Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
$9 Million For Rubicon Project
Rubicon Project brought in another $9 million in equity investment to “continue pursuing acquisitions and global expansion.” Leading in this round was GE/NBCU’s Peacock Equity Fund which invested $6 million investment with existing investors Clearstone Venture Partners and Mayfield Fund anteing up the rest. This bring total investment up to $42 million. And not rest for the funded, as CEO Frank Addante tweets that he’s on his way to the “DMEXCO conference in Cologne to do keynote speech.” Read the release.
Talking Grail With Microsoft
Mediaweek’s Mike Shields talks “Holy Grail” and cross-channel marketing with Microsoft VP Scott Howe of their advertiser and publisher solutions group. In regards to Microsoft’s advertising ambitions, Howe tells Shields, “If Bing is step one [for Microsoft Advertising], step two is extending that engine to power the ads that someone sees across all display ad formats and multiple devices.”
Read more.
Eric Savitz is reporting on the Barron’s blog regarding observations by JMP Securities analyst Sameet Sinha. Sinha says that Yahoo! text ads have been replaced by Google search ads. He also notes that this is a low margin business for Yahoo! in spite of it’s big top line number (nearly $300 million). Read more.
Content (At AOL) Is King
Meghan Keane of eConsultancy covers Tim Armstrong’s speech at the IAB MIXX conference in New York on Monday. Armstrong said that AOL will drive toward a personalized, content strategy that gives every user the content they want to see, read and hear. Read more.
Saving Digital Skin
SVP of digital ops, Martin Nisenholtz, at The New York Times tells Gavin O’Malley at MediaPost that the recession is no time for pubishers to be cutting back on digital initiatives that may be burning a bit of cash but show promise. Nisenholtz gives a few examples of components of Times’ digital strategy that has been shutdown in the past much to his chagrin. Read the article.
Adjug Chugs
Ad exchange, AdJug, announced that it has partnered with Digital Element to provide IP targeting as part of its exchange’s feature set. NetAcuity(R) IP Intelligence technology will give city-level accuracy according to the release which says that Adjug has grown to 67 employees and “currently manages 600 to 800 monthly campaigns between the United Kingdom and Germany.” Read the release.
Big Brand Dollars Online
ClickZ’s Kate Kaye looks at the upcoming Yahoo! marketing blitz which will include an allocation of 50% ($50 million) toward digital. Kaye also speaks to Yahoo! EVP U.S. Hilary Schneider who noted the Google DoubleClick Ad Exchange’s launch and that the Right Media Exchange could be linked to it. Schneider told Kaye, “We welcome the idea of interconnecting exchanges” said Schneider, who added that Google does not include inventory in Yahoo’s Right Media exchange and that Yahoo! supports an “open ability to connect.” This new “openness” strategy is puzzling to some who have told AdExchanger.com that they can easily buy from DoubleClick Ad Exchange and Right Media Exchange from a buy-side platform. For them, it is an “open” opportunity across exchanges. Read the article.
R&D At The Agency
Kimberly Maul of the PR Week, “Cycle” blog, covers a move that may echo an important strategic initiative for all agencies given the rapid innovation in ad technogloy, Ogilvy debuted “Ogilvy Digital Labs” in New York City this week in an event titled “The Outernet” where digital out-of-home and point-of-sale technologies were showcased. As agencies grapple with the digital future, it will important for them to create units within their organization which are constantly on the prowl for the latest and greatest on behalf of their clients, who are looking to reach specific, target audiences. The difficulty is that these R&D groups, if you will, can’t be billed back to a particular account as they inform the entire agency – yet, their specialization and knowledge will remain key to an agency’s survival. Read more.
Algorithms As Pork Bellies
Greg Yardley looks at algorithms and DataXu’s recent presentation at TechCrunch50. Yardley says that though the technology is definitely not “trivial,” the real differentiator will be the data which feeds the algorithm. Read more.
Pubmatic Beefs Up International
In advance of it’s Ad Revenue 2009 conference, Pubmatic announced enhanced international reporting as part of their global expansion efforts. The company also said that it now has four international offices London, Paris, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Read the release.
Permuto Unstealths, Launches Display Platform
Shaukat Shamim, CEO and co-founder, publicly launched Permuto, a new, display ad platform called ShopperConnect which crunches data to find in-market shoppers. Early customers include ecommerce companies such as Heels.com and Like.com. Permuot raised $6 million in October 2008 from an impressive list of VC including Rembrandt Ventures, Onset Ventures, Reid Hoffman and SoftTech VC. Read the release.
Facebook Friends Nielsen
Facebook and Nielsen have teamed up to give marketers a better idea on audiences available through the social platform monolith. On the Nielsen blog, CEO John Burbank says about the new agreement, “Together, we will be able to provide the missing elements to clients seeking better understanding of how Web content and online advertising affect consumer behavior.” Read more.
