Senior Editor
James covers the intersection of commerce, media and advertising technology.
AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:
James Hercher
Articles By James
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Acxiom Working Out How To Maximize Value From A LiveRamp Sale
Acxiom intends to sell its marketing solutions division before moving to a potential sale of LiveRamp, because it believes selling them separately will drive more shareholder value, said sources close to the company. Interest in Acxiom and LiveRamp in particular heated up in March, after Salesforce bought the middleware tech company MuleSoft for $6.5 billion, […]
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Google’s DoubleClick Ad ID Change Presents Both Challenge And Opportunity For Attribution Vendors
Google’s decision to stop providing DoubleClick (DCM) advertising IDs in its ad server log files beginning May 25 will throw a wrench into multitouch attribution, because it will block marketers’ ability to compare Google campaigns with other ad platforms. Whether this policy change is an existential threat to independent attribution or not, the loss of […]
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With Revenue Growing, The Trade Desk Raises Guidance And Keeps On Trucking
The Trade Desk generated $85.7 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2018, a 61% jump from the same period last year, the company disclosed in its earnings report Thursday. Profitability was also up, with net quarterly income reaching $9.1 million, compared to $4.9 million in Q1 2017. The Trade Desk raised its 2018 […]
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Why The NFL Is Building Its Own Data Co-op
In the National Football League, the whole team has to know the same playbook for the plays to work. And the same is true for the NFL’s marketing group, which in 2017 began centralizing its audience data to improve team-level marketing and the value of league sponsorships. “We’re building a data co-op, in a sense,” […]
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Advertiser Perceptions: Non-Walled Garden DSPs Struggle To Get Ahead
Aside from the Trade Desk, which outstrips competitors among agencies, independent DSPs still struggle to differentiate or break out from the pack behind the category killers, Google’s DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) and Amazon’s ad platform, in Advertiser Perceptions’ latest demand-side platform benchmark report released Monday. The report, based on a survey of more 700 execs […]
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Google’s GDPR Consent Tool Will Limit Publishers To 12 Ad Tech Vendors
Google disclosed how it will help publishers obtain tracking consent from users during a call last week with the IAB Europe GDPR Transparency and Consent steering committee, and its approach could spell trouble for media and ad tech companies. The consent gathering tool, called “Funding Choices,” is in beta with some DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) […]
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Criteo Profits Are Up For Now, In Last Earnings Report Before GDPR
On Wednesday, Criteo reported revenue of $564 million in the first quarter of 2018, a 9% increase from the same period last year, with profits up 15% at $210 million. Criteo stock jumped after the earnings reports, as strong financials and its relatively optimistic outlook on GDPR and ePrivacy regulations in the European Union assuage […]
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Twitter Continues Its Push Into Live Programming With New Media Deals
Twitter unveiled a slate of live streaming and original programs at the company’s NewFronts presentation Monday night, coupled with new video advertising services for brands on the platform. Twitter has doubled its programming partners from 16 last year, the first year Twitter hosted a promotional NewFront in an attempt to find blue-chip brands to back […]
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IAB Europe And IAB Tech Lab Go Live With GDPR Consent Framework
IAB Europe and the IAB Tech Lab released on Wednesday a commercial version of the Transparency and Consent Framework, a new publishing standard meant to reconcile ad tech with GDPR regulations. From a consumer point of view, the experience would be similar to the current standard for web browsing in Europe, where there’s already omnipresent […]
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Improvado Raises $3M Funding Round To Blaze A Trail In Middleware Tech
Trigger warning: This article contains references to yet another three-letter acronym in the advertising technology ecosystem. Improvado is an extract, transform, load (ETL) data startup focused on the agency and advertiser landscape. The company raised a $3 million seed round with backing from a range of familiar ad tech names, including Auren Hoffman, the CEO […]
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Oracle Data Cloud Buys Grapeshot
Oracle has acquired Grapeshot, a UK-based contextual targeting startup, the companies announced Tuesday. Grapeshot provides pre-bid insights based on the media being considered. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Grapeshot will join the Oracle Data Cloud, where it will be combined with Moat to strengthen the company’s brand safety service. The company initially focused […]
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Even After YouTube's Rough Year, Alphabet's Growth Looks Unstoppable
The Alphabet revenue train is full steam ahead, as the company reported more than $31 billion in revenues in the first quarter of 2018, a 26% jump from the same period last year, the company announced in its earnings report Monday. Programmatic and the core search business were the biggest driver of that growth, rising […]
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IAB Tech Lab Acquires DigiTrust In Homecoming Deal
The IAB Tech Lab, the research and development arm affiliated with the trade group, has acquired the nonprofit online identity consortium DigiTrust. Terms of the deal are unknown, though a key feature is the acqui-hire of Jordan Mitchell, DigiTrust’s founder and CEO, as the Tech Lab’s senior VP of members and operations. The Tech Lab […]
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AdRoll Integrates With Magento In Search Of Early Stage Ecommerce Players
AdRoll and Magento Commerce announced a partnership on Friday to combine the companies’ ecommerce platforms, incorporating AdRoll’s ad targeting and attribution directly into the Magento cloud management service for online sellers. Bay Alarm Medical, which sells medical alert systems, has been working with Magento for four years and with AdRoll for almost a decade, said […]
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NYIAX And Rebel AI Team Up To Support A Blockchain Ad Model
The blockchain-based advertising marketplace NYIAX on Friday announced new leadership appointments and a partnership with Rebel AI, another blockchain ad tech startup, as it looks to scale. Bill Wise, the CEO of Mediaocean, has gone from a NYIAX adviser to executive chairman of the board and Richard Bush, formerly the company product chief, is being […]
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AT&T’s Stephenson Takes The Stand In DOJ Suit, Citing Need For Data-Driven Ad Business
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson testified on Thursday in defense of the company’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, which is being contested as an antitrust violation by the Justice Department. Stephenson reiterated AT&T’s defense that without strong content to incorporate into its mobile, streaming and linear distribution, the telco is being left behind by online […]
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Why Rovio Is Testing Whether Virtual And Augmented Reality Ads Are For Real
Marketers use augmented reality and virtual reality primarily for entertainment industry stunts, but programmatic AR and VR advertising are showing early signs of life. The Finnish mobile games developer Rovio, of “Angry Birds” fame, focuses on performance marketing to drive app downloads, but the company is running pilot campaigns with the AR/VR programmatic tech vendor […]
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Why Ad Tech In Search Of An Exit Has Reason To Hope
Is opportunity fading for ad tech startups to go public or be acquired at a healthy premium? The answer is no, at least not for everyone, said Elgin Thompson, managing director of the technology investment advisory firm Digital Capital Advisors, at AdExchanger’s PROGRAMMATIC I/O in San Francisco last week. A look back at IPO filings […]
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How Del Monte Uses Amobee To Track Shopper Audiences
Because it can take a month or more to tie digital media to offline purchases, CPGs like Del Monte are used to relying on proxy metrics like viewability or engagement. But Del Monte is piloting an Amobee product released Wednesday called Sales Accelerator, which aims to collapse that timeline to about a week and help […]
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How Broadcasters Hope To Make Money From Live Online Newscasts
A handful of major news companies are trying to figure out how live news broadcasts fit in digital media. The challenges are steep. Streaming live news requires large, ongoing investments, and it’s difficult to monetize audiences, as live news can be a hotbed of brand safety concerns. Plus, Facebook’s recent algorithm shift lowered the ratio […]
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Facebook Political Transparency Tools To Limit Inflamed Opinions And Dark Posts
Facebook on Friday implemented new transparency and verification processes for political advertisers. Last October, the company said it would begin allowing only authorized advertisers to run electoral ads, which explicitly advocate for or against an active political candidate. But those limits will now apply to any advertisers who want to run “issue ads” that more […]
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M&A Deal Values Are Up In 2018 As Cash-On-Hand And Ecommerce Values Soar
Despite broad concerns about the viability of online media and advertising, M&A in the sector is heating up thanks to the growth of ecommerce and commerce-based media solutions, like Apple’s purchase of digital subscription service Next Issue Media for an undisclosed amount. The total number of deals in media, marketing and technology dropped by 7% […]
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Google's Answer To Header Bidding Is Now Generally Available
Google header-bidding solution Exchange Bidding has exited beta and is generally available to all publishers who use Doubleclick for Publishers (DFP), the company said Wednesday. Google also said it is alpha testing an expansion of Exchange Bidding to new ad formats like video and buying methods like programmatic. It expects to release a beta version […]
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What GDPR Costs Digital Media And Technology Companies
With the May 25 start date for GDPR enforcement approaching fast, companies across the digital media, tech and data ecosystem are in overdrive to finalize product changes and prep their data governance and legal teams for scrutiny by the European Union. Tech takeover: Technology upgrade costs will likely remain high for a couple of years […]
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Why Connecting Influencers To Programmatic Was A ‘Shoe’-In For DSW
Allison Holbrook, digital media manager at DSW, and Kolin Kleveno, head of programmatic at 360i, will speak at AdExchanger’s Programmatic IO conference on April 10-11 at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco. For the past three years, the shoe retailer DSW used influencers to reach prospective shoppers in their teens or early 20s, more as a […]
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Despite Its Mystique, Cambridge Analytica Didn’t Offer Advertisers Anything Special
Cambridge Analytica was notorious long before its controversial use of Facebook data became news. But even before it defected from Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign to Donald Trump’s in 2016, the company was angling for marketing dollars. In September of that year, it had about 25 Fortune 500 businesses in its funnel, AdExchanger was told at […]
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OPINION: The Sell SiderSalon’s Plan For Media Growth: Test Everything And Everyone
A publisher’s job nowadays is “to be a systems integrator and experimenter,” said Ryan Nathanson, COO of Salon Media Group, a news and culture publisher known for liberal commentary. That’s been Nathanson’s approach since taking the reins of Salon’s operations a year ago. The company has explored new payment and supply chain vendors, for example, […]
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What You Need To Know About The Justice Department’s Challenge Of AT&T-Time Warner
The trial that will resolve the US Justice Department’s challenge to AT&T’s $85 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner will begin on Wednesday. The case, the first major US media merger to go to trial in decades, will indicate how the government may oversee telco and media consolidation going forward. If successful, the DOJ’s challenge […]
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Made To Order: How Allrecipes And Hidden Valley Are Getting To Alexa Users
Here’s the central mystery of our time: What will Amazon let brands do on Alexa? That’s something dressing and ingredients manufacturer Hidden Valley is testing right now, via an integrated marketing product from Allrecipes designed to link its native inventory to grocery orders on AmazonFresh. Clorox-owned Hidden Valley and other grocery brands work with Allrecipes […]
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How Dish Uses Non-Cookie Browser Data To Recognize Online Audiences
Dish Network hopes to perform attribution and cross-device targeting using non-cookie-based browser data, said Brad Stamulis, Dish’s director of digital marketing. The satellite TV provider is using a solution called fTrack, from online ad platform Flashtalking, which recognizes consumers based on about 50 data points – including browser type, user location, screen size and orientation, […]