Amazon Attracts Header Bidding Interest; Advertisers Avoid Online Pirates

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

Live To Server-To-Server

Amazon is seeing strong early adoption for its server-to-server Transparent Ad Marketplace offering. That’s partially because server-to-server bidding is nascent (Google’s version is in pilot testing until 2018). But Amazon also has unique supply and gets strong consideration from publishers and SSPs eager for somebody – anybody – to loosen the duopoly’s hold on digital media growth. “It’s a pretty straightforward concern,” Purch CTO John Potter tells Ross Benes at Digiday. “Nobody wants Google to have more power in advertising.” More.

Halfway There…

Industry antipiracy efforts seem to be working. According to an E&Y study commissioned by the Trustworthy Accountability Group, the flow of ad revenue to pirating sites is declining. Sixteen tech companies have earned TAG antipiracy service seals, and more than 50 agencies and brands have signed TAG’s pledge to take “commercially reasonable steps” to cut down on ad-supported piracy. The study found that digital ad revenue linked to infringing content was roughly $111 million last year. But if the industry hadn’t taken steps to curtail the piracy problem, the operators of pirate sites would have potentially earned an additional $102 million to $177 million. “This represents real progress,” said John Montgomery, EVP of global brand safety at GroupM. Read on.

Long On Ad Tech?

“The Bull Case here is clear,” according to an RBC Capital Markets note after The Trade Desk hosted its investor day. While the competitive DSP market and rapid ad tech product evolution is a general concern, Mahaney still sees The Trade Desk’s profitability (“a rarity in ad tech”) and potential growth meriting high multiples on its stock. Jeff Green, The Trade Desk founder and CEO, tied new growth to a set of five-year business goals: Making connected TV and video the company’s biggest revenue channel, making China a top-three internal market and growing paid data usage at twice the rate of media spend. It also wants to create an identity pool “larger than any single company’s login footprint,” according to an RBC recap. Business Insider has more.

Layoffs At Sizmek-Owned Rocket Fuel

Sizmek, following its $145 million acquisition of Rocket Fuel [AdExchanger coverage], had a small round of layoffs – less than 5% across various departments – according to CEO Mark Grether. “There are inherent overlaps when bringing any two companies together,” he said in an email. “As a result, we have made an extremely difficult decision to slightly reduce our staff. We do not make these decisions lightly; however, it is necessary to ensure the company is well positioned for future profitable growth. I’m very grateful for these individuals’ contributions.”

But Wait, There’s More!