CEO Armstrong Teases Oath Product Road Map; Amazon Brings Attribution To TV Streaming

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Pledging An Oath

In a podcast with Recode’s Peter Kafka, CEO Tim Armstrong says Oath over the next year will take the scaffolding off its Verizon-backed data-driven marketing platform, with a goal of carving out a space distinct from the duopoly. “We may compete in advertising dollars, but our strategy in advertising is not the same as Google and Facebook’s,” Armstrong said. “I’m not going to go deeply into our strategy, but we have a different distribution model, different measurement model and different data model than they’re building. You’ll see us over the course of the next 12 months roll out a series of products that are differentiated from Google and Facebook.” Check out more.

Knocked For A Loop

Amazon is luring sponsors to its Thursday night NFL streams this fall with the promise of closed-loop attribution, Mike Shields reports for Business Insider. Amazon’s $50 million deal to stream 11 football games this fall provides up to two minutes of commercial time per game. Buyers will be able to run traditional TV-like ads within the stream, as well as display and video ads across Amazon’s mobile and desktop properties. Since only Prime subscribers can stream the games, Amazon can connect those live NFL viewers with Amazon purchases. More. Demonstrating closed-loop sales is a tall order for digital advertising. Google quietly assembled credit card deals for in-store attribution, but faces intense scrutiny on the program due to opt-out hazards and third-party data deals. Both closed-loop pitches have their selling points: Google measures in stores while Amazon can pin ecom sales without a third party. What they have in common is they’re both effective tools for opening brand purse strings.

The Easy Sell

Amazon’s closed-loop prowess can also be seen in the spread of its affiliate marketing network. Amazon’s Twitch, a streaming service populated by video gamers, will begin doling out commissions to people who drive Amazon sales from their livestreams. “Think of it as video-game broadcasters hosting virtual Tupperware parties,” writes Spencer Soper at Bloomberg. A new widget available to Twitch influencers will zip viewers straight to an Amazon page showcasing their favorite items (most likely headsets and games, but hey, it could be clothes or kitchenware). More.

New TLA In Town

Header bidding helps supply-side players, but introduces major costs to ad buyers and DSPs because it surges the impressions and data that must be processed [AdExchanger coverage]. The emerging counter-trend to header bidding is called supply-path optimization (SPO), technology that manages costs by directing bids to inventory a buyer has the best chance to win. Failed bids can pile into significant losses since header bidding creates four or five times as many impressions. Ad tech may grow up, but it will never run out of Three Letter Acronyms. More at Digiday.

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