Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Paparo Departs AppNexus
What’s up with AppNexus? Business Insider’s Nicholas Carlson offers one answer, describing a mixed bag of recent events at the company, the freshest of which is the exit of product guy Ari Paparo. AppNexus continues to grow, with a headcount numbering 350 globally, but has been challenged on funding and exec retention, according to Carlson. There are also rumors about the company’s efforts to raise late stage funding at a high valuation, possibly as high as $800,000 (or, we hear, higher). Read more. Paparo tweeted this morning, “AppNexus is the coolest company in ad tech and in I wish the best for @bokelley, @mrubenstein99 and the team!”
IBM’s Future
IBM reported its results on Tuesday and “only” met Wall Street expectations by earning $3.8 billion. Marketwatch covers the news and quotes a Wall Street analyst, “‘IBM’s results are a sign of a challenging demand environment,’ said Janney Capital Markets analyst Joseph Foresi, who cut his rating on the stock to neutral from buy. ‘We believe the IT-demand environment remains stable, which doesn’t imply growth.’” Read more. And that’s why serving the CMO is interesting to IBM – plenty of efficiency to create and money to make.
Jumptap At The Crossroads
Mobile ad network Jumptap has an interesting dilemma: does it sell itself to a larger company or does it go the IPO route? As Jumptap CEO George Bell tells Reuters’ Sayantani Ghosh “It’s a potential path for the company for sure. We are very pleased with the way the industry has responded to Millennial’s stock; that’s a good thing for us.” Read the rest.
No More Home Pages
On Digiday, Josh Sternberg corrals opinion on “Premium in the Post-Homepage Era.’ Demand Media’s svp of sales and marketing, Erika Nardini, tells Sternberg, “The idea of building a publishing company and media destination built on millions of side doors is the future.” Read more.
Discovering Ads
Forbes says retail site Fab it’s spending $25 million in Facebook ads this year. CEO Jason Goldberg is adamant on his company’s “digital ads” preference according to Forbes. “Facebook ads are more effective than Google search or display ads, because Google ads are based on intent, while Fab is designed for people to discover new items they aren’t searching for. Fab is designed to be a site people sign up for and browse around and eventually make purchases, Goldberg says.” Read more.
Facebook Roadshow In Rome
At a the I-Com Global Summit in Italy this week, marketers from Kellogg’s and Starwood Hotels & Resorts threw votes of confidence behind Facebook advertising. As reported by AdWeek’s Chris Heine, Starwood’s Janice Chan told the crowd “Facebook ads have driven room bookings in Asia in her recent tests. The hospitality brand will now likely invest more on the platform in Europe and the Americas, she said.” Insights guru Brad Smallwood was on the scene preaching the company’s “view through” gospel. Read more.
Lerer Ventures Funds Namely
Cloud-based HR systems company Namely has raised $750,000 in funding from seed stage investors Lerer Ventures. CEO Matt Straz says in a Q&A on The Makegood, “Namely will become even more capable in the months to come and we will be developing new tools to further measure the performance of teams and people,” he said. Read more.
Another Look At ‘Viewability’
“Viewability” is hot data point these days, offering brand marketers the promise of digital consumer engagement similar to traditional media. But it’s far from perfect as a metric, and it can actually create new problems, says Phillipp Pieper, founder and CEO of Proximic, writing in AdAge. “Viewability fails where it counts a view (an ad that loads on a viewed page for more than certain number of seconds), but ignores other signals (pictures, ads, page quality) competing for the user’s attention that, taken together, may distract the user from viewing the ad message.” Read more.
RTB Posts
- Publishing Management In An RTB World – MediaPost
- Six Things A CMO Should Know About Real-Time Bidding – MediaPost
You’re Hired!
- GraphEffect hires Facebook PMD manager to lead partnerships – Inside Facebook
- Digilant Hires Maggie Wells as Senior Vice President of Marketing – press release
But Wait. There’s More!
- Ross McNab, Co-founder & CRO, Kinected Discussing New MediaMath Partnership & DSPs in the Australian Market – ExchangeWire
- Rubicon Project Reinvests in Asia Pacific – ClickZ
- Akamai Releases Second Quarter 2012 ‘State of the Internet’ Report – Akamai
- AOL unveils Alto: a web-based email client with an emphasis on aesthetics and organization – engadget
- Marin Software Announces Enhanced Mid-Market Platform – press release
