The Data In Mobile; Programmatic Overhaul

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Mobile Money

A survey released at the IAB’s Mobile conference looking at how smartphone users interact with their finances (you did remember to file your taxes, didn’t you?) finds that nearly two out of three respondents (58%) regularly use their bank’s mobile app, while another 25% are aware of the app, but have yet to use it. What are they waiting for? “Most financial apps already contain rock-solid security, but consumers seem not to be as plugged into that fact,” said Anna Bager, head of the IAB’s mobile marketing center of excellence. And of course, more financial intent will be captured on mobile devices. Read the release. Meanwhile, researcher IDC sees mobile ad momentum coming from brands. Read about it.

Programmatic Overhaul

Undertone’s Eric Franchi calls for publishers to “clean up the clutter” in programmatic advertising on The Guardian. “This oversupply of ad inventory – fuelled by the programmatic era – is not only exceeding publishers’ ability to sell, it is arguably leading digital advertising into a dark age,” Franchi argues. One solution, according to Franchi, is to reduce the number of ads on pages and make the remaining ones bigger. Read more.

Video Coupon Clips

Mobile coupons got a lot of attention two years ago, when the likes of Google and the Associated Press began producing virtual circulars for smartphones. But things quieted down as mobile ad spending continued along its fast, if diffuse, growth patterns. Now, the WSJ and Fox News, both News Corp. properties, are turning to mDialog to produce mobile video coupons as a way to build up rich media and smartphone placements. “It’s an opportunity to fill inventory in a creative way,” Jeff Misenti, chief digital officer for Fox News Digital, told Adweek’s Christopher Heine. Read the rest.

Cookie Collapse?

In another story filed from AdExchanger’s Programmatic IO conference this week, ClickZ’s Susan Kuchinskas weighs in on the impact browser cookie-blocking policies could have on the online ad space. AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley isn’t too worried about the collapse of retargeting should cookie-based behavioral tracking become more difficult, though he does acknowledge that buyers and sellers would take a hit. That said, he was understanding of the privacy impulse. “Retargeting might perform well, but it’s creepy,” O’Kelley said. Read more.

Data Galore

People who use mobile IM/chat apps are 30% more likely to be interested in receiving ads on their phone, according to data pulled from a new Experian database. The Simmons Connect database contains a trove of behavioral information from 25,000 US adults who agreed to have measurement apps installed on their smartphones, tablets, and computers, as well as consumer data from TVs, radio, magazines, newspapers, gaming consoles, and MP3 players. Marketers and agencies can use the data to “understand with greater detail the behaviors of their custom-defined consumer target,” Experian claims. Read the release.

Backward Digital

Rubicon Project CEO Frank Addante follows up colleague Ed Carey’s piece on Programmatic Sales on AdExchanger with a piece of his own on digital ad sales in MediaPost. He writes, “To sell enterprise software, sales employees are trained to sell through channels. They do everything possible to enable the channel. (…) In digital advertising, we have it backwards.” Read more.

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