Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Telekom Wants A Cut
In a piece posted on LinkedIn, Deutsche Telekom’s SVP of tech strategy, Tomasz Gerszberg, takes fire at Internet giants like Google, Facebook and AppNexus. According to Gerszberg, the advertising strategies of large Internet companies eat into mobile subscriber’s data plans. His solution? Companies facilitating advertising for brands through mobile websites and apps should pay carriers a cut to support the ads that drain subscribers’ data. Financial Times digital media correspondent Robert Cookson highlights an important postscript: “Implicit within the proposal is a threat: carriers could block the advertising of intermediaries that refused to pay.” More.
Battle Of The Brands
Faced with mounting competition from rival JD.com, Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is scrambling to sign exclusive contracts with high-profile brands, the WSJ reports. Last week, Alibaba took a 20% stake in Chinese electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group (electronics is JD.com’s strongest foothold), and has signed agreements with more than 160 labels this year, 20 of which will sell their merchandise exclusively on Alibaba-owned property Tmall. Haoyu Shen, chief executive of JD Mall, didn’t sugarcoat JD.com’s position. “We are concerned,” he said. “We don’t think it’s in the brand’s interest to do that.” Read it.
NBCUniversal Banks On BuzzFeed
After putting $200 million into new media publisher Vox (read AdExchanger coverage), NBCUniversal pulled the trigger on a second strategic investment in BuzzFeed – $200 million for undisclosed equity in the viral millennial publisher. In a memo to staffers, BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti also referenced a new joint venture with Yahoo Japan to bring BuzzFeed Japan to Asian markets. BuzzFeed has also inked deals with Facebook’s Instant Articles, Snapchat’s Discover and Apple’s forthcoming news app. “These partnerships allow us to reach a bigger audience and have a bigger impact than what would be possible on our own,” Peretti wrote. As for its broadcast investor, 1.5 billion monthly video views was undoubtedly a draw.
The Market For Markets
Only a month after Paypal and eBay officially split, Re/code’s Jason Del Rey reports that eBay is selling off part of its stake in Snapdeal, an Indian ecommerce powerhouse. EBay led a $133.7 million investment in Snapdeal last year. The Drum also reports that eBay has hired a new CMO, and is “redefining itself with a more aggressive focus on retailing.” The online marketplace plans to use at least some of the newly-available funds to reinvest in eBay India. Read on.
In It For The Short Haul
Writing for Forbes, Avi Dan, the founder of agency search consulting firm Avidan Strategies, predicts a decline in the agency retainer model. According to Dan, marketers are increasingly enlisting agencies on a project-by-project basis rather than signing onto long-term commitments. To name a few, brands like Pepsi, Mondelez, Georgia-Pacific, Frito-Lay, Best Buy, Chobani and Kimberly-Clark are adopting this approach. Dan’s advice: “Agencies should seize on the trend among big marketers to break up their advertising assignments among several shops brand by brand rather than rely on just one agency.” Read on.
Power Users
According to data from comScore, only 8% of smartphone and tablet users get daily news via apps, but those who do use apps account for 45% of total mobile news viewership. Ken Doctor of NiemanLabs reports on how this is influencing digital publishing. Dow Jones CIO Edward Roussel says, “There’s an intimacy with an app. It’s on your phone and you’ve got limited space, and so it’s an honor to be an app on someone’s phone – because they’ve made space for you in the device that’s most personal to them.” Other publishers cite surprising internal numbers on app users. More.
You’re Hired!
- Reddit Names Tapps Founding Engineer At Pinterest As Its First CTO – TechCrunch
- RevMob Appoints Marcelo Ferreira As Co-CEO of Mobile Ad Network – press release
- Adform Adds Julian Baring As US General Manager – Adform blog
- Paul Maritz Steps Down As Pivotal CEO – WSJ
- Publicis Worldwide Names Guillaume Herbette EVP Of Creative Shop, CEO of MSLGroup – Ad Age
But Wait, There’s More!
- AOL Plans To Train More Than 600 Microsoft Salespeople On Programmatic – Digiday
- Podcast Group Midroll Media Adopts Paid Model – FT
- The Lack Of Developers Is Becoming A Major Concern For The Apps Economy – Arc
- IAB: HTML5 to Be New Industry Standard – ClickZ
- Elitecore Plans To Woo Mobile Advertisers – Light Reading
- Digital Element Debuts Lat/Long Conversion Tool For Actionable Info – press release
- The Oral History Of The Launch Of Epicurious – Epicurious
- Allant Links Advertisers, Agencies To Audiences With TV Viewer Data – press release
- Programmatic Video Buyers Open Up About Open Exchanges – MediaPost
- Manage Publisher Tops 20B Mobile In-App Ad Impressions Monthly – press release
- AdTheorent Releases Q2 Mobile Ad Performance Report Summary – press release
- Ad Roundup: Social Data, Semantic Classification And Native Ads – BizReport
