AOL's Ad.com Gets 'Friended'; Sharethrough Adds Digital Vet Keane

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AOL’s Ad.com Gets ‘Friended’

As AOL Networks head Ned Brody plans to refine the company’s supply side offerings, its demand side, third party ad network is likely to see a boost now that it has access to inventory from the Facebook Exchange. As Brody writes in AOL blog post, “We know that advertisers want to include Facebook inventory in their buys – we’re seeing it on RFPs – so we’re glad to be able to further meet their needs.” Considering the challenge AOL’s owned and operated sites — along with every other digital publisher — is facing from Facebook’s increasing dominance of display, the depth of FBX’s inventory is something the ad ops side can’t ignore. Read more.

Sharethrough Adds Digital Vet Keane

It’s safe to say that no one has nailed the “native” ad format down. Sharethrough, though, bills itself as a native ad specialist and the hiring of Patrick Keane, the former CEO of content aggregator Associated Content (acquired by Yahoo in 2010), as its new president, suggests that the startup is ready to branch out, says AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka. Read more. This past week, Sharethrough began working with Land Rover as it rolled out “sponsored stories,” which is designed to showcase and distribute all kinds branded content, including text and infographics, not just video. Read the release.

Digilant, Consultant

With a new consulting practice, independent media trader Digilant (formerly Adnetik) wants to capture brand interest in programmatic. There’s no retargeting talk in the press release. Rather it’s all about “creative that works effectively through targeting and measurement.” The company works with some big brands and agencies, including Pepsico, Wal-Mart, Initiative and Carat. Press release.

Mad (Ave) VC

In one of its periodic pieces on agencies-as-startup-investors, AdAge notes IPG has a $200 million annual line-item for M&A and investments. The small part allocated to “investments” is divided further into agency versus tech/vendor spending. “We’re not a mutual fund,” CEO Michael Roth. “We need to structure deals whereby we can strategically use it for our clients.” More.

Euro Video

AdMonsters and Adap.tv have released a new report on European video advertising. Among the insights from the Euro survey: “European publishers also find themselves in a quandary – while they’re increasing supply of inventory to keep up with ramping demand and seeing extremely high fill rates, 54% report CPMs have stayed the same year over year, with 13% actually seeing decreased CPMs.” Read more. Ad trade The Drum chimes in with a review of the data, too.

Dialing Up DOOH

WPP is making the connection between billboards and smartphone ads by building out a full-service, out-of-home shop in its Tenth Avenue division, which includes DOOH ad network in Spafax, reports Street Fight’s Steven Jacobs. The point is to look beyond QR codes, which have largely failed to make the connection with mainstream consumers. “As technology develops, and interactive signs become part of the landscape, these technologies are going to create an opportunity for consumers to interact with a campaign, and allow for a more performance-driven model,“ says Spafax EVP Patrick Bonomo. Read more.

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