SingTel Buys Adconion; Opera Mediaworks May Grab AdColony

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SingTel Buys Ads

Singapore Telecom is acquiring Adconion for $235 million and Kontera for $150 million. The acquisition was processed through the Asia telecom’s mobile ad subsidiary, Amobee, which has platform dreams. With the deals, CEO Mark Strecker says, “Amobee offers the most advanced mobile advertising technology and solutions to large advertisers and publishers on a global scale.” Press release.

Opera Too

TechCrunch reports that Opera Mediaworks may be about to acquire mobile video ad startup AdColony for up to $275 million. TechCrunch opines that “given Opera’s interests in connected TVs, you can see where a video-focused play makes a lot of sense.” Read more. In January, AdColony said it had passed a $100 million gross ad revenue revenue run rate on an annual basis. Read the release.

Internalizing Media

Progressive is the latest brand to bypass agencies and bring programmatic in-house. Adweek reports on the company’s work with Turn, which follows internalization moves by Kimberly-Clark, Unilever, Kellogg’s and others. Some argue big agencies such as Starcom and OMD still have the competitive edge. “Programmatic buying is ridiculously complex,” one anonymous source told Adweek. “We will beat you every time at the auction.” Read on.

Levinsohn Out At Guggenheim

Ross Levinsohn is leaving his post as CEO of Guggenheim Digital Media after joining the investment firm in January 2013. Formerly the interim CEO of Yahoo, where he was instrumental in the 2011 acquisition of Interclick, Levinsohn oversaw investments in digital properties and managed company-owned publications such as the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Adweek. During his time at Guggenheim, Levinsohn bid to buy both Hulu and Vevo but neither deal came to fruition. His destination is unknown. Read more via Re/code.

Retargeting The Data

Shopzilla is pooling together the data it collects across e-commerce sites and using the integrated insights to let marketers bid on and place targeted Internet ads. Shopzilla formally (re)launched its Connexity division on Monday. Read more at Internet Retailer. As faithful readers may recall, Connexity is the name of the media-buying platform the company acquired in early 2014.

Brand Exec Hires Continue

Google recently appointed Erica Bigley as a Strategic Partner Lead, continuing the company’s hiring trend of tapping brand marketers for in-house posts. Previously, Bigley served as digital media manager for Ford beginning in 2011. For Ford, Bigley drove digital media strategy and budgets, coordinated media launches and sales events and led an agency team to align corporate goals, according to her LinkedIn profile.

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