Buddy Media Gets $54 Million For Social Ads; On Ad Networks And ATDs; Australia 2011 Display Grows 12%

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Buddy Media Gets $54 Million

Social advertising gets another boost from the venture capital ecosystem as All Things D’s Peter Kafka reports that social ad platform Buddy Media has raised another $54 million (total raise for all rounds: $90 million.). Kafka noes, “None of the money will go to employee or early investors, says Buddy Media CEO Mike Lazerow; instead it will be used to fuel expansion in Europe and to double the size of the company’s staff.” Read more.

Ad Networks Vs ATDs

AudienceScience President Jeff Hirsch writes on iMedia Connection that ad networks are misunderstood. In fact, he continues saying, “Some agency executives are claiming that networks are only espousing their virtues in a desperate attempt to protect their business models. I would like to illuminate some facts here.” Hirsch then shines his light and offers among other points: “The argument that trading desks and DSPs are going to replace networks is counter-productive. These are merely technologies that put the building of a network into the hands of the operator and make it easier to get started. Agencies currently building trading desks are essentially building their own networks that they can then put to work for their clients. Conflict of interest? Perhaps. Valuable? Absolutely.” Read more.

Aussie Digital, Display Revs

In Australia, new figures from that country’s IAB show digital advertising continues its climb. According to AdNews Weniel Ma, “Online advertising hit $2.45 billion in the year ending 30 June, an increase of 20%, however retail and FMCG brands still lag in taking advantage of the fast-growing channel.” Read more. And, read the IAB Australia’s press release which reports, “The general display market grew 12 percent reaching $612m for FY11.”

interclick Reports Q2

Online ad network and ad technology company interclick announced its second quarter 2011 earnings last week and the results continued to be positive as the company offered the quarterly highlights: “Revenue was $29.0 million, an increase of 34% year-over-year, meeting the Company’s most recent guidance; (…) EBITDA was $2.6 million, up 7% year-over-year, exceeding guidance.” Read the earnings release (PDF). The equity analyst at Janney Capital thought enough of the earnings report as to issue a “Buy” recommendation for interclick’s stock. And according to Reuters, interclick sees full-year 2011 revenues at $142 million. Read it. So think about Dotomi making $80 million and Criteo saying it will be making $200 million this year: data-driven media buying is growing quickly. A replay of the earnings call is available here.

Big Data Games

Google has announced its Google + solution for the sticky world of casual games. Read more on the Google blog. This is no fun and games news item. Considering the massive amount of time that individual users spend playing games online, this is potentially yet another important data grab by Google. PC Mag’s Mark Hackman writes, “To play [the games], users need to give permission to the app to view a variety of personal information, including the user’s email address, ‘basic information about your account,’ and even a list of people that you have placed in your Circles, with the order or priority of them.” Read more.

Google’s Mobile Ad Business

MediaPost’s Mark Walsh looks at recent Millennial Media data which shows, “In March 2010, Apple’s iOS platform accounted for 70% of ad impressions on Millennial Media’s mobile ad network. As of the second quarter, that commanding share has dwindled to 27%, while Google’s rival Android platform has surged to claim 54% of impressions.” Read more about Google on the march in mobile.

Mobile Speak

Privacy Choice’s Jim Brock makes an appearance in an article about mobile website privacy policies on The New York Times. The NYT’s Tanzina Vego quotes Brock as saying, “Everybody complains that no one reads privacy policies and that privacy policies are too long and too difficult. The mobile environment requires you to say things very succinctly, and it requires you to say things in layers.” Privacy Choice hopes to simplify the business of mobile privacy. Read how.

The Pipes of Mobile

On Ad Age, Crisp Media CTO Xavier Facon doesn’t believe in the “broken pipes” analogy in mobile advertising but does see a few clogs that need some digital Drano. Facon debunks each clog to a degree and in regards to mobile ad measurement challenges, he sees a bright side, “Let’s not forget that CTRs have already proven to be completely inadequate as a measure of campaign performance and improved engagement, but post-click metrics address this issue.” Read more.

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