Influencer Marketing Goes Programmatic; Wrangler Sees Good Results From Content Marketing

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Under The Influence

Influencer targeting firm ROI Influencer Media debuted a partnership with some leading exchanges – DoubleClick, Rubicon, OpenX and PubMatic – to allow native “influencer inventory” to be included in a programmatic buy. Adweek notes social personalities have right of refusal on advertisers. More. It isn’t the first attempt to tame influencer marketing by putting buys on a programmatic footing. GroupM and the content creator network Fullscreen formed a joint venture this year to apply media agency oversight and measurability to influencer campaigns [AdExchanger coverage]. The trick is to offer inventory that “allows agencies to see everything in an organized way and allows influencers to still control their feeds,” ROI Media CEO Seth Kean tells Adweek.

Giddy-Up

Wrangler’s content marketing site has turned into a nice side gig. Launched in 2013, wranglernetwork.com houses lifestyle content and news around Western culture (and couture). Initially intended to drive brand awareness, the site now sees 1 million monthly visitors and has grown its ad revenue 100% since last year. It’s expanded beyond standard banners to sponsorship opportunities from well-known brands like Yeti and MGM Grand. It’s even inked a country music streaming partnership with Universal Music Group. It’s a nice case story of a brand embracing innovation to grow its audience. “We’ll continue to shift our media mix to digital in general, specifically to more social and to the Wrangler Network as well after seeing what it can do,” said Craig Errington, VP of marketing communications. More at WSJ.

MRC Gets Physical

The Media Rating Council has cracked open its next can of worms. On Wednesday, the industry auditor circulated a draft version of its guidelines for the measurement of digital location-based advertising for public comment. It’s 48 pages long, but a few takeaways for you: Privacy is paramount (always get user opt-in), accuracy is king (use algorithms to detect fishy patterns) and trust but verify (audit your location vendor partners at least once a year).

Selling Video

Amazon is seeing early (albeit limited) returns on its Video Direct service, reports Sahil Patel at Digiday. Amazon pitched the service as a YouTube rival, and Patel cites a couple of production companies that have seen Amazon beat Google’s monetization engine. The real use case seems to be for indie filmmakers. “Boondock Saints” streamed 500,000 hours in October (for a total of about $75,000 in ad revenue, per Amazon’s 15-cent-per-hour rate for US viewing). More.

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