Forbes’ Digital Positioning; Real-Time Funds For MetaMarkets

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Programmatic Brand

The Wall Street Journal looks at the auction for Forbes Media, which is hoping that its positioning as a digital media brand pays off. The WSJ’s William Launder writes, “The path to success for digital media companies, even ones untethered to a legacy magazine, is far from certain, digital media executives and analysts say. The rise of so-called programmatic ad buying, which allows ad buyers to purchase digital inventory using exchange-like technology, has undercut the profitability of traditional banner display ads.” Read it (subscription).

Real-Time Funds

A new SEC filing records a $5 million investment in real-time analytics firm MetaMarkets. CEO Michael Driscoll tells VentureBeat about the new funds, “It was a relatively small amount, but enough to help us continue to focus on accelerating our business without making the time commitment required by raising a new round of funding.” Read more.

News Buy

News Corp. has acquired social news site Storyful for $25 million, according to a press release. “Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialize user-generated content,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp. “Through this acquisition, we can extend the village square across borders, languages and platforms.” Read the release.

Twitter’s Mobile Lifeline

Mobile ad startup MoPub offers Twitter a safety net if the newly public company doesn’t quite hit its expected stride, reports AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka. Although MoPub’s recent launch of native ad units available to advertisers in its marketplace does not yet incorporate Twitter data, it’s possible to see how Twitter is extending its position to develop a true mobile ad network. And MoPub has been more than doubling its revenue over the last few quarters from a year prior. Read more.

Social Media In China

Social media companies from the United States have a hard time breaking into the Chinese market, but Ad Age predicts the possibility of LinkedIn doing well. “People on LinkedIn talk about their professional life, their work, news about their industries, it’s not that sensitive,” said Xiaofeng Wang, a Forrester Research analyst who thinks LinkedIn has potential in China. Read more.

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The New Toy Store

Toys R Us is trying to make mobile shopping easier by adding a voice-recognition and product-recommendation option to its app, Mobile Commerce Daily is reporting. Shoppers will be able to tell the app certain information about the child they are shopping for and the app will recommend a product. “At Zoove, we see consumer engagement rates skyrocket when there is a voice on the other end — even if it is automated technology — it offers a form of personalization and human connection that SMS messaging and email cannot provide,” said Ashley Eckel, head of marketing at Zoove. Read more.

WPP On A Spree

Holding company WPP PLC has been on a massive holiday buying spree. On Friday, the company announced its intent to buy Philippines-based media agency MASSCOM. This follows Thursday’s announcement that WPP’s media management unit GroupM had agreed to a majority stake in ClickMedia. And on Wednesday, its subsidiary Grey acquired a majority stake in the rural marketing company RC&M. On that same day, its brand, media and communications research subsidiary Millward Brown acquired a majority stake in Russia-based research shop ARMI-Marketing. On Tuesday, WPP purchased a 30% stake in research consultancy Richard Attias & Associates. And on Monday, WPP’s data investment management business Kantar agreed to acquire Singaporean media monitoring and analytics service Fisheye.

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