Spotify Opens A Programmatic Sales Channel; Unilever Buys Dollar Shave Club

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Programmatic Spotify

Spotify is opening a new programmatic sales channel via partnerships with Rubicon Project, AppNexus and The Trade Desk. Ad Age reports that the rollout follows a tepid embrace of exchange selling that involves fixed-price auctions on audio-only platforms – and transacted via insertion orders. “We were waiting for a programmatic standard for audio,” said programmatic honcho Jana Jakovljevic. The new initiative will expose audio inventory in private marketplace deals. Read it. Earlier in AdExchanger: For Spotify, 2016 Is All About Programmatic

Whoa There, Lil’ Shaver

Unilever’s $1 billion acquisition of Dollar Shave Club is part of a trend that could threaten the traditionally vast ad budgets of CPG brands. As Ben Thompson writes in Stratechery, the rise of “good enough” personal care products could lead to “less TV advertising and no margin to be made for retailers, who themselves are big advertisers. … The entire TV edifice is not only threatened by services like Netflix, but also the disruption of its advertisers, of which P&G is chief.” Read it. Advertising aside, Bloomberg notes that Unilever’s purchase might have been inspired by CRM: Big CPGs know offline marketing but not how to market directly to consumers. Analyst Ryan Darnell told Bloomberg that startups like DSC can have “authentic-seeming conversations with customers over social media.” Darnell added that large conglomerates would likely snap up startups to establish a presence in certain demographics.

MediaLink’s UK Counterpart?

Two ex-ad tech execs launched a consultancy that helps marketers make decisions about technology vendors. Stack I/O comes out of parent company MediaSense, a UK–based media consultancy. Martin Brown, former SVP at DataXu, will lead Stack I/O with former Mediaocean VP Jon Bradshaw as CTO. “Clients don’t have anywhere to turn to get independent, expert advice about technology,” Brown told AdExchanger. “Most people they’ve traditionally relied on now have invested in these companies. We don’t.” Brown said Stack I/O will facilitate in-housing only if it’s “the absolute right fit for a brand,” but the ANA’s most recent report [AdExchanger coverage] might lead to an “organic increase” in the trend.

Viral Volume

Marketers! Want to use that video that went viral yesterday in your campaign? Well, you’ll probably have to pony up to Jukin Media. The Wall Street Journal profiles the media company that buys up the licensing rights to user-generated megahits like Chewbacca Mom and the dude who got kicked in the head while taking a selfie by a train. “Brands are very attracted to this type of user-generated content, especially when they’re seeing everyday people playing with their products,” CEO Jon Skogmo told the WSJ. The important thing to remember, of course, is that a subway rat absconding with a slice of pizza has an agent and a showbiz career. Read more.

But Wait, There’s More!