empowers them to offer international-tier value and capabilities to their clients.
Based on my experience at global companies like Google and L’Oréal, the expertise within our Adriatics markets is highly advanced—on par with, or even exceeding, some of the biggest global players in the measurement world.
I would always turn to these local teams first to test and provide feedback on any new Global Measurement solutions or frameworks, and would trust they would find the best way to approach it and utilize it to resolve some of the professional problems their clients may have.
MC: What topics do you expect to “explode” at the Session Board? What are we still not talking about enough that we should?
Ivana: I’m particularly interested in exploring the current role of AI in Measurement. Specifically, what tools and functions are Measurement Experts leaning on most, and which AI providers have demonstrated the highest credibility and reliability over the last year.
MC: Digital experts spend a lot of time in front of screens. How do you view the importance of direct, “live” knowledge exchange in such an environment and what was the key motivation for Admixer to continue this partnership this year?
Ivana: We’re here because the best feedback doesn’t come from a support ticket or an email — it comes from a Saturday afternoon chat in a place full of practitioners.
Split and Croatia in general have become a massive hub for technical talent in the Adriatic, and we want to understand how they are actually using Google tools to solve real-world problems. We’re here to listen as much as to share.
This valuable, practical feedback will enable us to better grasp the real-world application of Google Measurement tools within this market. It will also help us identify potential obstacles or opportunities for broader implementation that could ultimately deliver superior results for advertisers and brands.
MC: This is your second year at MedILS. Apart from the technical discussions, how much does the atmosphere of Split and the Mediterranean influence the way we approach solving professional problems?
Ivana: Enjoying technical discussions with a cold drink and a view of one of the world’s most beautiful coastlines makes the entire experience much more desirable and pleasurable.
So cheers for organizing this and let’s have our fingers crossed for super sunny weather!
Join the Conversation!
From deep technical dives into signal loss to the future of AI-driven optimization, these are the conversations that will define MeasureCamp Split 2026.
The event takes place on Saturday, May 16th at the stunning MedILS (Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences).
🎟️ Final tickets are still available! Batch #3 is currently live. Don’t miss your chance to grab a spot at the Adriatic’s favorite analytics Saturday.
