Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
IPO For FriendFinder
PaidContent’s Rafat Ali says that the update s-1 registration statement indicates that FriendFinder Networks has cut its original IPO plans in half and will now seek “only” $220 million. The original raise of $460 million was going to be used to pay off the debt it amassed in buying AdultFriendFinder. Read more.
Wiring The Stack
In a blog post, “Ad Servers Rigged To Be DSPs,” Brian Tomasette, director of product sales at Advertising.com, discusses on his personal blog “how it is possible to wire together DFP (DART For Publishers) to work like an ad network technology stack” and adds that ad network, Collective Media, uses DFP in this manner. Read more. (source: Cogmap)
Local News Is Repetitive
In a new study of the Baltimore area by Pew Research’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, people are getting less news from their local news organizations as “83 percent of the reports in local news media “were essentially repetitive, conveying no new information.” Damning! What’s more, according to the NY Times, the report supports the idea that there’s little news broken online – only repetition and commentary. Read The NY Times.
On Chief Marketer, Michael Kahn, SVP of Marketing at Performics, has prepared a list of questions that a CMO should ask his online ad buying team to make sure they are making the most of their online ad spend such as, “What percentage of our display ad buys are based on impressions? Clicks? Actions?” The trouble is… many CMOs will not understand the answer no matter what it is. Still, Kahn gets points for pointing them in the right direction. Read the article. (The OPA ad ends after a few seconds. Stay patient, my friend.)
Constitution Of The ANA
In the second of a three-part series, Association of National Advertisers (ANA) chief, Bob Liodice, discusses the ANA’s 100th Anniversary Marketer’s Constitution – “a series of fundamental principles that we believe will apply to the marketing industry.” Still don’t know what this Constitution is? Who cares! – the ANA is using YouTube! View Part I and Part II.
Tribal Fusion In Hong Kong
Adaline Lau of Marketing Interactive says that ad network, Tribal Fusion – a part of Exponential Interactive – is going to expand its presence in China by opening an office in Hong Kong. Read more. Doesn’t this sound like something an agency would do? Hmmm.
More Data, More Predictions
Meir Zohar, CEO of eXelate, predicts “data” is just getting started in his MediaPost article, “The Cookie Won’t Crumble! Online Data Predictions for 2010.” Zohar writes, “We will see a growth in behavioral optimization – the use of advanced algorithms and machine learning technology to add an additional layer of optimization to behavioral targeting.” Read more.
I Am Not A Mill
Kara Swisher Of All Things D says that CEO Richard Rosenblatt of “Demand Media Is Mad as Hell” and has written a new manifesto to tell people to stick it where the moon never shines in regards to his company’s alleged content mill operations. Read it.
Agency Vs. Specialist
On eConsultancy, TagMan founder, Paul Cook, discusses the specialist model versus the broader, cross-channel agency model in the UK and “whether it is best to stick with specialist agencies or, given the increasing desire for integrated strategy (and scale efficiencies), hand the whole shebang to a single supplier.” Read more.
AOL-Time Warner In Retrospect
Sure. They’re no longer a couple. But that doesn’t mean we can’t look back at the dysfunctional, $350 billion marriage of Time Warner and AOL courtesy of The New York Times’ Tim Arango who does not mince words when he says, “To call the transaction the worst in history, as it is now taught in business schools, does not begin to tell the story.” Read it.
VAST Is Big
Brand.net’s ubiquitous COO Andy Atherton delivers an opinion piece on Ad Age and suggests that the new standards offered through the IAB’s VAST video standards will create efficiency and grow the online video ad business like never before. He thinks that the new standardization helps traditional display ad networks become video ad networks, too. Read more.
AdMeld Adding To Mobile Plan
It’s been only a month since AdMeld announced its mobile plans, and the yield optimizer has hired Marc Theermann, who in his previous role incubated a mobile analytics and media buying dashboard concept at Polaris Ventures. Read the release.
Your Intimate Details
Zoe Kleinman writing for BBC News says that according to an academic, “People who post intimate details about their lives on the internet undermine everybody else’s right to privacy, claims an academic.” Read about it.
Markets And Exchanges
Rob Leathen, CEO of CPM Advisors review the lexicon of the new ad exchange ecosystem and identifies “The Difference between a ‘Market’ and an ‘Exchange.'” Leathern writes, “The online ad space is a series of private markets loosely connected and as such, the connective glue that companies like ad networks provide definitely makes it stick together.” Read more.
Publishers Ready To “Take Back”
Mediaweek’s Mike Shields says publishers are ready to “take back their inventory” and possibly introduce scarcity tactics in order to improve yield. Shields also claims that there are many companies working toward new solutions. Read more.
Educating About Display
Adam Broitman discusses the “4 ways to combat a CMO’s digital ignorance” on iMedia Connection” as he paints a target on the back of traditionally-minded CMOs everywhere. Broitman strongly recommends search and display education for the chief marketing officer among other bullet points.
Read more.
