Apple Plans Ad Net; DoubleClick Bolsters Digital Audio

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Second Bite

Apple has discussed a potential in-app ad network to target audiences based on keywords – similar to its current App Store search business – and drive app downloads. Snap, Pinterest and others have been approached about the idea over the past year, The Wall Street Journal reports, with different rev shares depending on the app. Apple shuttered its iAD business in 2016, unable to balance demands for data transparency with its own user-tracking restrictions. Apple has an existing ad business on its App Store and Apple News platforms. A mobile network would add a third leg to its paid media monetization stool, but don’t expect a major push into ad tech. More.

Music To My Pockets

DoubleClick’s move into programmatic audio lends legitimacy to the small but fast-growing digital audio market. Streaming audio gets a fraction of the $18 billion currently spent on traditional radio ads, but platforms like Spotify, Pandora and SoundCloud are creating supply and ad tech players want in on the action, Lauren Johnson writes for Business Insider. AppNexus, The Trade Desk and Rubicon all launched programmatic audio with Spotify inventory in 2016, and Pandora’s AdsWizz acquisition in March signaled its programmatic growth plans. More.

Still Scraping

Facebook banned Canadian consultancy AggregateIQ, which was affiliated with Cambridge Analytica, after finding it improperly harvested data on thousands of users via a network of apps. According to files obtained by the Financial Times, AggregateIQ scraped home addresses, emails and phone numbers for about 760,000 users, which the firm used to match with likely voters based on their Facebook activity. “This is a fairly common task that voter file tools do all of the time,” said AggregateIQ COO Jeff Silvester. Facebook has since removed the apps, which were installed by around 1,000 people, and is investigating data misuse. More.

But Wait, There’s More!