Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Triggit On Media Trading And Investors
Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch looks at media trader Triggit’s round of angel investment which includes a who’s who of technologists and venture capitalists including Reid Hoffman of Linkedin, Russ Siegelman of Kleiner Perkins, Larry Braitman, Founder of Adify, and Brian O’Kelley, CEO of AppNexus among others. Kincaid notes that Triggit has transformed its business model into “a service that allows advertisers to easily participate in real-time ad exchanges.” Read more on TechCrunch. Or visit the Triggit blog.
Adgregate Markets Adds AdECN CEO To Board
Adgregate Markets, already staffed with former AdECN-ers, has added another to its board – William Urschel, the former CEO of the AdECN ad exchange which was sold to Microsoft for a rumored $50-75 million in late 2007. Other new hires include John Underwood (formerly of AOL) as Chief Operations Officer, Manny Berrios as Chief Technology Officer (formerly UGO Networks), and Lori Stevens (formerly from several rich media vendors and large web publishers) as Vice President, Sales. Read the release.
First-Party Ad Serving
Q3 Predictions From ThinkEquity
Q3 2009 expectations are being predicted by the investment research community including the ThinkEquity (TE) research team. Robert Coolbrith, Bill Morrison and Qi Guo of ThinkEquity write in their research note that Google looks well-positioned in several key areas and classifies Big G’s stock as a buy due to improved business trends and “a number of potential significant top-line catalysts on the horizon (e.g., display, rich media, and mobile advertising)” among other reasons.
Yahoo! remains a hold as TE says that the recent cost-saving initiatives undertaken by the company will be offset by the huge $100 million brand campaign as well as “forgo[ing] lower-quality ads from its inventory [which] could have an adverse effect on its revenue in the near term.” But, TE adds that a recovery in display advertising will benefit Yahoo!.
Finally, among other stocks it covers, ThinkEquity calls ValueClick a “buy” saying that even though their lead gen business is under pressure, “the company’s affiliate marketing and comparison shopping business” should benefit from an expected uptick in consumer spending.
For more earnings expections, visit eWeek.
The Agency Data-Driven Advantage
[x+1]’s John Nardone makes the case for agencies pursuing data-driven disciplines within their business in “Tech-Empowered Agencies: The Best of Both Worlds for Consistent Data Segment Valuation and ROI.” Nardone notes that agencies have an advantage when buying data in comparison to ad networks. They can address data needs client-by-client versus an ad network that must buy across a range of advertisers. The agency’s client focus will create efficiencies according to Nardone. Read more.
Aggregate Knowledge Gets CRO/GM
Aggregate Knowledge announced that it has named former Specific Media and Microsoft exec, David Jakubowski as its Chief Revenue Officer and General Manager.
According to the release, “Jakubowski will also lead the company’s new release of its patent-pending data management and display optimization platform, “Discovery.'” Read the release.
Search As Display
For publishers looking to potentially leverage the increased revenue potential of search in a quasi-display ad unit comes Asterpix’ Searchlight. The new service displays “contextually relevant search phrases next to publisher content” which then links to the publisher’s search results page and drives the user to more content as well as additional advertising opportunities. Read the release.
Big Content Is Scared
Nate Anderson of Ars Technica looks at how technology is affecting “big content” media – it’s not good. They’re scared says Anderson who notes that copyright holders who once thought they were impenetrable are worried constantly worried about the next innovation in technology that may disintermediate them from expected ad revenue. Read more.
The Super (But Is It Duper?) Pre-Roll
In an effort to amp-up pre-roll ads, video ad network ScanScout has released “The Super Pre-Roll.” In addition to your normal pre-roll video ad unit, this overlay covers the whole video ad window allowing for interactivity by the user and additional graphics. Mike Shields covers the product roll-out on Mediaweek.
OPA On Alert: Bigger Is Not Better
Eyeblaster announced new research that will make the OPA cringe – bigger is not better! From the findings of the Eyeblaster research, it’s more important from a performance perspective to have chosen the right video ad as well as whether the ad should be expandable or not. Gavin O’Malley covers the story on MediaPost.
Agency Client Relation Blues
Christopher Hosford of B2B Magazine notes the strain that technology has placed on the relationship between the advertiser and the agency. It hasn’t helped that the economy nosedived either as agencies need to ideally prove that every dollar spent has led to a positive for their clients. Read more.
