Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Apple TV, The Next Generation
Apple is in talks with TV programmers to debut an OTT pay-TV service, sources tell Re/code. The service would resemble Dish’s Sling TV product, or the similar service Sony is gearing up to launch. “The theory is that Apple would put together bundles of programming, but not the entire TV lineup that pay-TV providers generally offer, and sell it directly to consumers, over the Web,” writes Peter Kafka. “That means Apple wouldn’t be reinventing the way TV works today, but offering its own version of it, with its own interface and user experience.”
Data Cabinet
During a conference call on Thursday, Obama adviser John Podesta unveiled a noteworthy White House appointee. Former LinkedIn head of data products DJ Patil will join the White House as a data scientist-in-residence to help the administration handle issues of data and privacy on the web. More on that via Gigaom. Separately, Ad Age reports that Healthcare.gov continues to share user data with third-party firms like Facebook, Rocket Fuel and Twitter Advertising, with the expressed purposed of targeted advertising.
TV Matchmakers
Starcom MediaVest Group, Acxiom and FourthWall Media have hooked up in the name of precise TV ad targeting. Starcom’s TARDIS planning and buying platform will now ingest cable set-top box data from the millions of devices FourthWall claims access to and anonymously match viewing behavior against audience lists at the hashed ID level. This isn’t Starcom’s first go-round with Acxiom. In 2013 it sealed a long-term contract with Acxiom’s data connectivity solution, Audience Operating System, the first agency deal in Acxiom’s 40-year history. Press release.
Search-To-Call Attribution
Marchex debuted an analytics tool on Thursday that aims to solve “the $4 billion blind spot in mobile advertising.” The tool, Call Analytics, lets marketers track and measure keywords that drive calls from search queries on the mobile web. “Advertisers have been pouring billions of dollars into click-to-call ads without 100% measurement of which keywords produce phone calls and which ones don’t,” said Marchex’s Adarsh Nair. “That kind of waste is unconscionable.” Time Warner Cable and Allconnect are using the tool. Read the release.
You’re Hired!
- Interpublic Reshuffling Board, Appoints Three New Independent Directors – WSJ
- DigitasLBi Promotes Jill Sherman To SVP/Social Practice Lead – press release
- Acxiom ANZ Ads Dean Capobianco As MD, Australia & New Zealand – press release
But Wait! There’s More!
- Marin Software Acquires French Facebook PMD SocialMoov for $18.75 million – announcement
- The Measurement Challenge Facing Podcast Advertising – Digiday
- Unlocking The Power Of Programmatic Through Dynamic Creative – The Drum
- Why The BuzzFeed-Snapchat Discover Deal Fell Through – WSJ
- Five Ways Pinterest Is Beating Facebook – Forbes
- Wearable World Incubator Acquires Tech Blog ReadWrite – VentureBeat
- Polar Expects To Deliver 20 Billion Native Ads In 2015 for Premium Publishers Globally – Ad Ops Online
