Yahoo! Ad Tech Aspirations; DNT And 33across

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Yahoo! Ad Tech Aspirations

On AllThingsD, Kara Swisher says that results from past acquisitions are not stopping Yahoo! from potentially going into ad tech acquistion-mode. She writes, “It’s water under the bridge, apparently, since the group has been making the rounds, helped by Yahoo’s M&A execs, with a wide range of companies in many different ad tech areas being considered (and some dismissed), including: Mediaocean, Turn, Criteo, PubMatic and Millennial Media.” Read more.

More Mobile Funds

Mobile ad server Mopub announced late last week that it has taken in $12 million ($20 mil total) in new VC funding. VentureBeat’s Jolie O’Dell writes, “MoPub will be using the new funding to make big hires in New York and San Francisco, all the better to get the attention of ad agencies and brands.” Read more. And, read the release which, in the boilerplate, claims this differentiation: “Unlike other companies that only provide one piece of a solution, MoPub manages all of a publisher’s advertising inventory needs—including direct campaigns, ad network mediation and real-time bidding—in a single product.”

Data Dystopia

French ePresse consortium GM Frédéric Filloux sees a dystopian future ahead courtesy of Facebook, social media and big data. In a post on his media/tech blog, The Monday Note, Filloux hypothesizes, “Seattle, winter 2020. In a meeting room overlooking the foggy Puget Sound, Alan Parsons, head of human resources at the Wilson, McKenzie & Whitman law firm holds his monthly review of the next important hires. Parsons is with Marcus Chen, a senior associate at Narrative Data Inc., both are poring over a selection of resumés. (…) Narrative Data doesn’t track core competencies. The firm is more into character and personality analysis…” Read more.

Do Not Track Chant

33across and its CEO Eric Wheeler continue on the public warpath (see previously on TechCrunch and Digiday) against Do-Not-Track legislation as the company published another anti-DNT piece – this time on CNET: “The perils of ‘Do Not Track’ extend well beyond the ad industry. Small publishers and startup ventures alike stand to lose the most under more stringent online restrictions. Most of these companies depend heavily on advertising to generate revenue. Not just any advertising–but interest-based advertising provided by responsible third parties committed to strict industry regulation.” Read more. Wheeler is quickly establishing himself as being at the “public” front lines of the sometimes radioactive Do-Not-Track discussion – perhaps even ahead of the IAB. Former Omniture CEO and current Domo CEO Josh James tweeted about the article: “We need to kill #DNTrack legislation or seriously curb. It’s our job as industry.” Lawyer Sarah Downey presented an opposing view this weekend on TechCrunch.

The Meeker Shall Inherit

Mary Meeker, she of the annual Internet Trends report, speaks to Wired about life at Kleiner Perkins. The VC firm is nothing if not hands-on. “For every company that we invest in, someone here is assigned to get to know and use the product intimately and well. But that can’t be the person who leads the investment—or even the person who happens to be most passionate about the product.” On the question of over-investment in tech: “Public market valuations are lower than private market valuations, and that shouldn’t be the case. There will be a lot of companies that don’t live up to their valuations.” Read it.

Data Head, Analog Heart

Megan Fearnow writing in MediaPost offers tips on building personas “beyond the dataset.” The keyword here is emotion: “A consumer’s online behavior and demographics (digital shopability) may show that he wants to buy a Mercedes, but his head may be telling him to buy a minivan for the kids, and his wallet dictates he should buy an economy car.” Read it.

You’re Hired!