PubMatic Raises $13M; Facebook Versus Twitter

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Programmatic Growth

Sell-side platform PubMatic raised $13 million, according to Re/code, to aid its expansion internationally and to improve its platform. Although PubMatic’s valuation remains a mystery, the company has raised $76 million to date. “The globalization of real-time bidding has taken place,” said CEO and co-founder Rajeev Goel. “But it has to be cross-platform and work as a single platform across mobile and video and whatever devices consumers are using.” Read more. PubMatic investors are on pins and needles over the Rubicon Project IPO. If Rubicon succeeds, PubMatic could follow quickly into the public markets.

LinkedIn’s Q4 ‘Inflection’ Point

Professional social platform LinkedIn beat analysts’ Q4 revenue estimates of $437.8 million, coming in at $447.2 million for the quarter (a 47% increase from 2012 Q4 revenue of $303.6 million). But, like Twitter, which in its first earnings call as a public company yesterday showed the same struggle to create lasting user engagement, LinkedIn saw its stock price dip in the 7-10% range in extended trading. “As we enter 2014, LinkedIn stands at an inflection point,” Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, said during the Q4 call, citing that five years ago, the platform was largely “aspirational.” Read more.

The Social Debate

Steve Tappin, host of BBC’s CEO Guru, takes to PandoDaily and draws comparisons between Facebook and Twitter as both public social companies compete for the “millennial” audience. In his analysis Tappin decides that Facebook is better at connecting with people whereas Twitter is better at serving up information. As Q4 earnings for both companies revealed, Facebook is profitable while Twitter is not. Read on. Mobile is a huge focus for both companies, especially when it comes to advertising, and both are working on exchanges that could drive more ad revenue.

Measure Wars

There is no shortage of website measurement tools, but each one has its own formula, as GigaOM points out. Upworthy’s solution is “Attention Minutes,” which considers mouse movement, open browser tabs, videos playing and more to arrive at a metric. The tool could ultimately help publishers see which types of posts get the most engagement. Read more.

Mobile Video Exchange

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When News Becomes Entertainment; Check That Off The List

Vungle wants to build an in-app mobile video exchange and raised $17 million to help realize this goal in a round of Series B funding. According to TechCrunch, CEO Zain Jaffer hopes to attract brand advertisers to the platform. The company plans to launch more monetization products later this year. Read more.

Push And Pull

When it comes to push notifications, there is a fine line between in-the-moment marketing, and alienating consumers, as Yodel’s media operations director, Tim Pemberton, explains. In order to make the most out of push notifications, Pemberton suggests… Read the rest.

Havas Shopping

French holding company Havas Group is sniffing around potential acquisition targets, CEO Yannick Bolloré (son of billionaire investor Vincent Bolloré) tells The Wall Street Journal. The company is looking in Asia, South America, Europe and the United States. But don’t look for a deal on the scale of Publicis-Omnicom. “As a global player, it is important to maintain agility. If a company gets too big, it becomes slow to adapt to a changing environment,” he said. So, buy more!

Earnings