The Long Road Ahead For Yahoo; Run DSP Gets Funding

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The Long Road Ahead

Businessweek attempts to answer the question on everyone’s mind: Can Marissa Mayer save Yahoo? After one year at the struggling tech giant, Mayer has made plenty of headlines through big acquisitions and sweeping policy changes such as ending telecommuting. But her main focus has been on mobile. Read it.

Funding Run

Run raised $1.5 million dollars in funding from Verizon Ventures, TechCrunch is reporting. Although the DSP takes a mobile-first approach, the company also offers cross-device ad buying. It’s the 3-year-old firm’s first outside investment. Read more.

Targeting Misconceptions

Despite its best efforts, the Direct Marketing Association hasn’t fully educated people about the difference between behaviorally targeted ads and regular ads. According to MediaPost, the DMA has gotten several hundred complaints from people about behavioral ads. Only problem? The ads actually weren’t targeted, and therefore no tracking opt-out was possible. However some complaints did correctly identify targeted ads where users couldn’t opt out, exposing potential problems with the mechanism. Read more.

HootSuite Money

HootSuite raised $165 million in Series B funding for international expansion, especially in Latin America and Europe. The company could be a dark horse in the social ads space, having been named one of Twitter’s early marketing partners. According to GigaOM, the company also may make a few acquisitions — no specifics though. “Our focus during the last couple years [was] on just building this business on social media,” CEO Ryan Holmes said. “We’ve effectively gotten to where we have in just under $5 million in the company.” Read more.

Forever Ago

Two years is a long time in the tech world, and Doug Weaver gazes into the past to re-evaluate his “Dougorithm” for The Drift. Some major changes that he noted: Ad networks still exist, trading desks didn’t meet their full potential and the private-exchange concept evolved. Then he asks a very relevant question: What will the ecosystem look like in 2015? Read more.

Amazon vs. Pinterest

Amazon is going to head to head with Pinterest with a new “Collections” interface. As Pinterest further secures its place in the e-commerce space it seems Amazon is ready to use imitation to stay competitive. TechCrunch reports the feature has been slowly and quietly rolling out since April and is now available to the public through the account tab. Read more.

Crowdfunding Video

Two crowdfunding startups, Patreon and Subbable, allow users to pay for video content they love rather than exchanging their attention for it. As the founders put it to AllThingsD, ads view everyone the same way: as merely an impression. But if users truly love the content, they will pay for it. “I don’t think ads really properly value content, because they don’t take into account whether a user cares about that content,” said Jack Conte, co-founder of Patreon. “It’s a binary rubric; they’re either watching or not.” Read more.

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