Digitizing The TV Upfronts; Adconion Media Group Gets $34 Million; Adtechopoly The Game

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

Digitizing TV Upfronts

The Wall Street Journal’s Emily Steel says that digital media interlopers are trying to make their way into the traditional TV budgets that get divided up this time of year during a period known as the “TV Upfronts.” She cites efforts by Efficient Frontier with its “Social Upfront” (scheduled for today) and Facebook’s “Studio Live” event as examples of digerati looking to grab the TV dollar Grail. Starcom’s Mike Rosen adds, “It’s the gravitational pull of knowing there will be $15 to $20 billion of spending being transacted during the next couple of months.” Read more.

Ad Networks Are Still Not Dead

PaidContent’s David Kaplan reports that ad network Adconion has taken $34 million in financing from Silicon Valley Bank. Kaplan writes, “The ad network, which is based in London and Santa Clara, CA, will use the proceeds in support both acquisition and and general operations.” Read more.

Adtechopoly

You’ve seen the eye chart. Now get the board game! Well, almost. TRAFFIQ’s Chris O’Hara shares LUMA Partner’s Terence Kawaja’s latest invention of mischief with a screenshot of his Adtechopoly game board as shown at the recent DIGIDAY Target event. O’Hara writes about the ad tech-infused Monopoly board, “Most properties will leverage themselves and go bankrupt (do not pass go, do not collect $200M exit). Many will be acquired, and few will exist as independent businesses. So, what is the prognosis?” See and read more. Kawaja promises even more at LUMA’s Digital Media Summit in June.

Keep Holding Me

MediaBank announced that holding company MDC Partners (kbs+p, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, among others) has signed on for another multi-year agreement with MediaBank and its media agency, back office systems. Read the release. Will MDC’s Varick Media Management be display ad buyers through the MediaBank trading desk? Time will tell. MediaPost’s Joe Mandese says, “MediaBank is estimated to be processing as much as $40 billion in North American media billings through its client agencies.” Read it.

CTR Sucks

Ad network Rocket Fuel’s VP Jarvis Mak shows no mercy to the poor little click in a think piece on iMedia Connection. Mak is a viewthrough conversion convert and reveals data showing an “immediate increase that happens very shortly after a consumer sees the ad, demonstrating the post-view impact of the campaign. In the examples below, half of the conversions occured withing 6 hours of showing an impression, and 70 percent occured within 24 hours of showing an impression.” Read more.

Buying Audience With Display

In a new whitepaper from AudienceScience, the company’s researchers look at audience buying (but of course) and increased momentum in the display advertising space. Some sample stats regarding display ad spend: “Advertisers show the highest increase, reporting that 2011 budgets increased over 209% compared against May 2010 budgets; Agencies also showed a large increase reporting an over 225% increase in display advertising budgets compared against May 2010 numbers.” Get the 8-page report here (sign-up required).

Display-Search Cocktail

In an article on ClickZ that corrals recent search and display data, Klick Communications’ Julie Batten begins with the bad news for display and says, “When marketing dollars are scrutinized, display advertising is one of those tactics that often gets the boot based on poor conversion rates and high cost-per-acquisition.” Not to worry display maven, Batten points to “view-through conversions, latent conversions, and ‘search lift'” as just-in-time display metrics than can make the case. Read more.

Was Smartclip, Now MediaBrix

Smartclip USA has returned a new name (MediaBrix), a new focus (social media advertising and analytics) and former Linkstorm-er Ari Brandt as MediaBrix CEO. Funding is in the works reports PaidContent’s David Kaplan who adds, “Aside from completing the funding sometime in the next few weeks, Brandt will concentrate on doubling the current 10-member staff at MediaBrix.” Read it.

My Brand Value Is Bigger Than Yours

Millward Brown offered new research on the most powerful brands in the solar system and found that Apple has rocketed past Google in the race for MVB (most valuable brand) with a value of $153 billion. Read the release. Get the Hot 100 study (PDF). AdExchanger.com did not make this year’s list.

Infographic Tuesday

Hunch has made one and its founder, Chris Dixon, was blogging about it yesterday: “My favorite stat is that we have >25,000 API clients making >400,000 calls per day.” See it now.

Cash Money