Target's SVP On Programmatic; Another Walled Garden Going Up

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On Target

Ad Age’s Alexandra Bruell catches up with Target’s SVP of media and measurement, Kristi Argyilan, who was poached from IPG Mediabrands to build out the retailer’s programmatic strategy. Argyilan seems to be enjoying the first-party data she now has at her disposal, saying it’s the driver behind a host of programmatic initiatives such as experimental video and TV. Also notable: She says Target often looks for point solutions and the opportunity to expand internal capabilities through licensing tech. Read it.

ONE More Walled Garden

By the end of 2015 AOL will have assimilated Verizon’s and Microsoft’s first-party consumer data. Garett Sloane writes for Digiday that this new triumvirate provides a data foundation that “could be a viable third option behind Facebook and Google in terms of reach and targeting.” Verizon’s on-hand credit card numbers (and access to FiOS TV) give a massive leg up. But contrary to AOL’s longtime positioning as the open alternative to Facebook and Google, Verizon now looks a little more walled garden-ish itself. Read on.

“Extra! Extra!”

The New York Times has stood out in the past half decade as the legacy publisher blazing a digital trail, just as BuzzFeed is the bellwether for new media companies. Steven Perlberg reports for WSJ that the Times is shooting for $800 million in digital revenue in 2020 (which is double its 2014 online haul). Perlberg teases out the rocky path forward for the Times, which needs to have subscription services worth paying for without sacrificing free content. Read it.

Getting Out Of The Stream

Pandora spent $450 million to buy Ticketfly, which works with concerts on ticket sales, marketing and in-venue revenue. The deal’s most obvious driver is the ability to direct users to contextually relevant concerts, but from the other side the deal gives Pandora advertisers new platforms to reach listeners. It’s a smart move, says Matt Burns at TechCrunch, since streaming radio is low-margin but ticket sales are very lucrative. More.

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