AT&T And The Chernin Group Partner; Xaxis Extends TV Ads To Mobile

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Collaborating For Online Video

AT&T and The Chernin Group announced Tuesday plans to acquire, invest in and launch OTT (over-the-top) video services, and have collectively contributed more than $500M to the venture. This positions the companies to expand operations in the rapidly growing online video industry, and the focus of the initiative will see deeper investment in advertising and subscription VOD and streaming services. With over 50% of global Internet traffic driven by video, the alliance could broaden the companies’ reach across multiple platforms and networks. Read more via VentureBeat.

Extending TV Ads To Mobile

WPP-owned programmatic platform Xaxis is vying for TV audiences’ attention, as viewers largely pick up mobile devices during commercial breaks. According to Xaxis CEO Brian Lesser, “One of the biggest challenges that advertisers have right now, especially when it comes to buying broadcast television, is that up to 50% of people that are watching broadcast television are also engaging with another device.” “Sync” is Xaxis’ solution, which allows advertisers to serve the same ads that appear on TV screens on mobile devices. AdAge has the story.

Android Takes Lead

According to Opera Mediaworks’ Q1 2014 State of Mobile Advertising report, Google surpassed Apple in 2014’s first quarter for mobile ad traffic. This marks the first time that Android has beat out the iOS platform, hosting 42.8% of mobile ad traffic globally compared to Apple’s 38.2%. Additionally, the Google platform increased its mobile ad monetization, up to 33% of all revenue in Q1 compared to 26.7% in 2013’s first quarter. The report also details that rich media ads prove most effective. Read the press release.

Mobile Swing

Digital media consumption is surpassing time spent with TV, according to aggregated data from eMarketer, with mobile growth driving this shift. US adults will spend an average of 23% more time on a mobile device per day in 2014 than they did in 2013. Digital video still accounts for a small portion of mobile activity, but social network usage on mobile is predicted to overtake desktop this year. Read more.

Programmatic Methods

Microsoft’s anti-fraud efforts are directed at prevention, detection and mitigation, says the company’s GM for display, Greg Nelson. Writing on Microsoft’s blog Tuesday, Nelson offers a bulleted list of these efforts, including: “New programmatic methods for detecting fraud based on recent investigations and behavioral signals. These methods include updates to our proprietary blocking, detection, and filtration systems to enhance a complex series of filters that automatically work to identify bots, low-quality, and/or invalid clicks that will not be billed to advertisers.” Read the post in full.

MediaMath Adds More Exchanges

On Tuesday, MediaMath’s biz dev strategies continued to percolate via the company’s OPEN partnerships program. The latest press release positions “premium” and “video” as the critical keywords. Through MediaMath, DoubleClick Ad Exchange and BrightRoll will let marketers opt to buy premium video placements with publishers such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Condé Nast. Read the press release.

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