The Complex, Digital Ad Tech Landscape; Business Insider's Blodget Reviews RadiumOne; Meebo Leveraging The Algo | AdExchanger

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Landscape On Display

In an article in The Wall Street Journal, The WSJ’s Emily Steel looks at the big, digital ad ecosystem and says, “Seeking to milk the huge growth in online advertising, a rush of technology firms have emerged in recent years pitching an array of techniques for buying, targeting and measuring digital ads. But the raft of newcomers has created a complex landscape that has left marketers confused.” I love it! Read more. LUMA’s Terence Kawaja has the last word, “Wouldn’t it just be better if someone brought together a bunch of these companies to make it simpler? That’s the Holy Grail.”

Blodget On RadiumOne

Henry Blodget looks in-depth at RadiumOne and its founder Gurbaksh Chahal in a lengthy feature article on The Business Insider. Among the suggestions in the piece is that Chahal and his investors may have been less than upfront about their intentions when taking meetings with Media6Degrees -and before announcing RadiumOne, whose business model is predicated on social targeting. Read it. Chahal responds to Blodget in the comments of the article and says, “Most people look up to my story and book as hope in their entrepreneurial journey. This article or your negativity, won’t take that away.” Read it. To which, Blodget responds, “You SHOULD be proud of your work as an entrepreneur. It’s extremely impressive. I’m sorry you find the fact that folks have a wide range of opinions about you as ‘negativity’. You’re controversial. That’s okay.” Read more.

Media6 Gets Googler

Meanwhile, over at Media6Degrees, Ad Age’s Michael Learnmonth reports that the company has poached a Googler: “Penry Price, one of Google’s best-known sales executives, is leaving the company after seven years to join startup Media6Degrees as president.” Read more. Learmonth says that Price will report to Media6Degrees CEO Tom Phillips.

Checking In On Websites, Too

And you thought checking-in was something you just did through Foursquare or some other location-based app that links you to the real-world. Well, Meebo may be putting the Mindset Media ad technology that it acquired in February to work. The NY Times’ Tanzina Vega reports,”Using what [Meebo President Martin] Green called a ‘super secret algorithm,’ (…) regular visitors who check in to any of the 8,000 Web sites in Meebo’s network will soon be able to achieve V.I.P. status and earn rewards from businesses, or suggestions for content they might like.” Read more about the algo.

Will Clients Ever Learn?

Digital marketing analyst and world traveler Joanna O’Connell has returned from her trip to Singapore for a Microsoft audience targeting event and just-in-time to share a couple observations on her Forrester Research blog. Though APAC agencies are moving forward on audience targeting strategies, O’Connell laments, “Their clients aren’t doing much to help them change the status quo. I heard about click-based measurement, 2-3 week campaigns that leave little time for optimization and meaningful learnings, and, overall, sub-optimal investments in digital relative to traditional media.” Read more.

Picking RTB Cherries

ClickZ’s Jack Marshall talks to Nexage and learns that “the company tested its new real-time bidding (RTB) Exchange during the first two weeks of May with 12 to 15 of its publisher clients, and found ads sold across those properties in real-time attracted 34 percent higher click through rates than those that weren’t.” Cherry picking works. Read more.

Video DSP Billions

In a Beet.tv video interview, TubeMogul marketing maven David Burch tells viewers that his company is seeing 5 billion ad auctions daily through online video ad demand-side platform. See it.

Display Lifts Brands

Emarketer repurposes recent data from a KN Dimestore and Lotame-sponsored study which it says shows, “Display campaigns may not often get credited with the last click before a conversion, but their value as a branding tool continues to be borne out.” See the visuals. For display ad sellers everywhere.

A Pox On The Creative Technologist

On Ad Age, CTO John Mayo-Smith of R/GA advocates asks readers to look inside their inner-agency and see if there’s enough tech understanding goin’ on with the creative side of the house. He challenges, “Culture and business models, not titles, are what make agencies digital. So while agencies rooted in traditional media eagerly add positions like ‘creative technologist’ to their ranks, digitally confident agencies are doing the exact opposite.” Read more.

Data Tidal Wave Coming

APAC’s Campaign trade publication features an interview with Arun Kumar, head of digital for Asia-Pacific at Mediabrands. According to Campaign, “Kumar says that as more and more measurement data becomes available, the situation will worsen before it gets better. ‘The situation has become far more complex, you’ve got more players between the clients and the publishers…'” Read more and see the video.

Tracking Engagement

In the Unicast Q1 2011 Benchmark Report, the company produces a few data nuggets including, “CPG/Food (59 seconds), Consumer Electronics (48 seconds), and Internet/Services (37 seconds) returned the highest average engagement times of all verticals.” Bet you didn’t know that? Read the release. You did? Download the report (PDF).

Internet Week In NYC

It’s Internet Week in NYC this week as media and tech merge over IP and cocktails. If you’re in the city, The WSJ’s busy reporter Emily Steel writes, “Plenty of celebrities will be heading to town. Tyra Banks will be hosting a tea party with Web publisher Demand Media Inc. Hip-hop star Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas will sit for an interview during Federated Media Publishing’s Conversational Marketing Summit.” Read more.

New Website!

Publisher predictive analytics and technology company Yieldex has launched a new website. See it now.

But Wait. There’s More!