Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
No Parley For Parler
The social media app Parler is offline after Amazon kicked it off its servers, reports Business Insider. For those blissfully unaware, Parler’s calling card is its claim that unlike other social media networks, it permits all types of speech. So users are free to promote their enlightened thoughts around overthrowing democratic institutions, planning insurrections and doing violence unto others. After Wednesday’s events at the US Capitol though, Google and Apple removed Parler from their respective app stores for failing to moderate its content and, on Sunday, Amazon booted it off its servers, essentially killing the app. As Parler CEO John Matze posted, the moves made by Amazon, Apple and Google have triggered a domino effect that’s led other tech vendors to also pull the plug on Parler. What’s a right wing extremist to do? Well, there’s always the fringe social network Gab, which after Parler shut down quickly added 600,000 new users to its ranks, according to Newsweek. PS: Parler is suing Amazon for alleged antitrust violations over its expulsion from AWS, as per The Wall Street Journal.
Next After Nexstar
Solidifying it as the home for misfit toys, MGI-owned Verve Group said on Monday that it has acquired mobile video ad platform LKQD from Nexstar for an undisclosed sum. Read the release. Nexstar originally bought LKQD in 2017 for $90 million with the goal of developing new video opportunities that Nexstar’s advertising clients could use to target their customers across TV and digital video. [Time travel back to that story in AdExchanger’s vault: “Nexstar Media Group To Acquire Mobile Video Platform LKQD In $90M Cash Transaction”.] Verve Group wanted LKQD to broaden its portfolio of advertising services as well as to gain access to LKQD’s TV and OTT inventory. This is MGI’s twelfth acquisition of an ad tech or media company in the past three and a half years. Its spree included Verve in May 2020, the troubled mobile location company that MGI then used as the namesake for the business unit it created to house its mobile ad tech assets.
B2B <3 CTV
Connected TV might not be the first channel you think of when you hear “B2B marketing,” but business decision makers are homebound just like the rest of us, and B2B marketers are turning to CTV to reach them, The Drum reports. Until now, B2B has only represented a tiny fraction of CTV spending. Media buyers, though, have taken note of the growing interest in connected TV from the ABM crowd. Brad Stockton, VP of video innovation at Dentsu, called B2B and CTV “a match made in heaven,” because it’s possible to take a client’s first-party audiences, match them at a high level of fidelity in the streaming space and then easily measure the results. “That’s the beautiful part of CTV,” Stockton said. “You get the ability to target, reach and measure. Those three things, in the B2B world, are very impactful.”
But Wait, There’s More!
Ironsource has bought ad insights platform SOOMLA to help gaming developers better identify harmful ads and manage the user experience. [VentureBeat]
When bad news breaks, what’s the first thing TV and streaming advertisers do? They pull their ads. [Digiday]
Twitter shares drop in first trading day after Trump ban. Guess we now know the value of the Trump Bump. [CBNC]
New out of CES: Google Stadia and Nvidia’s cloud gaming service are coming to LG TV. [TechCrunch]
Email marketing platform Mailchimp has bought B2B messaging startup Chatitive to help SMBs take advantage of SMS. [GeekWire]
Fraud detection firm Method Media Intelligence gets MRC accreditation for measuring display and reporting on traffic quality. [MediaPost]
Advertisers brace for the IDFA changes coming soon to iOS 14 devices. [Search Engine Journal]
You’re Hired!
Facebook hires Nicky Bell to lead Facebook Creative Shop [Adweek] and Roy Austin Jr. as VP of civil rights. [Reuters]
McCann Worldgroup names Chris Macdonald as CEO and chair and Harjot Singh as global CSO. [Campaign US]
Eyeota appoints Rob Armstrong as VP of product. [release]
