AOL Shakeup; YouTube Leverage

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AOL Divided

AOL’s business has long been divided between its premium content and ad tech divisions. Ad Age reports the latter may be winning out amid a management shakeup. The org changes are meant to seize on AOL’s “biggest growth opportunities,” a spokesman told Ad Age in an email. An unnamed source chimes in, “[AOL is] doubling down on programmatic and video so it does raise the question, if you’re not in those two areas at AOL, what are you doing?” Read it.

YouTube As Negotiating Chip

Google may be wielding its super-desirable YouTube inventory as a cudgel to drive adoption of its ad tech products, according to Digiday’s John McDermott. Citing unnamed sources, McDermott reports, “Google wanted Mondelēz to use DoubleClick Bid Manager, Google’s demand-side buying platform, instead of competitor TubeMogul, to execute the YouTube transactions as part of the deal, and it was using YouTube’s TrueView pricing system as leverage.” The negotiation eventually led to a deal where the snack giant’s YouTube spend would be split between platforms.

Scout Master

Scout Media promoted Ramsey McGrory to president of sales and publishing for the company, a media network focused on men’s sporting. McGrory is the former CEO of AddThis, prior to which he led Right Media. “Like many premium publishers, programmatic is new for Scout, but I think it goes well beyond the simple non-guaranteed inventory strategy or reach extension,” McGrory told AdExchanger when he was hired just five months ago. “I believe programmatic means the fusion of technology and data to deliver great ad, content and commerce experiences for consumers.”

Timberland Reboots

Timberland is using data science to reinvent its product design and marketing globally, The Washington Post reports. “The company says that the cornerstone of the comeback has been a two-year customer study in which it collected data from 18,000 people across eight countries,” according to the Post. “Timberland was able to diagnose its problems and to zero in on its ideal customer — an urban dweller with a casual interest in the outdoors.” More.

Platinum Data

Havas is teaming up with Universal Music Group for consumer data mining. The so-called Global Music Data Alliance aims to find correlations between musicians, listeners and brands, and to apply those insights to advertising.The move mirrors Warner Music Group’s partnership with interactive media company Interlude, announced in December. “Arguably, this is an indication of a positive trend towards more ‘scientific’ management of music activities,” Bernstein Research analyst Claudio Aspesi tells the Financial Times.