Crackle Makes A Deal With GroupM; P&G Simplifies

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

100% Or Bust

Sony’s multiplatform video network, Crackle, sealed an upfront deal with GroupM on the strength of a promise over cross-screen viewability, Ad Age reports. Though GroupM is “substantially” growing its investment in Crackle, the agency declined to quantify that growth. Crackle will work with analytics firm Moat to report on how and when viewers interact with ads, and according to GroupM chairman Irwin Gotlieb, the deal is a testament to GroupM’s push for 100% viewability as an industry standard. “We now see progress and have the ability to prioritize media investment with brands like Crackle, who deliver both desired audiences and accountability commensurate to the multimillion dollar investments we make,” Gotlieb said. Read on.

The Brand Perspective

On Procter & Gamble’s earnings call, CFO Jon Moeller updated investors on the company’s previously reported efforts toward “simplifying and reducing [its] number of agency relationships.” With flat organic sales and the company selling off 43 brands in the beauty vertical, P&G is looking to trim the money in play for ad agencies to boost its bottom line. There’s still a significant pot of gold, but far fewer agencies will get to share. More at WSJ.

AT&T Rolls Up Ad Tools

In the wake of AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV for $49 billion, AT&T merged its AdWorks TV advertising division with DirecTV’s ad sales arm. The combined offering, called AddressablePlus, blends DirecTV’s addressable TV targeting tools and AT&T’s TV Blueprint solution. “The combination of 12 million addressable DirecTV homes with the 70 million homes in the TV Blueprint audience network puts us in a unique position,” said AT&T AdWorks president Rick Welday in a statement. Comcast, your move. Dallas Business Journal has more.

Meanwhile, In Moscow

Russian search giant Yandex reported Q2 revenues of $250.7 million, a 14% jump year over year. Yandex’s total number of ad clients increased 9% sequentially in Q2 and spiked 17% year over year. According to CEO Arkady Volozh, the firm is focused on improving its search ad products, particularly for mobile, and will experiment with new audio ads via its Yandex.Radio streaming service. “Later in Q3, we plan to introduce a new auction mechanism that we expect will increase the quality of traffic we drive to our advertising clients and facilitate the overall growth of online advertising,” Volozh said in a press release. Head to Seeking Alpha for the transcript.

But Wait, There’s More!