Yahoo! Files Futures Trading Patent Application; Facebook Cracks comScore Top 10; GroupM Targeting With APAC DSP

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

Futures Trading Imminent?

“Techniques are described herein for monetizing page views on an exchange using futures contracts” – that’s the beginning of a patent application filed by Yahoo! on February 17. Inventors listed are Margasahayam Srinivas and Satish Mehta are listed as the inventors. Kurt Bakke observes on the Motley Fool, “[The process outlined in the patent] could add a speculative component to the advertising market that gives even publishers — who initially would sell those futures contracts as the right to place advertising on their site at a specific date — an additional revenue opportunity.” Read more.

Top Ad Nets For January

ComScore released its mostly pay-for-play list of top ad networks by reach in the United States for January of 2011. According to comScore, “Facebook.com crossed into the top 10 for the first time in January with a 72.3% reach” as the social ad business continued its momentum. If Facebook had an ad network beyond its own site, it would be interesting to see how close to 100% reach for the U.S.’s online population it could achieve. Read more (PDF).

Data Cashback Offer!

VisualDNA (AdExchanger.com Q&A) is letting consumers see how valuable their data is on a new website. According to an article in the UK’s New Media Age, “The site, which draws on the concept of cashback sites, invites users to answer questions about their entertainment, travel, utility, clothing, gadgets and shopping preferences.” Read it.

DSPs And Brand Safety

Mediaplex senior product manager George Allen offers “Tips for getting started with DSPs” on iMedia Connection. He begins by suggesting retargeting is the way to go for brand safety reasons, “By bidding on your existing customer base, you can be confident that your ads will be displayed to the right audience in the right place.” Read more.

Search Retargeting Types

On the Simpli.fi blog, CEO Frost Prioleau breaks down two types of search retargeting in display advertising: audience segment and keyword-level. The audience segment version he describes as a “single audience segment [which] is created from all users who have searched on a list of terms within a specified period of time.” Read more.

GroupM Targeting With APAC DSP

India’s afaq’s ad trade publication is reporting that WPP Group’s media buying and planning unit, GroupM, is planning on rolling out a demand-side platform which will be devoted to targeting Asia-Pacific audience. From the article: “In India, the DSP is expected to be established either by the end of this year or early 2012. Tushar Vyas, managing partner, South Asia, GroupM, has confirmed the development to afaqs!.” Read more.

Finnegan Lives

Sean Finnegan surfaces in his new role at IPG’s Geomentum and tells ClickZ’s Douglas Quenqua about his current initiatives around Geomentum’s local ads focus, “I’m refocusing our efforts in the area of client service, insights and technology to be more of an organic benefit to our client base.” Read it.

Adding Representation

Gorilla Nation owner, Evolve Media Corp., is on the acquisition trail and has picked up a niche property called PlayStationLifeStyle to add to its “gamer” property known as Game Revolution. PlayStationLifeStyle had 169,000 unique visitors per month according to ComScore in December of 2010. Read the release.

Social Gamer Audience

Speaking of gamers, curious about the “social gamer audience”? Flurry may have the answer as they’ve released data which shows that there are a lot more women playing on social gaming platforms as compared to traditional console gaming. Age, geo and other data and visuals is avaialable here on the Flurry blog.

Answer Is: Regulation

LUMA Partners’ ecosystem map takes a bow in a Fox News article on web browsing which suggests that government regulation is the answer. Fox News’ John Brandon writes, “What’s unclear about Web tracking is who is doing it, how they are using the data and who buys it.” Read more.

Losing Your Lunch

Operative CEO Mike Leo comes up for air on the Operative blog and writes, “Do you depend on someone to run your business whose business goal is to eat your lunch?” He notes PaidContent’s Andrew Wallenstein recent article yesterday “about Netflix’s recent 10-K filing in which they disclosed the risks associated with their Amazon partnership.” Read more about potentially losing your lunch.

More Poaching

Facebook is at it again as they’ve lured away an executive from Google. According to the New York Times, “Facebook has hired Alexandre Hohagen, the top Google executive in Latin America, to be its vice president for sales in the region.” Read more.

You’re Hired!

Marketshare Partners announced that its expanding globally and “named Jeanette Carlsson EVP and Managing Director/EMEA, and Shigeyuki Tomomatsu as EVP and Managing Director/Japan.” Read the release.
But Wait. There’s More!