Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Extra Toppings
So far this year, Domino’s Pizza has made more agency acquisitions than Publicis Groupe. Say wha? One of the biggest trends in agency M&A in the first half of 2017 is “unconventional buyers for digital agencies,” Ad Age reports. Big brands like Domino’s, tech companies like Yelp, Salesforce, Periscope and Indiegogo, as well as financial services companies like Beringer Capital and Stagwell Group, are shelling out to gain advertising and marketing expertise. “More and more marketers are going to want greater in-house control,” said Greg Paull, co-founder and principal at marketing consultancy R3. More.
TV IPO
Roku expects to submit papers for an IPO in the next few weeks and launch on the public market by year’s end, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. Roku is supposedly looking for a $1 billion valuation, though tumultuous market entrants this year like Snap and Blue Apron could complicate matters, according to the Journal. The streaming device-maker and software company has invested in ad tech, in part out of necessity. While huge companies like Amazon, Comcast, Apple and Google’s YouTube will happily absorb OTT losses in pursuit of market share, Roku has to keep the lights on. More.
Crystal Ballin’
An explosion in subscription businesses across news, entertainment, communication, goods and services is putting a bright spotlight on lifetime value models. “A lot of financial leverage can be generated if the customer does not need to be acquired repeatedly,” writes Microsoft senior director Tren Griffin in a blog post on subscriber valuation models. “The trade-off is that a subscription business model can also be deadly if you get it wrong.” The three key metrics are customer acquisition costs, churn rates and revenue per payment period. Forecasting any of them incorrectly means you’re paying now and will pay again later. Consider an ad campaign for a free trial with few retained customers, so costs of shipping, user acquisition and free product are piled onto wasted media.
Fully Loaded
To avoid running into a serious ad load problem, Facebook is stuffing new ad inventory into its suite of apps and platforms. A few days after Facebook announced it will serve ads in Messenger [AdExchanger coverage], the platform has begun testing in Marketplace, its Craigslist-esque commerce product, Recode reports. Facebook will let advertisers place some of their news feed ads into Marketplace at no extra cost to see how they perform. Ads will look like news feed ads with the added benefit of getting in front of users while they’re in shopping mode. More.
But Wait, There’s More!
Snap Had Acquisition Talks With AdRoll And Is Browsing Ad Tech – Business Insider
US Lawmaker Calls For Hearing On Amazon Whole Foods Deal – Reuters
Centro Integrates With Advantaged Software Finance Software – release
Broadcast TV Enjoys ‘Upfront’ Lift, But Long-Term Gains Uncertain – WSJ
Time Inc. Teams Up With Parse.ly Audience Analytics – release
Could Excessive Ad Freqeuncy Be Good For Your Brand? – MediaPost
Criteo On Gains In Google Shopping Search For Retailers – release
NBC Snapchat Show Earns First Emmy Nom For Platform’s Content – Variety
Amazon’s Alexa Has A Data Dilemma: Be More Like Apple Or Google – Fast Company
