Ad Network IPO; The Ad Auction Competition; Ad Tech Funding Continues

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Ad Networks Are Alive And Well

Mobile ad network Millennial Media says its ready to launch its initial public offering – and that means another company opens its financial kimono. All Things D’s Peter Kafka writes about the mobile ad network’s financials, “The company’s S-1 reveals that the startup lost $7.1 million on sales of $47.8 million in 2010, and $417,000 on sales of $69.1 million in the first nine months of last year.” So, that’s probably around $90-100 million in gross revenues in 2011. The company has doubled in size year-over-year which includes a valuation of $300 million in September says Kafka. Read more. And, view the regulatory filing. This news comes on the heals of CEO Paul Palmieri joining the IAB‘s board of directors and Millennial getting new branding.

The Auction Competition

Fortune covers the “real-time online advertising” auction business in a feature piece. The article takes a look at the growing audience-based buying model that is partially flowing through today’s ad exchanges and Fortune’s Alex Konrad says that Google and AppNexus are becoming key competitors. In fact, “MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki says that AppNexus might be beating Google at its own open-platform game.” Read it.

Need Funds?

Solve Media doesn’t. The CAPTCHA ad network has received $6 million in Series B financing according to The Business Insider. TBI’s Alyson Shontell writes, “In November we reported the pre-money valuation range was between $25 and $40 million. A new source confirms but says the valuation is a ‘bit ahead of where the company is,’ suggesting the higher side of the range.” Read it.

End-To-Ending

A continuing trend in the ecosystem is companies looking to provide an end-to-end solution, which a year or two ago (Eons ago!!) might have been provided by a collection of different “point solution” companies. X+1 announced an update to its technology hub – the Origin 3.0 platform. In addition to new data viz and dashboarding capabilities, the company says it provides “real-time marketing integration” which spans the demand-side platform and data management platform models along with landing page optimization. Read more.

Just-In-Time Advertising

On Huff Po, XA.net CEO Rob Leathern preaches that “just-in-time” (JIT) manufacturing has come to ads with “just-in-time advertising.” In other words, the consumers enjoys the immediacy of the right ad at the right moment. Beyond real-time bidding and audience buying, Leathern talks up JIT benefits saying that by addressing today’s feedback loop limits “Immediacy is addictive not just for consumers, but also for marketers. Once the CEO has seen a chart that updates her company-wide sales every 30 seconds, I guarantee she’s not ever going back to those weekly spreadsheets again. Read more.

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You’re Hired!

Former MEC Managing Partner Rich Astley has left WPP Group and the agency world to join Videology Group (was TidalTV) guided by CEO Scott Ferber. See LinkedIn. Astely will become General Manager at the new Videology brand which Ferber describes on the company’s site as an “ad decisioning and performance measurement platform” for digital video advertising. Read more.

Social Media, Brands, Ads?

Call it paid, owned or earned.. the social media ad business got anther boost as Lithium Technologies has participated in the latest funding cavalcade to the tune of $53 million. The Wall Street Journal’s Lizette Chapman writes, “Although Lithium’s technology is complex–the company’s chief scientist has a Ph.D. in biophysics from U.C. Berkeley and likens mapping social networks to mapping neural pathways–Lithium’s goal is simple: It aims to empower big brands to use social media to better manage and market their companies.” Neural it (subscription). Rocket science, biophysics – it’s all display!

But Wait. There’s More!