As a staff reporter at AdExchanger, Alison covers advertising agencies and the digital audio landscape. Previously a copywriter at MarketSmiths, she has written digital marketing copy and produced campaigns across multiple verticals. Prior to that Alison worked in editorial at award-winning travel journalism site Fathom. She has a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from the University of Michigan.
Roku is reaping the benefits of cord cutting. The connected TV platform’s revenues grew 51% year over year in Q1 to $206.7 million. Roku surpassed Samsung as the number one smart TV OS in the United States, where more than one in three smart TVs sold had Roku software embedded, said CEO Anthony Wood on […]
As a joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony Entertainment, Vevo owns the sales and distribution rights to 350,000 music videos from the world’s top artists. Vevo has always had a large distribution partnership with YouTube, but over the past year it’s shut down its owned-and-operated properties to exclusively partner on third-party distribution – […]
Shopify powers digital marketing for many of the savviest direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. In addition to its foundational ecommerce services, Shopify provides DTC marketers with a range of creative and media buying tools through an automated chatbot named Kit. It also connects merchants to major media platforms such as Instagram, Amazon, Google and Facebook through a […]
Outside of the office, Amanda Betsold may be found running in an Ironman competition, scuba diving with leopard seals in Antarctica or attempting to climb the seven summits. “I never choose the safe bet,” said Betsold, a programmatic lead at iCrossing. “If I’m going to put effort into something, I want to make it worth […]
For YouTube, it’s all about the big TV screen. At least, that was the messaging the Google-owned video platform pushed during its Brandcast event Thursday evening at Radio City Music Hall, where CEO Susan Wojcicki trotted out the stats. “The 2 billion users who log into YouTube each month are watching their favorite content […]
As the industry evolves, media agencies are no longer set up to work with their clients in a financially viable way. In reviews, client procurement departments still evaluate their agencies against historical cost benchmarks, such as commissions or number of full-time employees (FTE) charged by its previous agency. But that often precludes the agency from […]
After 15 years as the biggest player in the online job search category, Monster got comfortable at the top – and began losing market share to competitors. The company had stopped innovating on its core product and pumped all marketing spend into low-funnel media at the expense of its brand. At the same time, new […]
The podcast industry is in flux, with more content moving behind paywalls and under big streaming platforms. Podcast hosting and analytics platform Acast wants to keep podcasts accessible across all listening apps. To do that, it’s acquired Pippa, another podcast hosting and analytics platform that works with independent creators, the company said Thursday. Terms of […]
Snap is seeing a nice bump from performance advertisers. The platform said Tuesday that its revenues from direct-response buyers doubled over the past year, although it did not break out a figure. Total revenue grew 39% year over year to $320 million, beating analyst expectations of $307 million. Snap’s success with performance advertisers is driven […]
The two minutes of television inventory sold by multichannel video players (MVPDs) – which can be made addressable by targeting through the set-top box – has historically been fragmented across providers, making it complex for a national advertiser to run addressable campaigns at scale. Today, MVPDs are jockeying to sell each other’s addressable TV supply, […]
Despite ad tech consolidation, the Lumascape isn’t shrinking, and it’s tough even for agencies to help their clients find the right tech partners. So GroupM launched a startup accelerator program on Monday to streamline that process. GroupM will select four US-based startups to participate in the three-month mentorship program, called AdVentures, with clients including Mike’s […]
Publicis acquired Epsilon on Sunday primarily for the latter’s expertise in working with first-party client data. But Publicis got a lot more with Epsilon’s hefty $4.4 billion price tag. Epsilon is best known for its services related to data management, email marketing and loyalty platforms. But Epsilon also gives Publicis an affiliate marketing network (Commission […]
When Publicis acquired Epsilon for $4.4 billion on Sunday, it put a big emphasis on the value the company brings to the group around first-party data. But while Epsilon has deep experience working with its clients’ first-party data and managing their CRM databases and loyalty programs, it doesn’t actually own first-party data – depending on […]
Publicis Groupe’s $4.4 billion purchase of email marketing and data company Epsilon on Sunday comes down to three words: first-party data. “What is really important for our clients is to build their first-party data,” said Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun on an investor call Monday. “If not, they will be killed by direct to consumer […]
Agencies have a “can’t live with it, can’t live without it” relationship with Facebook. The world’s second-largest ad platform, which reaches roughly 2.4 billion people, is a must-buy for brands. But a stream of issues around brand safety, misinformation and election integrity have made Facebook a precarious place for a brand to expose itself. Facebook’s […]
Waze is navigating toward programmatic. The traffic and navigation app owned by Google said Wednesday it has made its Zero-speed Takeover ad unit available programmatically in Display & Video 360 (formerly known as DoubleClick Bid Manager). The unit shows up as a banner ad at the bottom of the screen when a driver stops their […]
Buying local TV is still an extremely manual process. FreeWheel wants to change that. On Tuesday, the Comcast-owned company released features in its Strata media platform that automate planning and buying for local TV buyers. Strata, which Comcast bought back in 2005, is used by more than 1,200 agencies to plan and buy media across […]
TV dollars are following eyeballs and shifting to over-the-top. Magna said Friday that its 2018 forecast for US OTT ad revenues came in short. The agency predicted OTT ad revenues would hit $2 billion in 2018, but they actually hit $2.7 billion at a 54% year over year growth rate. As a result, Magna is […]
Accenture Interactive, the agency division of the global management consulting firm, said Wednesday it will acquire independent creative agency Droga5. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Accenture Interactive claims Droga5 is its largest agency acquisition to date. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, Accenture Interactive said in a press release. Droga5, […]
Agencies can no longer plan digital and linear investments separately. Integrating planning strategies and investments at OMD will be a core focus for George Manas, who joined as president and chief media officer last week from Omnicom performance agency Resolution Media. “I’ve been bullish on making sure programmatic talent doesn’t live in just an activation […]
Agencies need access to unique data sources to bring strategic value to their clients. Publicis said Monday it is in talks to acquire Epsilon from parent Alliance Data Systems in an effort to beef up its own data assets. The agency network is bidding against Goldman Sachs and private equity firm Advent International for Epsilon, […]
Hearts & Science US CEO Erin Matts will speak at AdExchanger’s upcoming Programmatic IO San Francisco conference on April 29-30, 2019 in San Francisco. It’s harder for media agencies to have the buying clout in the digital world that they have in traditional channels. Hearts & Science is building that influence through thousands of private […]
Big agencies’ inability to quickly change their legacy structures has eroded their value to clients. “We are too passive,” said Nick Brien, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network in North America, on stage at the 4A’s Decisions 2020 conference in Washington, DC on Monday. “We are slow to change. We’re too incremental. We have legacy structures […]
Late last year, Havas Media began formalizing rules for how it works with SSPs and exchanges. The rules required them to shed light on previously non-transparent practices, like publisher fees, supply quality, access to log-level reporting and auction dynamics. Havas wasn’t an outlier. Hearts & Science also runs a 50-point certification process with SSPs and […]
S4 Capital wants to acquire a company with access to unique first-party data. The holding company, helmed by former WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, is in discussions with two companies – one in the retail space with access to 90 million customer records and another in transportation with data for 100 million customers. “We would like […]
Marketing, once largely a creative occupation, now requires understanding of data, tech and business. And many CMOs don’t have the necessary skills. “Clearly, marketing folk are not able to justify their existence,” said Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar. He added: “There is such a significant component of technology within marketing that without understanding how to leverage […]
Adobe is betting big on Experience Cloud, which houses all of its marketing, analytics and advertising solutions, as a major growth area for its business. “All the meetings that [we] have, whether it’s with CEOs, CMOs or CIOs, they’re absolutely reflecting the urgency of digital engagement and an appetite to work with Adobe,” CEO Shantanu […]
Embattled holding company MDC Partners has a new owner. The Stagwell Group, a new-model agency holding company helmed by former Microsoft chief strategy officer and political advisor Mark Penn, said Friday it will invest $100 million to take a 30% minority stake in MDC Partners. Penn will become CEO and sit on MDC’s board. The […]
To centralize or not to centralize? That is the question holding companies have wrestled with since the advent of programmatic buying a decade ago. While Publicis Media and GroupM have broken up or reassembled their trading desks, others like IPG have kept that expertise at the center. Enter Omnicom, which said Friday it’s taking the […]
In its first-ever Wave evaluating media agencies with under $20 billion in billings, released Thursday, Forrester recognized agencies that leverage their buying clout and understanding of the media landscape in creative ways. Mediahub, Hearts & Science and Assembly were Leaders in the ranking. PHD, Spark Foundry, Horizon Media and Vizeum were Strong Performers, while Dentsu […]
