AOL UK Automates Reserved Inventory; SimpleReach Raises $9M

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Automating Reserved

On Tuesday AOL UK announced that “all reserved inventory” is available programmatically across its owned and operated sites available –through AOL’s demand-side platform. This includes The Huffington Post, Engadget, Parentdish and more. AOL UK’s managing director, Noel Penzer, said the decision reaffirmed the company’s commitment to automation and signaled AOL UK’s belief that programmatic advertising will continue to drive digital budgets. Read the press release. As tech gets commoditized industrywide, having exclusive access to inventory may be an increasingly important consideration in choosing an ad or marketing tech stack.

Measuring Native

SimpleReach announced on Tuesday that it had raised $9 million, which the startup will use to expand its measurement capabilities. The company offers content marketing and native ad measurement, working with clients such as The New York Times, Forbes, The Huffington Post and The Atlantic. SimpleReach measures content performance for its publisher clients and predicts how much social media traffic each article will drive by scoring each feature. Publishers can then choose to promote its strongest content through ad spots on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Outbrain, Nativo, StumbleUpon and TripleLift. Read more via TechCrunch.

Nuanced Mobile Targeting

Facebook announced new tools on Tuesday that expand precise targeting abilities for mobile app ads, which now let marketers reach audiences on specific mobile device models. “For example,” Facebook explained in a blog post, “you can deliver ads to people specifically using a Google Nexus 10 with a minimum OS version of 3.0, who are on Wi-Fi. Previously you could only target iOS or Android, minimum OS version and Wi-Fi only users.” Read the blog post.

Facing The Music

Google will face a privacy lawsuit head-on after a federal judge rejected the company’s bid to dismiss the case on Tuesday. The lawsuit dates back to March, when Google created a unified privacy policy that allowed the company to merge data across Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube products. Users across Google-owned platforms complained that the changes were made without their consent and that they weren’t offered a chance to opt out. At stake, users say, is the threat of third-party identity theft through the exposure of names, email addresses and geographic locations. Re/code has the story.

Investing (More) In Mobile

Advertisers will spend more on smartphones and tablets this year than on newspapers and radio, according to eMarketer estimates. Mobile ad spend will grow 83% to reach $18 billion by the end of the year, although considering the amount of time Americans spend on devices analyst say mobile ad spend could be much higher. “The location capabilities inherent in mobile are a big factor driving a lot of ad revenue into the mobile space,” said Angela Steele, CEO for the IPG-owned mobile marketing firm Ansible Mobile. Read more via The Wall Street Journal.

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Axing The Check In

The superfluous “just checking in” email is the kiss of death for sellers, says seller domo Doug Weaver in this week’s edition of The Drift. Followups of this kind aren’t likely to advance a sale, he argues, adding, “It’s a tough habit to break, but nothing could be more destructive to the rep’s reputation and perceived value.” Instead, Weaver suggest that sellers establish a deadline in their original pitch and invite the buyer to decline the offer. Read more.

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