Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Audiences Worth Waiting For
Criteo announced the “next phase of its integration with Shopify,” which is an update to its Shopify App Store.
It’s not news that’ll set the world on fire, but Criteo maintains a drumbeat of Shopify integrations.
Criteo’s Shopify merchant base grew by 36% in the past year, according to the release. In 2022, Criteo became a Shopify “Certified App Partner” and joined the first-ever Shopify Advertising Technology cohort.
But Criteo is waiting on the big prize: a Shopify Audiences partnership.
In the meantime, Criteo’s current integrations simplify how and where merchants log into Criteo and how they transfer data. Those integrations don’t commingle Shopify data or enable data modeling in any special way – but Shopify Audiences does.
Audiences was announced last May with Google and Meta as pilot partners. In January, Pinterest was called up.
Still, Shopify Audiences seems like a walled garden program. There’s widespread doubt as to whether it would ever touch programmatic ad tech.
The best hint so far that Shopify would consider using its data for open web advertising came last May when Criteo was named a future Audiences partner alongside Microsoft, TikTok, Snap and Pinterest.
Tear Down This Wall
Time is ditching its paywall.
The legacy publisher has had some form of paywall blocking since 2011 but plans to produce more ad-supported content and open up distribution, Axios reports.
The decision aligns with CEO Jessica Sibley’s plan to expand Time’s readership and raise brand awareness, in addition to focusing on events and licensing revenue. (Hey, Time still has a well-known brand name it can sell against.)
The change is also meant to court younger and more diverse audiences, according to Sibley, who said, “We believe in the democratization of content.”
Time is just the latest publisher to revamp its paywall strategy. Many publishers bet big on subscriptions, but converting news subscribers is expensive and, often, futile. Reverting back to ads can be more appealing than increasing ad spend to raise subscriptions.
And Time isn’t alone. Gannett recently reduced the number of articles behind its paywall to grow short-term ad revenue. Quartz discontinued its paywall last year.
The paywall erosion trend has spread to other media channels, too. Netflix and Disney+ have ad-supported subscription tiers, and Spotify moved some of its podcasts outside its paywall.
Tough Math
MediaMath is in turnaround mode, and recently hired bankers to explore a possible sale, Lara O’Reilly reports at Insider.
MediaMath has been up for sale for years, including some near misses that shareholders probably wish they had back – like a $960 million offer that was rejected because the company wanted a billion-dollar deal. (O’Reilly also had the definitive autopsy on that sales review.)
Neil Nguyen was named MediaMath CEO last January. As the one-time CEO of Sizmek, Nguyen’s an old hand when it comes to struggling ad tech companies and private equity stewardship. (Fun fact: Sizmek was called MediaMind back in 2012 when he first joined.)
Nguyen has assembled a crew of respected leaders at MediaMath, including CTO Manny Puentes, CFO Christine Napoli and Chief Partnership Officer Sylvain Le Borgne.
The company is looking for a buyer or backer, but valuations are way down and PE has run dry. So, MediaMath, which is still unprofitable and is coming to the end of its funding, may have to figure out a way to hibernate and get by until the environment is more hospitable.
But Wait, There’s More!
The top PR pros are helping creators and influencers craft their images and branch out into new forms of media. [Insider]
Stagwell acquires In the Company of Huskies, a digital creative agency. [release]
Vice Media cancels its flagship TV news program as digital media publishers retreat. [Bloomberg]
BuzzFeed will produce more content via independent creator deals. [Axios]
Meta has combined its advertising, business messaging and commerce departments, following layoffs and restructuring. [The Information]
You’re Hired!
Meta vet Jim Squires is joining Reddit as EVP of business marketing and growth. [release]
