Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Retargeting A Sale
Criteo, a stalwart of independent ad tech, is shopping its business to potential buyers, Reuters reports.
No deal is imminent, and this isn’t the first time Criteo has tested the waters. In 2021, Criteo went through a sale review but never closed. Not to mention that the economy – and the state of ad tech valuations – are not, shall we say, advantageous.
Still, Criteo has a lot going for it, especially in contrast with other indie ad tech. Criteo is profitable, after all, which isn’t true of most other ad tech, even public companies, and it sits right at the beating heart of the commerce and retail media boom.
But who could acquire Criteo?
Coincidentally, Richard Kramer, founder and managing director of Arete Research, an investment advisory firm, was on hand at AdExchanger’s Industry Preview event to share a few predictions from the stage. Arete’s bet is on The Trade Desk or Shopify as possible destinations.
But Criteo’s success is tied to the third-party cookie, at least in the eyes of many investment banks and potential buyers. And, as Reuters puts it, “these tactics face new challenges as Google prepares to phase out cookies.”
No kidding.
Don’t Overdo It
Influencers are known for promoting brands on TikTok. But now they’re also telling users what not to buy.
“De-influencing” videos have been ramping up on TikTok over the past month, Ad Age reports. Think of it like a bad review, but as a short-form video.
This trend is tied to the state of the economy, says Alyssa Kromelis, a marketing consultant whose de-influencing video went viral. Inflation and signs of a recession mean consumers want to save money, and they’re tired of being overexposed to ads for products they don’t need or can’t afford.
The #deinfluencing hashtag appears on video ads for big-name brands, including Olaplex and Lululemon. Some influencers even criticize the brands they partner with, which means brands might need to be choosier about the influencers they decide to work with (and how much they pay them).
This trend is a reminder for brands to “take a step back and be strategic,” says Kimmy Shoval, head of influencer marketing at indie agency Movement Strategy.
But the selectiveness goes both ways. Expect influencers to also get choosier about which brands they deign to support.
Battle Bots
Google has unveiled an interactive AI chatbot called Bard, its answer to Microsoft’s ChatGPT. The move exemplifies the reignition of a dormant catfight between the two tech giants, this time revolving around the future of AI and search, The Verge reports. Microsoft will likely add a ChatGPT-esque interface to its Bing search engine that will spit out brief, simple, AI-generated answers as results instead of the clickable boxes and links we’ve become accustomed to in search.
Bard relies on Google’s LaMDA tech, which resembles the GPT series of AI language models that undergird ChatGPT. Google will widen public access to Bard in the coming weeks. In another sign of its vested interest in AI, Google recently took a $300 million stake in Anthropic, an AI firm founded by erstwhile OpenAI researchers.
But Microsoft isn’t resting on its laurels either. Its future chips and PC and mobile processors may integrate AI features, and it’s working on Azure OpenAI, which lets businesses fold DALL-E (and soon, ChatGPT) into their cloud apps.
Back in 2015, Google and Microsoft set aside a bitter history of sniping at each other, despite Google being intent on hampering Microsoft’s success in mobile and Microsoft being just as determined to keep Google’s Chromebooks from encroaching on its PC market share.
Now, that uneasy peace is gone. The rivalry is back on.
But Wait, There’s More!
Streaming media firm Atmosphere raises $65 million at a unicorn valuation. [Axios]
Vox Media raises $100 million from Penske Media Corp. to weather a rough ad market. [NYT]
LVA founder and former Warner Media head of design Larry Adams is raising funds for an AI platform to detect bias in advertising. [Ad Age]
You’re Hired!
Joshua Koran joins InMarket as product chief. [post]
Criteo names Marc Fischli as executive managing director, EMEA, and Nicole Kivel as managing director, Northern Europe. [release]
Sales enablement platform Allego hires Heather Moses as CMO. [release]
