Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Rebirth Of The TV Salesman
Ad tech firms are hiring their way into TV advertising. The Trade Desk, TripleLift, ZypMedia and Innovid have all made recent hires from companies such as Fox, Viacom and Tegna as they seek to court TV budgets, Business Insider reports. The TV industry is built on decades-old relationships between networks and agencies, which is a big reason why ad tech is trying to lure TV sales executives over – in the hope they’ll bring their clients with them. For TV sales people, it’s an opportunity to get on the ground floor of a burgeoning industry as legacy media firms consolidate. But, culturally, ad tech companies and TV networks are very different businesses. “If you hired someone who has no digital knowledge, they will not succeed,” said Aman Sareen, CEO of ZypMedia. “This is a very hybrid role.” More.
Before You Buy
Amazon launched a shopping feature that suggests its own private-label brands when shoppers add similar products to their carts. Dozens of brand product searches returned boxes labeled “Similar items to consider” above the add-to-cart button, highlighting AmazonBasics products and their competitive prices, The Washington Post reports. Amazon, of course, claims there’s nothing anticompetitive about the feature and that other stores use similar tactics to promote their private labels. But third-party sellers see it as another example of the unfair dominance Amazon has over ecommerce, with its 38% market share for online shopping in the United States, according to eMarketer. “It takes away from our sales, 100 percent,” said Daniel Hart, CEO of New Jersey-based distributor Common Cents. “It’s definitely not cool.” More.
A Price On One’s Header
It didn’t take long for header bidding to go from emerging tech to the default way sophisticated (or even not-so-sophisticated) publishers auction their supply. And it’s no surprise, considering the tactic boosts yield and bid density. So why haven’t publishers done the same with more lucrative programmatic video supply? For one thing, there’s less standardization of content and formats. Different exchanges with different types of video players don’t sync as neatly as they can for 728×90 or 300×250 display units, said Paul Gubbins, Unruly’s global programmatic strategy lead, in a Video Ad News Q&A. Publishers will start to adopt header bidding for video when the results are there, said Danny Spears, commercial and operations director of Ozone Platform, a marketplace created by UK news publishers, in the joint interview. More.
But Wait, There’s More
- Facebook Acknowledges Flaw In Messenger Kids App – Reuters
- Those People Starting Successful Tech Companies? Most Are Middle-Aged – NYT
- The Ozone Project Selects Improve Digital As First European Ad Tech Partner – release
- Google Simplifies, Standardizes Content Policies For Publishers – Search Engine Land
- Juul’s Marketing Practices Under Investigation By FTC – WSJ
- For CMOs, Short-Term Growth Pressure Prevents Long-Term Gains – eMarketer
- WPP Forges Closer Tech Ties With Launch Of San Fran Campus – The Drum
You’re Hired
- Chobani Promotes CMO To President, The Latest Boost For Top Marketers – Adweek
- Zenith Hires Greg Castronuovo To Head West Coast Operations – MediaPost
