Allison Schiff is the managing editor of AdExchanger, where she covers mobile, Facebook (sorry, Meta), measurement, privacy and the app economy. Allison received her M.A. in journalism from the Dublin Institute of Technology in Ireland (her favorite place), and a B.A. in history and English from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.
The Knot’s audience is engaged – literally. Eight out of 10 couples in the US – around 12 million monthly uniques – visit the wedding planning site for advice while getting ready for the big day. But The Knot has transformed itself over the last three years from an online publication to what Mike Steib, CEO and president […]
Western ad tech companies looking for an exit only have a handful of choices. They can IPO like The Trade Desk (not likely), get acquired like Yahoo (slightly more likely), sell to private equity like Marketo or Mediaocean (only an interim solution) or, as is now becoming the trend, find a Chinese consortium with an […]
These are the TV brands you know – Sony, Samsung, LG. But the browser inside their hardware comes courtesy of a third party. And Opera TV, the purveyor of said software, is starting to dip its toe into more consumer-facing fare. “We shipped 42 million devices with our software last year and we’re nearly at the […]
Entrepreneur and investor Peter Pham knows teens, and the term “native advertising,” like, totally makes him roll his eyes. “I’m sick of hearing the word ‘native’ because nothing I’ve seen in the market is actually native to the experience,” said Pham, co-founder of Science, a tech incubator with a knack for getting startups off the […]
Beijing-based Miteno Communication Technology is buying contextual ad network Media.net for $900 million in cash.In other words, a Chinese consortium led by a company you’ve most likely never heard of just spent almost $1 billion to acquire an ad tech company you’ve also probably never heard of. It’s a trend we’re going to see more […]
Kirthi Kalyanam will speak at AdExchanger’s Omni.Digital conference in Chicago on September 8. A lot of marketers are struggling with retargeting. According to a recent Millward Brown Digital poll of 300 senior brand, agency and media execs, 55% of them aren’t confident in their company’s grasp of the customer journey. “Historically, the advertising industry has […]
GhostBed is ready to go to the mattresses to gain share of voice in the super-competitive bed-in-a-box market. One tactic in its arsenal: cars wrapped in advertising. “It’s like a moving billboard – you’re getting an enormous number of impressions and it’s cost-effective for us,” said Marc Werner, CEO and founder of Nature’s Sleep, manufacturer of […]
Regardless of their size, carriers are actively looking for new ways to monetize – selling text-and-talk plans alone isn’t cutting it anymore. Mega telcos are clearly cooking up plans for incremental ad-related revenue, as evidenced by Verizon’s multibillion-dollar acquisitions of AOL and Yahoo. But small, specialized telcos like Life Wireless are also turning to advertising to […]
Last year, Oracle had deals going with a number of different cross-device players, including Drawbridge, pre-Telenor Tapad and Crosswise. In April, Oracle decided to make one of those companies its own, snapping up Crosswise for its data cloud for a reported $50 million. Although Tapad and Drawbridge still power Oracle Data Cloud products, there came a point […]
“Angry Birds” maker Rovio Entertainment knew the sheer size of its user acquisition tactics was making it a sitting duck for ad fraud. “With a name like Rovio, the ad exchanges see us as having big potential for them,” said An Vu, Rovio’s user acquisition lead. “They often want to sell us a lot and […]
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Lux is hoping video is worth a conversion. The home decor and interior design shopping app, which launched July 2015 on iOS and Android, sees a 30% higher engagement rate on autoplay video than on static product photos. “Facebook has proven that autoplay video can be quite […]
Reuters hopes its TV app is the opposite of a traditional TV-based news consumption experience. It’s an algorithmically generated and editorially curated video package for the cord-cutting generation. “It’s clear that the concept of what makes TV, well, TV is changing,” said Isaac Showman, managing director of Reuters TV, which positions itself as a product […]
MasterCard is partnering with location data company PlaceIQ to help retailers and merchants connect what people buy to where people go. The relationship, unveiled Wednesday, “paints a much richer picture than location or transaction insights can provide by themselves,” said Shubhra Srivastava, VP of media solutions at MasterCard. “Location data complements transaction-based insights and provides […]
Malicious bots are getting more sophisticated and bot blocking companies are raising more cash – the arms race is in full swing. One such company, Distil Networks, announced $21 million in Series C funding on Tuesday as part of its bid to keep combating what CEO Rami Essaid called “a growing problem.” The round, led by […]
Although Opera Mediaworks is no longer packing its bags and moving to China, newly minted CEO Will Kassoy is still bullish on the opportunity there. “China is a huge market for advertising,” said Kassoy, who took the reins from former company chief Mahi de Silva in December after roughly two years as CMO. Kassoy joined […]
If you’re a developer looking to monetize and attribute spend across devices, Facebook and Google might soon become the only shows in town. “Bummer,” called out an audience member at Grow.co’s MAU event in New York City on Tuesday. As programmatic buying grows on mobile, so does the need for an analytics infrastructure that traces […]
Sprint is starting to see the mobile wallet as a natural complement to and extension of its native app. Mobile wallet is on a user’s device by default – Apple Pay on iOS and Android Pay on Android – which creates a lower barrier to entry for brands that don’t have an app or want […]
With its acquisition of Yahoo on Monday, Verizon – and therefore AOL – is sinking its hooks into a treasure chest of cross-device data. “It’s very large and very deterministic,” said 360i president Jared Belsky. Cross-device connectivity was ostensibly one of the big motivators behind Verizon’s acquisition of AOL in May 2015, and now the same […]
It’s been a bumpy road for Fiksu – from app marketplace rock star to ad tech cautionary tale – but now comes the next chapter. On Monday, the mobile app marketing platform, which was acquired by private equity firm Noosphere in early June likely as part of a fire sale, announced that it’s splitting itself into four […]
If a brand is able to handle its own growth hacking, user acquisition, audience creation, tracking, measurement and testing, then fair enough – there’s no real reason to work with a digital agency. “But if you’re not Machine Zone or Supercell with a 50-person team that’s really good at that, then you do need us,” […]
It’s probably not a good idea to use Google Translate on legal language. Roughly two weeks ago, the Chinese government released online regulations that include new rules governing paid search results, embedded links, video ads and email advertising. A buried clause within the edict also seems to outlaw ad blocking – and when Adblock Plus realized […]
Accenture’s digital services group Accenture Interactive “never set out to disrupt the agency relationship,” said Bob Barr, its managing director and global B2B commerce lead, but that’s pretty much what’s happening. “Just from a digital perspective, we’re a [roughly $7] billion agency,” Barr said. “When I tell that to people, they just stop and go, ‘Huh. […]
Kiip is having its moment. The mobile rewards platform announced its $12 million Series C on Tuesday, bringing its total funding to $32 million. Led by new investor North Atlantic Capital with participation from US Cellular (also a new investor) and existing investors Verizon Ventures, Relay Ventures, HWVP and True Ventures, the cash is destined to […]
Deals fall through all the time. But the failed acquisition of Opera’s ad business could be a signal that China’s western buying spree is liable to hit a few regulatory snags. In February, a consortium of Chinese companies, which comprises mobile game maker Kunlun and security software provider Qihoo, announced its intention to buy up all of […]
App users that don’t convert or engage in some way are not healthy for a developer’s bottom line. On Monday, Facebook rolled out a product to help publishers attract users that are most likely to keep using an app after they download it. Facebook also expanded dynamic product ads and its full-screen mobile ad unit, […]
The “one-size-fits-all marketing epitomized by the TV upfronts is out of step with the way people consume media in the market today,” said GE CMO Linda Boff at the second annual AppFronts hosted by General Electric on Thursday in New York City. The event invited 13 apps to pitch themselves to marketers. Even though people […]
Designer fashion retailer Monton is trying on messenger bots for size. On Thursday, the brand, which targets the trendy millennial aged 25 to 30, exited beta on a product discovery tool that allows Facebook Messenger users to chat with the brand and scroll through recommendations based on previously selected items. The images link directly to […]
Augmented reality seems to have hit its mainstream stride with the runaway popularity of Pokémon Go, and users are having a blast – but location-based marketers are also getting pretty stoked. “This is like the best high-profile marketing campaign for location intelligence that anyone could ask for,” said Foursquare president Steven Rosenblatt. For those living under […]
Congress is starting to pay attention to ad fraud – and it’s looking to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for answers. To be precise, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) drafted a letter to the FTC on Monday calling for the commission to take a closer look at the negative economic impact of digital […]
Now available on your mobile device: all the crummy, spammy experiences you’ve come to expect from desktop. Shady affiliate marketing tactics are a particular annoyance for publishers and users alike, especially forced redirects that unexpectedly shunt users to an app store, either by way of an intrusive popup or a mobile webpage overstuffed with display […]
