Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Mobclix Clicking
Mobile ad exchange, Mobclix, is doubling in size monthly according to a Portfolio.com piece with co-founder Krishna Subramanian (AdExchanger.com Q&A). From the interview, Mobclix “is on a $25 million to $30 million run rate and serving some 3.5 billion ad impressions per month, mostly to the iPhone and iPod Touch.” Mobilize now!
Rubicon Project On Ad Serving, Hires Allen & Co.
Rubicon Project announced at last Friday’s Paid Content conference that the “ad server [is] dead” and it’s on the hunt for finding a new solution on behalf of publishers. The company also said in a release that it has hired investment firm Allen & Co. to “work with the company, among other matters, to explore options for ongoing business growth initiatives including additional strategic acquisitions, platform expansion and continued international growth.” Read more.
RTB Evangelism
“Reverend” and CEO Mike Baker (AdExchanger.com Q&A) of DataXu preaches the real-time bidding (RTB) gospel on ClickZ. In a concise post, Baker dissects the data-business into first-party and third-party groups, offers a checklist on how to value data, and then shows how real-time bidding unlocks efficiency and ROI from the data hurricane. Read more.
In addition to announcing new hires, Rocket Fuel says that it will be opening new sales offices in Los Angeles and Chicago as “this recent momentum builds on the 265% quarter over quarter growth Rocket Fuel has experienced in the last year.” Read the release.
DOOH Getting Measured
Nielsen announced a deal with Samsung which will enable the audience measurement firm to collect audience stats across Samsung’s digital-out-of-home (DOOH) network. But, it’s not that Nielsen will be doing the counting: “Samsung will directly feed audience measurement data to Nielsen for measurement and use in its On Location reports.” Seems like there’s room for auditing here. Read more.
Massive Misallocation
Chris Dixon looks at the “massive misallocation of online advertising dollars” due to inadequate attribution models feeding digital advertising’s supply chain. Dixon notes the classic issue where “intent generators” are getting less credit (such as display), and therefore a smaller allocation of dollars, than “intent harvesters” such as search. Moreover, Dixon notes the impact on research publishers. Read more.
Publicis Q4 Edges Toward Digital
Publicis reported that revenues continued to drop in Q4 of last year as the ad company reported its earnings last week. Overall revenues for 2009 diminished 6.5%% year-over-year. The company’s stated goal of reaching 25% digital revenues by the end of 2010 appears achievable with the company’s digital revs closing 2009 at a 22.4% share. (Is the traditional pie just getting smalller at Publicis? And, digital is just holding its own -hence the increase in digital’s share of overall revenues?) Like Omincom, Publicis said it to will continue to acquire but on a smaller scale than, for example, the $500 milllion acquisition of Razorfish. Read more.
The Impression Is Dead
Mediasmith director of search and analytics, Michael D. Andrew thinks data is becoming so valuable these days that “the impression by itself is becoming worthless” in an opinion piece on MediaPost. Along the way, Andrew kicks undifferentiated ad networks to the curb and silently speaks to the importance of the demand-side platform which can manage user cookies across multiple supply sources. Read more.
Pre-Rolling
Jim Louderback, CEO of video ad network, Revision3, notes on Ad Age that video pre-roll ads are among the most effective within the video advertiser’s toolkit. But, he still not a fan and writes, “I’m afraid they also depress video sharing and snacking — which is ultimately how a video goes viral, and how new creators build audiences.” Read more.
Patently An Issue
Last week, Nathan Myhrvold and his patent-scooping syndicate were featured in The New York Times. This week, patent-process-hater, Bill Burnham of Union Square Ventures points to the proliferation of “permissionless innovation” – such as operating systems and APIs – which has been critical to innovations in the world of software development. Myhrvold’s walled-garden approach stifles innovation says Burnham. Read more.
Holding Client Hands
Imedia Connection’s Michael Estrin offers his tips on what agencies can do to give advertisers a warm fuzzy when it comes to technology. In the end though, even if the client finally gets technology due to agency efforts, “the client gets the credit” for any campaign’s success. Read more.
Paying Google With Privacy
Newsweek’s Dan Lyons looks at the touchpoints that Google has on the consumer which uses Google’s free services and suggest their is a still a price in the form of privacy. His observations come in light of the recent bumpy launch of Google’s Twitter answer – Buzz. Lyons writes, “The problem with buying things with your privacy is you really don’t know how much you’re paying.” Read more. CPM Advisors’ Rob Leathern (AdExchanger.com Q&A) notes ironically that the Newsweek article’s page on the web sets a remarkable number of cookies. Read it.
