Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Intel’s TV Dreams Doused
Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich says in an interview with Re/code’s Ina Fried that Intel gave up on its Internet TV service because the technology was there, but the content wasn’t. “You could have the biggest screen, you could have the clearest screen. But if there is not great content on this thing, that big-screen TV is not a huge value to you, even though it has the best picture on the planet,” Krzanich said. Read more. And that’s why Google’s YouTube initiatives around content make sense, for instance.
The New York Times is planning a redesign that will launch Wednesday to make way for its new native ad content, according to Adweek. The ads will only appear on the desktop site for now, and will be labeled as “Paid Posts” and have a blue border to differentiate them. There has been some contention over native advertising, especially the the confusion it could create for readers. Read more.
The Data War
When it comes to data, first-party is the best, but there is no shortage of companies willing to sell third-party data for a high price. Paul Rostkowski criticizes the practice on Ad Age, given that so little of the third-party data may actually be useful. If marketers aren’t diligent about testing the data they could end up wasting a lot of money. Not to mention first-party data is free along with other basic information such as geography and URL domains. Read more.
Tech Merger Billions
The world of mergers and acquisitions continues to pulse as some of the larger tech players add solutions and products to their marketing tech portfolio. With Oracle’s acquisition of Responsys, Marketo is rumored to be next among “the acquired.” IBM and SAP are considered among the potential “strategics.” Read more in Bloomberg. The stock market values Market at $1.6 billion+ on Friday with its “marketing tech” story. For comparison, ad network 2.0 Rocket Fuel and ecommerce retargeter Criteo were valued around $1.95 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, as of Friday’s market close with their “ad-tech” stories. Increasingly, marketing and ad-tech stories are merging.
The Rise Of Mobile
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions aggregates mobile ad spend data in an article on Mashable. Mobile ad spend nearly tripled from 2012 to 2013, going from $1.2 billion to $3 billion. And, social is driving a lot of spend – in particular, native advertising, which could reach $4.3 billion in 2014, according to the article. An eMarketer graphic predicts that mobile and online ad spending will increase year-over-year, reaching $61.4 billion overall by 2017. Read more.
The News Of Weather
The Weather Channel is no longer just a utility, it’s a media company, under the financial auspices of NBCUniversal, Blackstone and Bain Capital. As the New Republic points out, the company not only increased the amount of original journalism on the site, it has also begun naming winter storms, giving it a social media edge. “We are absolutely all about information dissemination during severe weather,” said a spokesperson, “but we also have tons of amazing content for when the weather is 70 and sunny.” And that means more clicks. Read about it.
Privacy
But Wait, There’s More!
- Pandora Begins Targeting Ads By Musical Taste – The New York Times
- Rocket Fuel Space Grows By 30 Percent In Redwood City – San Jose Business Journal
- Andreessen: Bubble Believers ‘Don’t Know What They’re Talking About’ (subscription) – The Wall Street Journal
- The Things That Should Happen In Ad Tech In 2014… But Probably Won’t – ExchangeWire
- Facebook PMD Spredfast Secures $32.5 Million In Growth Capital – Spredfast
- Value Of Internet Middlemen Soars (subscription) – The Wall Street Journal
- India May Relax E-Commerce Rules, Opening The Door Further For Amazon And Other Global Giants – TechCrunch
