Home Ad Exchange News Key Hires At Commerce Startup Profitero; WPP To Shutter Triad

Key Hires At Commerce Startup Profitero; WPP To Shutter Triad

SHARE:

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

Third Time’s A Charm

Bryan Wiener and Sarah Hofstetter joined the ecommerce software company Profitero as CEO and president, respectively. This is the third business Wiener and Hofstetter have jointly led, following their long tenure at 360i before it was acquired by Dentsu and their short stint at Comscore – which ended after a year due to “irreconcilable differences” with the board. Profitero is a pre-profit startup, unlike Comscore, so the pair may have more control over the road map. One new product they plan to introduce with Profitero is Amazon ad campaign management by expanding on the company’s market share analytics, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Triad To Work It Out

WPP will shutter retail media agency Triad within 90 days. Some employees have already been laid off, and others will stay for a transition period, according to Ad Age sources. WPP bought Triad in 2016 for a reported $300 million to grow its ecommerce business under Xaxis. But when flagship client Walmart started in-housing ad sales and tech last year, Triad’s number was up. In late 2019, Walmart-owned Sam’s Club acquired some of Triad’s ad tech IP and a few of its executives. More.

Commerce Dreams

Google will change its shopping search portal this month, eliminating most ad units and elevating free, organic results. Amazon has frustrated some merchants by deprioritizing their deliveries and removing affiliate channels, and Google is trying to seize on that momentum to entice sellers and manufacturers into setting up Merchant Center accounts (which is how ecommerce products can qualify for free search exposure), Reuters reports. Google balked at the multibillion-dollar investment in delivery and customer service that would have been needed to compete with Amazon in commerce, so it will rely on search instead. “It’s daunting the amount of capital and expertise it would take to run such a business,” said Jon Venverloh, former Google shopping director who left last summer.

But Wait, There’s More!

You’re Hired!

Must Read

Buyers Can Now Target High-Attention Inventory In The Trade Desk

By applying Adelaide’s Attention Unit scoring, buyers can target low-, medium- and high-attention inventory via TTD’s self-serve platform.

How Should Advertisers Navigate A TikTok Ban Or Google Breakup? Just Ask Brian Wieser

The online advertising industry is staring down the barrel of not one but two potential shutdowns that could radically change where brands put their ad dollars in 2025, according to Madison and Wall’s Brian Weiser and Olivia Morley.

Intent IQ Has Patents For Ad Tech’s Most Basic Functions – And It’s Not Afraid To Use Them

An unusual dilemma has programmatic vendors and ad tech platforms worried about a flurry of potential patent infringement suits.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters

TikTok Video For Open Web Publishers? Outbrain Built It.

Outbrain is trying to shed its chumbox rep by bringing social media-style vertical video to mobile publishers on the open web.

Billups Launches Attention Measurement For Out-Of-Home

Billups, a managed services agency that specializes in OOH, is making its attention measurement solution and a related analytics dashboard available for general use.

US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria

The Google Ad Tech Antitrust Case Is Over – And Here’s What’s Happening Next

Just three weeks after it began, the Google ad tech antitrust trial in Virginia is over. The court will now take a nearly two-month break before reconvening for closing arguments right before Thanksgiving.