Clear Channel And Rubicon Project Launch An OOH Solution; Hotels Collect Valuable Data From Wi-Fi

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

All Eyes On You

See that billboard? It sees you, too. Clear Channel and Rubicon Project launched a programmatic buying solution for out-of-home (OOH) inventory. Read the release. Clear Channel will make inventory available on 1,000 digital billboards through Rubicon’s private marketplace in 25 of its 29 US markets. To target the right audience, Clear Channel will overlay advertisers’ first-party data as well as mobile and location data. The solution “enables brands to … plan their programmatic DOOH campaigns using sophisticated third-party mobile audience data for smarter targeting,” said Wade Rifkin, SVP of programmatic at Clear Channel. More at The Wall Street Journal.

Enjoy Your Stay

Hotels are often able to secure valuable opt-in data from guests (notably location tracking, but also name/gender/age) if they offer Wi-Fi or mobile checkout. It’s a small process change for the front desk that can reap big rewards down the line, according to a hospitality industry study. Read it. Meanwhile, the Wynn resort in Las Vegas announced plans to put an Amazon Echo in every room. The first bar to clear is customer experience (“do guests like this change?”) – then come the ad implications. At some point, if people are shopping or ordering food from their in-room Echo, does that become a hotel revenue stream?

Amazon Tries On TvOS

Publishers and third-party app developers aren’t the only ones building for Apple’s TV operating system, tvOS. Now Amazon has released a shopping app compatible with Apple TV called “Amazon App: Browse, Search and Shop,” TechCrunch reports. Prime members can purchase via the app (after authorization through a four-digit pin) while nonmembers can bookmark a product to purchase when they log in later. More. Shoppable video never quite hit its stride, but the tech world’s bound to keep trying.

Face-Flix

Netflix, watch out. Facebook may fund its own original video content. Recode reports the company is in talks with TV studios and media companies to procure scripted, unscripted and sports content that will live under Facebook’s newly launched video-only tab. It’s the next chapter in Facebook’s aggressive move into the video space. Monetization details are murky for now. According to Ricky Van Veen, Facebook’s head of global creative strategy, the “goal is to show people what is possible on the platform and learn as we continue to work with video partners around the world.” More.

SkyFox Tumbles To Earth

Twenty-First Century Fox wants to buy UK telco and TV provider Sky [AdExchanger deal coverage], but there’s a “growing outcry” among politicians, regulators and minority shareholders, according to BBC News. At issue is the existing relationship between Sky and Fox (which wants to go from 39% ownership to full control). Politicians and regulators are wary of Fox becoming a media mega-giant – at least a bigger one than it currently is – and stakeholders think a lack of independent management could have lowered the price. For instance, James Murdoch is the CEO of Fox and chairman of the Sky board, and other Fox execs hold key positions at Sky. So investors want to make sure a sweetheart deal hasn’t come at their expense.

But Wait, There’s More!