Atlas Concerns; Fraud Ignorance Not Okay

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Atlas Jitters

Publishers are nervous about data leaking through codes and scripts on their properties, including Facebook’s “social hooks.” According to The Information, that nervousness may have extended to the company’s recently rebuilt ad server. “In an abundance of caution, publishers are taking a ‘wait-and-see’ approach for more evidence that using Atlas would help them make more money,“ the story claims. Read it. (sub required) It’s not clear from the piece that publishers are rejecting Atlas tags, or just withholding their names from Facebook’s publicity machine. Certainly it’s an overstatement that “no major Web publisher” will work with Atlas. Google itself has certified Atlas on its exchange and its owned and operated properties for a while now.

Ignorance Not Excused

IAB VP Mike Zaneis tells Ad Age that “[b]ig changes are coming folks. Everyone will have obligations, everybody is going to have to make changes.” What those obligations and changes are, exactly, have yet to come to light. But the implication is that pleading the fifth on buying fraudulent traffic will not be tolerated in the (near?) future. “Too many people are engaging in acts of omission,” Zaneis added. “That’s not going to be okay anymore.” More. But details are still sketchy on what the IAB, ANA and 4As have planned for their anti-fraud task force.

Merging For Automation

Digital exchange company Zenovia snapped up programmatic SSP (was an ad server back in the day) AdJuggler to “improve industry efficiency by directly connecting buyers and sellers of programmatic digital media.” Zenovia founder Dwight Ringdahl claimed in the release that as a result of investing in AdJuggler, publishers will see higher CPMs and buyers will find improved campaign yields. Recall that back in March Zenovia bought assets of Australian DSP Brandscreen. Programmatic consolidation marches on!

Geotargeting For All

Facebook’s ad biz creeps toward location approximation with the rollout of “local awareness ads.” The offering is an audience discovery function baked into Facebook’s “Ads Create” tool. In a blog post on Tuesday, the company said, “Our conversations with advertisers have shown that when it comes to driving in-store sales, an ad’s reach is far more important than the engagement it receives (things such as clicks, comments or likes).” US businesses can add age, gender and location filters into their Facebook ads, but users must opt in for tracking.

Agencies Assemble

MDC Partners sister agencies Assembly and Doner Media struck a partnership on Tuesday. In a press release, Assembly CEO Martin Cass explained, “Assembly is operating under a new model that delivers the most progressive thinking and solutions to help brands thrive in today’s media environment. By bringing Doner Media’s robust local media buying and sophisticated retail expertise into our offering, we are now even better equipped to optimize marketers’ media investments and deliver unique business-building programs for clients across categories.” More.