Yes, it’s that time again. More ad exchange-related news!
Kevin Lee sings the praises of search retargeting on ClickZ and encourages everyone to take advantage of Yahoo!’s offering. We could not agree more that this type of retargeting hold great promise as a killer behavioral targeting solution – especially if Google can unleash its enormous treasure chest of search data after overcoming privacy concerns as we’ve discussed prior.
From Wendy Davis of MediaPost comes word of a lawsuit about a law firm (but of course!) suing Google for ads that appear from a rival law firm in search engine result pages (SERPs) presumably when the suing firm’s name is input into the search engine. Think this sort of competitive opportunity is in play with search retargeting? Big time.
Former Platform-A executive Lynda Clarizio checks in to echo concerns about declining CPMs and publisher revenues. Clarizio tells Kenneth Corbin of InternetNews.com that publishers need to “be really smart about where you choose to place ad units on your site — almost to limit the number of ad units,” she said. “You’re trying to some extent to create scarcity.”
Who says the venture market has dried up?
Semantic ad technology company, Peer 39, has raised another $10.5 million to bring its grand total to $22 million since inception. According to PaidContent, “the company plans to use the proceeds to support business development and sales activities.”
OpenX, the popular open source ad server now entering the exchange space with OpenX Market, also announced that it raised $10 million. (Are some VC only allocating in $10 million bundles?) Total raise for OpenX is now $20.5 million in two rounds of funding according to TimesOnline.
AOL is being spun off from Time Warner after getting board approval. VivaKi Nerve Center’s Curt Hecht tells the Shira Ovide and Emily Steel of the WSJ, “I don’t think the AOL brand is dead. They have maintained a large audience. Now all they need to do is execute on their strategy.” Get all the “inside” details on the spin-off from Kara Swisher at All Things D who notes that a wholesale management restructuring will occur. Next stop after spinning off? How about merging with the NY Times and let Tim Armstrong run sales at the merged company? You heard it here first.
