Facebook Will Stop Passing Device IDs; Uber's OOH Ad Network

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The Data Dwindles

Facebook will no longer share device-level data with its partners for mobile campaign measurement. The company quietly updated the terms of its advanced mobile measurement program in January, which previously allowed advertisers to view and share raw data associated with unique identifiers, Ad Age reports. Advertisers consider this data to be essential for measuring campaign performance and managing frequency, but Facebook considers it a growing privacy risk. “Facebook saw this as potentially a really big data leakage problem,” an executive at a Facebook marketing partner said. Going forward, partners will only be able to share aggregated ad interaction-related info they get from Facebook with advertisers. More. But maybe the whole thing will be moot soon enough. The future of device IDs – the backbone of this whole ecosystem – is uncertain.

Auto OOH

Uber has signed a deal with the programmatic out-of-home ad tech provider Adomni to put ads on top of vehicles. The test will start with 1,000 cars in three cities, Adweek reports. It’s hardly revolutionary to strap an ad to the roof of a taxi – even Uber drivers have been able to display ads on their cars through third-party vendors such as Firefly. But this is the first company-backed ad platform to serve OOH ads, and will be the first time Uber data is used to target and measure campaigns. Advertisers will be able to buy directly with Uber or through Adomni’s OOH marketplace, where outside DSPs such as Zeta and Amobee also hook in for inventory. The ads could be targeted based on time of day or by location, with GPS data verified by Geopath. “After exploring this idea for over a year now, we realized that the timing is perfect to launch this new ad network,” said Uber OOH lead Brett Baker. “[Adomni’s] expertise with mobile vehicle digital out-of-home networks and programmatic ad sales is compelling.” More.

Here To Deal

Ascential, the B2B media and marketing holding company best known for operating the Cannes Lions Creative Festival, has had a punishing year on the London Stock Exchange. But its shares jumped about 4% Monday after Ascential’s earnings report, when the company announced a $10 million investment in the local TV ad tech startup Hudson MX. The two companies will have an unspecified “strategic collaboration,” MediaPost reports. Ascential is sticking to its guns with ad tech and analytics dealmaking, despite headwinds. The company’s profit dropped to $13.2 million last year, down from more than $20 million in 2018, which it attributed to acquisition costs. And Ascential is getting a refund on its $60 million investment in the analytics tech Jumpshot, which was shut down by parent company Avast after a joint report by Vice and PCMag demonstrated how Jumpshot tracking data was powered by Avast’s freemium cybersecurity users. More.

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