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.
GroupM is still trying to be simpler for clients to navigate. To propel that effort, the WPP-owned media buying arm promoted Evan Hanlon to the newly created role of US chief strategy officer on Wednesday. Hanlon, who was previously president of data and technology unit mPlatform, will focus on making it easier for clients to […]
Last year, the GroupM digital agency Essence broke into traditional TV. Now, Essence is working with all of the major TV networks to sell their inventory in a more addressable way, said CEO Christian Juhl. “We’re trying to work with major publishers on changing the way they sell media,” he said. “But the things we’re […]
Google, a sleeping giant in the podcast space, is starting to open its eyes and stretch. Since launching its native podcast app for Android last June, Google has worked to improve podcast discovery, offered more titles and connected podcasts to its voice assistant and vast search business, said Zack Reneau-Wedeen, product manager at Google. “Google […]
Programmatic will be key to Spotify’s ability to scale as it expands from a music platform to an audio platform with spoken-word content. Since launching its audio capability in 2016, Spotify’s programmatic business has grown to capture 20% of all ad revenue on its platform. In addition to a self-serve platform launched in 2017 that […]
After two years of stock declines, WPP is finally inching toward progress. The holding company on Friday reported revenue was down 1.3% in 2018 to $2 billion and billings up 0.4% to $7.4 billion, at the upper end of guidance set in October. Shares jumped 8% upon the news. But work remains to be done […]
Targeting on TV with the same precision as digital is becoming a reality. Hulu, Roku and other over-the-top (OTT) providers offer advanced audience and behavioral targeting capabilities like CRM onboarding, while companies such as Xandr and NCC Media are applying unique data sets to make the linear TV landscape more addressable. But just because marketers […]
Tubi has no interest in becoming a subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) service. As giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime pour money into original content housed behind paywalls, Tubi wants to provide access to the world’s largest library of free, on-demand content. The 8-year-old, ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) network has more than 12,000 titles available across 18 streaming platforms. […]
Kraft-Heinz’s $15 billion write-down on Kraft and Oscar Meyer last week shows that underinvesting in marketing and brand hurts long-term growth. “It indicates investment in innovation and branding is essential,” said Martin Sorrell, CEO of S4 Capital. “In addition to being frugal, you have to invest in product or service innovation and marketing. You’re throwing […]
Broadcast radio giant Cumulus Media is making programmatic audio sales a priority in 2019. Cumulus said Monday that DAX, the programmatic audio exchange owned by UK broadcaster Global, will be the exclusive sales rep for streaming and programmatic inventory across its 433 stations. Cumulus is the first terrestrial radio broadcaster to join DAX’s exchange, which […]
If Xandr wants to live up to its promise and create a programmatic marketplace for the TV industry, it’s going to have to convince agencies to buy what it’s offering. The AT&T-owned company recently hired Jay Askinasi for the job, and he joined Xandr in early February as VP, head of digital and agency partnerships. […]
Another executive with a data and technology background is taking a big leadership role at Omnicom. Erin Matts, former North American CEO of Annalect, was named US CEO of Hearts & Science on Tuesday. Matts will succeed Scott Hagedorn, who was promoted to CEO of Omnicom Media Group on Thursday. Omnicom has not yet named […]
MediaMonks has always focused on high-quality, low-cost creative production at scale. But when the agency’s parent company S4 acquired MightyHive in December 2018, MediaMonks’ value prop expanded to include performance advertising. Together, MediaMonks and MightyHive will put creative, production and performance marketing on one team, rather than siloing them in specialty groups as agencies often […]
Video ad platform Ooyala is slowly being disassembled and sold piece by piece. On Thursday, Ooyala revealed it had sold its online video platform to Brightcove for $15 million. The deal is expected to close in mid-2019. Brightcove, founded in 2004, provides a similar cloud-based video distribution solution as Ooyala. Its clients include Acorn TV, […]
At agencies, data-driven talent is rising to the very top. Hearts & Science CEO Scott Hagedorn was named CEO of Omnicom Media Group (OMG) Thursday after 15 years with the company. Hagedorn succeeds Page Thompson, who will retire after 40 years at Omnicom. Omnicom has not yet named a replacement for Hagedorn at Hearts & […]
IPG is still outperforming its peers in a tough market for agencies. Organic net revenue grew 7.1% YoY to $2.41 billion in Q4 and 5.5% YoY to $8 billion in 2018, IPG reported Wednesday. That’s much better than Publicis, which saw organic growth at just 0.3% for the quarter and 0.1% for the year. IPG […]
Goodway Group, a programmatic service provider for regional agencies and midsize brands, is expanding its focus to the Fortune 500 with the launch of a new performance agency. Parent company Goodway Holdings said Wednesday it will launch Control v. Exposed (CvE), which will work with big brands across biddable media, technology and consulting to solve […]
Major acquisitions have recently brought both podcast content and distribution under key players like EW Scripps, Spotify, iHeartMedia and Pandora. But advertisers won’t see immediate benefits around better targeting and automated buying. Under this new, consolidated landscape, EW Scripps owns the podcast network Midroll and player app Stitchr, iHeartMedia has Stuff Media, Spotify owns producer […]
Remember when WPP CEO Mark Read said he wanted the holding company to be known for creative transformation? That need to evolve has finally hit Triad, a company WPP acquired in 2016 that sells paid media on ecommerce sites. On Tuesday, Triad rebranded from Triad Retail Media and launched a consultancy to help brands increase […]
Consumer goods clients are struggling, and dragging Publicis down with them. The holding company reported weak earnings with just 0.3% organic growth for the quarter and 0.1% organic growth for the year to $2.85 billion, well below analyst expectations of 2.5%. “Let’s be clear,” CEO Arthur Sadoun said on the earnings call Thursday. “Q4 organic […]
Spotify said Wednesday in a blog post it would acquire podcast production network Gimlet Media and podcast creation, distribution and sponsorship platform Anchor. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources pegged the price at roughly $230 million. If that estimate is correct, it’s the most high-value acquisition of a podcast network or platform […]
While Facebook’s earnings last Tuesday prove that marketers still spend, some wonder if consumer backlash against the platform could one day damage brands advertising on it. “The slow stream of press has caused more angst and questions,” said James Douglas, executive director and head of media at performance agency Reprise. “Every day it seems like […]
Snap is no longer losing users. For the third consecutive quarter, Snap managed to stave user decline. Its Q4 daily active users clocked in at 186 million, which was flat sequentially but a slight year-over-year dip from 187 million. And advertisers are still spending on the platform. Q4 revenue grew 36% to $390 million, while […]
As brands increasingly implement global data strategies, agencies must get creative about collecting data in emerging markets. Outside of data-mature markets, such as the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, access to data varies. In Latin America, Asia and other emerging markets, programmatic spend is lower and deterministic data sits behind walled gardens, making it […]
The New York Times once worked with thousands of advertisers, but it’s now narrowed its focus to the top 100 global brands. “The business is shrinking in terms of the overall number of advertisers, as there are more places to do longtail advertising,” said Sebastian Tomich, global head of advertising and marketing solutions at The […]
When AT&T bought Time Warner in June to create a programmatic exchange for the TV industry, many looked to Verizon’s purchases of AOL and Yahoo as a comparison. But the two telco’s strategies “could not be any more different,” said Xandr CEO Brian Lesser on stage at AdExchanger’s Industry Preview last Thursday. “Oath, I think, […]
Mel Edwards, the newly minted global CEO of Wunderman Thompson, has a huge job ahead of her. When the agency officially launches this year, it will have 20,000 employees in 90 markets across 200 global offices, and eventually, Edwards wants everyone in each market working together. “We need a little more time because of the […]
What started with an interest in video production blossomed into a career in programmatic advertising for NCC Media CEO Nicolle Pangis. To pay off her student loans, Pangis took a job in 1999 at 24/7 Media, a pioneering programmatic ad firm, where she worked in affiliate relations with websites that were part of the ad […]
As clients tighten their belts and put accounts up for review, IPG media agency UM is focused on working strategically with data and analytics to grow clients’ businesses. That often means sitting out a major pitch if it’s clear the focus will be on cost cutting. “It goes against how agencies have been trained, which […]
Every January, agency executives make their annual pilgrimage to CES to check out the latest trends in consumer technology and distill them into business ideas for clients. At WPP, newly merged agencies VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson are taking a wider purview at the show in keeping with their broadened services. Where Y&R and J. Walter […]
Agency cost-cutting and deteriorating trust with clients hasn’t deterred Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the agency trade organization the 4A’s, from fighting. “[Taking] a business problem and coming up with an incredibly elegant and different creative solution is what the best agencies do,” she said. Agencies have been tarred by scandals around transparency, thanks to the […]
