AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:

Tony Rifilato

Tony Rifilato

Associate Editor

Tony Rifilato is an associate editor at AdExchanger.com covering the linear and streaming TV space, ad tech and other topics. Previously, he was the Ops & Tech editor at Fund Intelligence, a leading daily news and data platform for the US mutual fund industry, where he covered D&I initiatives, the impact of Covid-19, the growing use of front-to-back automation, cloud technology, ETFs, large servicing/M&A deals and more. Tony is an award-winning journalist and was a senior editor at the Herald Community Newspapers on Long Island, where he wrote countless stories about politics, crime, local government, public corruption, business, education, the environment – and surfing in Long Beach, N.Y. He holds a B.A. in journalism from Hofstra University.

Articles By Tony

  • OPINION: The Sell Sider

    How The Media Trust Is Helping CTV Publishers Filter Unwanted Ads

    BY //

    “The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. As more inventory becomes available programmatically in CTV, the issue of ad quality is coming up more often. Publishers, concerned about the messaging in ads being delivered, increasingly rely on DSPs and SSPs to filter out ad content that […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    CTV Fraud Is Changing, DoubleVerify Finds

    BY //

    Ad fraud in connected TV saw a 12% drop this year to .4%, a sign that ad buyers have been proactive following a number of high-profile schemes over the past several years that bilked them out of millions. A new report by ad verification provider DoubleVerify looked at post-bid data and more than a trillion […]

  • OPINION: The Sell Sider

    Ranker One Step Ahead Of A Cookieless Future With First-Party Data

    BY //

    “The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Google announced last week that it was delaying the phaseout of third-party cookies by nearly two years. But instead of dragging their feet to prepare for the inevitable, there’s another reason why advertisers should move away from third-party cookies […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    Magnite Buys SpringServe For $31M In Push For CTV Ad Dollars

    BY //

    Sell-side platform Magnite acquired connected TV ad server SpringServe Thursday for $31 million, in a deal that will improve its access to all of a publisher’s CTV inventory. SpringServe’s video clients include Vizio, Univision, Tastemade and Pluto TV. SpringServe and Magnite work with many of the same clients, the company said. While SpotX (the video […]

  • Platforms

    IAS Goes Public In Bid To Retain Competitive Edge

    BY //

    Ad verification and measurement provider Integral Ad Science went public Wednesday after filing an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month. The New York-based company began trading on the Nasdaq at $18 per share – above the initial $15 to $17 price range – raising $270 million through the sale of 15 million […]

  • Data

    Magnite Moving Ahead With Alternative To Third-Party Cookies

    BY //

    Though Google announced last week that it would delay the phase-out of third-party cookies for nearly two years, sell-side platform Magnite has no plans to slow down its push to create an identity solution using first-party data to reach audiences. “It’s great that we have more time … but we as an industry still need […]

  • Platforms

    SPAC Merger Puts Innovid’s Value At $1.3 Billion

    BY //

    Ad server Innovid is going public via a special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC), a move aimed at driving the company’s plans for global expansion. Following approval by the Securities and Exchange Commision, the merger with ION Acquisition Corp. 2 would put Innovid’s total value at $1.3 billion. Plus, it allows Innovid to raise $403 million. […]

  • Platforms

    Twitter Integrates Its CrossInstall Mobile DSP With MoPub

    BY //

    Twitter is integrating the CrossInstall mobile-only DSP it acquired last year with MoPub’s ad exchange platform in a push to woo more performance-based marketers. CrossInstall, which came along with its own bidder and proprietary creative ad formats, has been renamed MoPub Acquire and its team will now be part of MoPub, after having operated as […]

  • OPINION: The Sell Sider

    Group Nine Leaning Into First-Party Data With New Insights Tool

    BY //

    Group Nine Media, which publishes Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker and PopSugar, launched a first-party data solution called “In-GeNuity” earlier this month in response to the coming disappearance of third-party cookies. The product matches brands with users based on content preferences – such as  bringing together pizza lovers and a pizza delivery service. “We can […]

  • Platforms

    DSP AcuityAds Valued At $600 Million After US IPO

    BY //

    Add another ad tech IPO to the growing list of companies that have gone public in recent months. Toronto-based demand-side platform AcuityAds on Monday said it closed out its initial public offering in the United States as well as a public offering in Canada with $57.5 million. On June 10, trading began on the Nasdaq […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    After Methbot Conviction, Ad Industry Zeroes In On CTV As Fraud Hotspot

    BY //

    Following this month’s conviction of Aleksandr Zhukov – the ringleader of an ad fraud scam called Methbot that bilked digital advertisers out of more than $7 million five years ago – industry leaders said that such scams are becoming more frequent in connected TV (CTV) and are often tied to larger cybercrime operations. Leaders from […]

  • Agencies

    GroupM: Digital Will Capture More Than Half Of All Ad Spend In 2021

    BY //

    Advertising revenue in the United States is expected to increase by 22% to $279 billion in 2021, a sign that the industry has turned a corner following the uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to GroupM’s mid-year forecast released Thursday. Digital advertising revenue will grow even faster, by 33%, in 2021 – building on last […]

  • Featured

    Yum! Brands CMO Explains Why Instagram Inspired Taco Bell’s Turnaround

    BY //

    In 2011, Yum! Brands was struggling to boost slumping sales at Taco Bell. “They had been trying to jolt sales with lowering prices and stuff like that and it really wasn’t working,” said Yum! Brands CMO Ken Muench. Former Yum! Brands CEO Greg Creed, the head of Taco Bell at the time, brought in Collider […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    Relevant Content and Improved Ad Personalization Are Crucial For AVOD's Success

    BY //

    Networks pitched their ad-supported streaming services at this year’s NewFronts and Upfronts as a way to continue to reach audiences. Their efforts build upon a massive shift in viewing behavior fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. But for ad-based video on demand (AVOD) to succeed, providers need to deliver better ad experiences that include relevant targeting […]

  • Featured

    Conviction Of Russian Ad Fraudster Sets Precedent. Will It Make Scammers Think Twice?

    BY //

    Five years after a Russian ad fraud scheme that bilked digital advertisers out of more than $7 million was uncovered, self-proclaimed “King of Fraud” Aleksandr Zhukov was convicted last week by a federal jury in Brooklyn. Zhukov, 41, was arrested in Bulgaria in 2018 and extradited to the United States in 2019 for running a […]

  • Ad Exchange News

    Glewed TV Adopts Xandr’s Monetize Ad Server To Streamline Sales Channels

    BY //

    Glewed TV is ramping up its connected TV (CTV) monetization efforts by adopting Xandr’s Monetize Ad Server. CTV programmers and distributors often work with multiple partners to monetize their video ad inventory. By adopting Xandr’s ad server, the ad-supported streaming service can connect to all of its demand sources in one place and have them […]

  • Platforms

    Shopify’s Shop Pay Checkout Tool Is Coming To Google

    BY //

    The friction between when someone sees a product and clicks the “buy” button is decreasing. Shop Pay – Shopify’s accelerated checkout tool – is coming to Google. The news comes a week after Google announced that it’s partnering with Shopify to make it easier for the ecommerce platform’s 1.7 million merchants to get discovered through […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    Crackle Plus Pushes CTV Measurement Capabilities

    BY //

    Crackle Plus touted $2 billion worth of content and the launch of a new ad-supported network called “Chicken Soup for the Soul” during the NewFronts earlier this month. But as more ad dollars flow into connected TV (CTV), marketers are struggling to assess the impact of their spend. Crackle is advancing its measurement capabilities with […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    Marketers Face A Radically New Supply Landscape In CTV

    BY //

    With the massive shift to streaming throughout the past year, connected TV (CTV) represents the next wave of growth in programmatic buying. In 2021, $9.5 billion of television advertising is going to be traded through programmatic auctions powered by DSPs and ad exchanges. The open internet, by contrast, will be a $56 billion category this […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    WarnerMedia and Discovery Tout Landmark Merger Deal During Upfronts

    BY //

    WarnerMedia and Discovery held separate Upfront presentations this week, just days after AT&T announced it would combine the media assets of the two companies in a deal worth $43 billion. The move, which shocked the industry – and even the topmost executives at WarnerMedia – could position the new company as a major force in the […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    AT&T Will Hold On To Xandr As It Relinquishes WarnerMedia

    BY //

    AT&T dropped a bombshell on Sunday when it announced it would combine the media assets of WarnerMedia with Discovery Inc. to create a new publicly traded company, unwinding the telco’s big bet on its acquisition of Time Warner in 2018. The deal, however, does not include the sale of Xandr, the ad tech division formerly […]

  • Peter Naylor, Snap’s VP of Americas
    Platforms

    Snap’s Peter Naylor Talks NewFronts, Creators And Cord Cutters

    BY //

    What are advertisers looking for during this year’s NewFronts? In Peter Naylor’s view, they want alternatives as audiences move away from commercially supported broadcast and cable to ad-free viewing environments. “The old ways are contracting and the old plays aren’t getting the same results as they used to,” said Naylor, Snap’s VP of Americas and […]

  • Comedian Hasan Minhaj, who hosted YouTube's Brandcast Delivered presentation.
    Digital TV and Video

    NewFronts Highlight Power Of CTV – And The Value Of New Ad Products

    BY //

    This year’s NewFronts cemented streaming as a main vehicle to reach TV audiences following a massive shift in viewing behavior fueled by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The theme of the IAB’s three-day event was “Living The Stream,” and this year’s presenters reflected the big changes in a programming market that has seen the launch of […]

  • Platforms

    AdGear Founders Raise $3.6 Million For New Data Privacy Venture

    BY //

    The founders of AdGear – a Canadian DSP and ad server acquired by Samsung Ads in 2016 – raised $3.6 million in seed funding to build a SaaS data connectivity platform called Optable. Optable uses specialized algorithms that ensure the secure transmission of encrypted audience data. The cryptographic technology allows for decentralized and secure data […]

  • Featured

    Ad Tech Valuations Are Sky High – But Are They Justified?

    BY //

    Ad tech IPOs are back in fashion as online advertising continues to surge during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021 alone, there were seven ad tech transactions valued at more than $1 billion – double the number of unicorn-level deals that went down in the past few years combined. Public companies […]

  • Platforms

    WebMD Parent Company Internet Brands to Acquire PulsePoint

    BY //

    WebMD and Medscape parent company Internet Brands is set to acquire PulsePoint, a New York-based programmatic platform focused on healthcare marketers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is set to close in early June following regulatory approvals. Healthcare and pharmaceutical marketers’ digital advertising spend grew over 14% in 2020 and is expected […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    Comcast Beats Earnings Estimates And Peacock Hits 42 Million Subscribers

    BY //

    The number of US-based subscribers of NBCUniversal’s premium ad-supported streaming service Peacock has leaped from 33 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 42 million in Q1 2021. During the Q1 earnings call of parent company Comcast on Thursday, NBCU attributed the increase – coming a year after Peacock’s launch – to the popularity […]

  • OPINION: On TV & Video

    Why Ad Buyers Are Focused On Targeting In TV

    BY //

    “On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Nielsen’s recent agreement with Roku is poised to accelerate the growth of addressable TV advertising. And with Disney’s recent announcement that it plans to automate more than half of its business and make the majority of its inventory – both linear and digital […]

  • OPINION: On TV & Video

    Inside How Innovid Formed An Ad Tech Supergroup To Scale Interactive Ads In CTV

    BY //

    “On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. About six years ago, ad server Innovid introduced interactive ads in CTV. Now, about a third of Innovid’s clients are testing them, and the company is seeing 2% to 3% engagement rates that are four or five times higher compared to other ad […]

  • 2020: The ongoing pandemic is accelerating the growth of ecommerce. Amazon: Hold my beer.
    Platforms

    Amazon A ‘Catalyst For Change’ In Retail Media

    BY //

    Amazon provided the spark for a surge in retail and commerce-based advertising. That surge has now reached fever pitch as other online retailers, including Walmart, CVS and Target, launch ad platforms in pursuit of incremental advertising revenue. It’s working. Already advertisers are spending $5 billion annually on non-Amazon retail media platforms, according to Forrester Research. […]

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