James Hercher
James covers the intersection of commerce, media and advertising technology.
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James Hercher
Articles By James Hercher
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Can Criteo CEO JB Rudelle Adapt To The Changing Media Environment?
With the rapid pace of change in the advertising technology industry, a couple of years can seem like a generation of change. Which is why it was a surprise to see JB Rudelle, Criteo’s founder and CEO until 2016, return as chief executive in April, retaking the reins a month before the implementation of GDPR. […]
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Google Misses Self-Imposed Deadline To Implement IAB Consent Framework
When GDPR took effect in May, Google told publishers and ad tech vendors it expected to implement the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) by August. But Google’s consent management solution, Funding Choices, is still not an IAB-registered consent management platform (CMP) and isn’t interoperable with many IAB members. And no new timeline has […]
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Dun & Bradstreet’s Plan To Turn Credit Reporting Into Data-Driven Media
Dun & Bradstreet has come a long since it developed one of the first credit reporting systems in the mid-19th century; And has even come a long way in the past half-decade, when it shifted to data-driven online media. And somebody’s buying what D&B’s selling. The company was acquired earlier this month for $5.38 billion […]
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As Google Restricts Its Ad ID, Advertisers Debate Whether To Use Ads Data Hub
Major brands and global holding companies are preparing for a world without the Google ad ID. A month before GDPR, Google announced that in Europe it would no longer distribute the Google ID, an identifier attached to its ad server log files used to measure campaigns across the web. Any measurement of Google audiences in […]
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How Just For Men Uses Connected TVs Without CTV Inventory
Television advertising is turning gray, but TV data is here to brush in the color. At least that’s the take from Combe, the grooming and hair care product company that runs the Just for Men hair coloring brand. In the past couple of years, Just for Men’s media mix shifted from primarily TV to a […]
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PebblePost Raises $25 Million To Push Direct Mail Further Into Programmatic
PebblePost, a startup pioneering programmatic direct mail, said Tuesday it had secured a $25 million Series C funding round to integrate with the existing programmatic ecosystem. The new investment was led by Advance Venture Partners and brings PebblePost’s total funding to almost $50 million. PebblePost works by retargeting online browsers with direct mail offers, so […]
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Cardlytics Says It Hopes To Expand Beyond Bank-Owned Media
The payments data company Cardlytics, which went public in February, said in its earnings call Wednesday that it hopes to expand its advertising program and the marketing applications of its consumer spending data. Cardlytics had $35.6 million in revenue during the second quarter, up from $32.8 million during the same period last year. Though the […]
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The Trade Desk Surges On Record Revenue – With No Sign of GDPR Slowdown
The Trade Desk recorded revenue of $112.3 million in Q2 2018, a 54% increase from the same period last year, according to the company’s earnings report released Thursday. That growth rate is identical to 2017’s annual growth rate, and the company’s retention rate topped 95% for the 18th consecutive quarter. On the company’s earnings call, […]
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Snap’s Q2 Revenue Growth Is Strong, But User Growth Still Lags
Snap’s revenue grew 44% year over year to $262 million in the second quarter. Its average revenue per user – a critical metric where Snapchat lags behind Facebook and Instagram – increased 34% to $1.40 in Q2. Snapchat’s transition to self-serve programmatic has allowed the company to scale its ad business in ways that weren’t […]
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What’s The Latest For Blockchain In Ad Tech?
Blockchain advertising technology has been surfing a hype cycle that’s brought blockchain and cryptocurrencies to mainstream attention. But are blockchain companies ready for the spotlight? And what work needs to be done before marketers or publishers can begin buying and selling media on blockchain-based platforms? “It reminds me of early days of programmatic when different […]
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Criteo’s Attempts To Broaden Its Portfolio Stymie Growth For Now
Criteo has lowered its full-year revenue guidance as it seeks to evolve its pricing model, the company said during its Q2 earnings call Wednesday. Other headwinds, like mobile privacy policies and GDPR regulations, did affect Criteo’s revenues as dramatically. The company initially anticipated growth between 3% to 8% and now expects growth to be flat. […]
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P&G Puts Working Media Back To Work
Procter & Gamble’s overall advertising budget is still decreasing as the company pulls back on agency fees and services, but the world’s biggest ad spender has begun to return spend to working media, CEO David Taylor told investors during the company’s earnings call on Tuesday. P&G has spent more than a year pushing new digital […]
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Advertising Helps Push Amazon’s Profit To $2.5 Billion
Amazon’s ad business continued to throttle up in the second quarter. The ecommerce giant’s “other” revenue category, where it houses advertising sales and services such as marketing measurement, cleared almost $2.2 billion, more than double the $945 million earned during the same period last year, according to the company’s earnings report, released Thursday. Amazon’s gross […]
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Google Strengthens Ads.txt Enforcement
Google will make Ads.txt-authorized-only buying the default setting for its Display & Video 360 (formerly DoubleClick Bid Manager) platform by the end of the year, the company said Thursday. A month ago, Google gave clients the option of only buying ads with approved Ads.txt files, but Display & Video 360’s default buying option still included […]
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Facebook Political Controversies Prove Both Intractable And Manageable
It is “inevitable” that nation-states will try to leverage Facebook and its ad platform to influence elections and political sentiment again as they did during the 2016 presidential election, said Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s director of cybersecurity policy. Yet, despite the persistence of false news and misinformation on the platform and likely efforts by bad actors […]
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Alphabet Shrugs Off Fines And GDPR Concerns With Strong Revenue Growth
Alphabet’s second quarter revenue hit $32.7 billion, a 26% jump from the same period last year, according to its earnings report on Monday. The advertising platform is “firing all cylinders,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told investors, with ad revenue reaching $28.1 billion in Q2 2018, compared to $22.7 billion in Q2 2017. This is the […]
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How Amazon Uses Prime Day Deals To Reshape Shopping Behavior
Amazon Prime Day is the ecommerce leader’s biggest shopping day ever as well as an opportunity to see how the company strategically deploys its advertising and promotional products. Many retailers responded to Prime Day this year with their own deluge of special discount deals, but Amazon uniquely uses its arsenal of products, from Alexa-based voice […]
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OPINION: On TV & VideoWhy AT&T-Backed AppNexus Is Making A Move On Connected TV
AppNexus launched the first video advertising product for its demand-side platform (DSP) in late 2015. Over the next two years it built out its video offering to include a supply-side platform (SSP) solution, a video ad server, a video header bidding product and a connected-TV marketplace. With its acquisition by AT&T expected to close later […]
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Snapchat’s Programmatic Turnaround Is Helping It Compete With Facebook
Snapchat took a short-term revenue hit last year when it pivoted from its original direct branding business to a self-serve ad platform. But the low inventory prices and data and user-tracking features that have accompanied Snapchat’s programmatic transition are making the company more competitive with Facebook and Instagram. Snapchat’s improved measurability come as Facebook’s platform […]
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Amazon Competitors Capitalize On Prime Day
July is historically a slow month for the US retail industry. It splits Memorial Day and Labor Day shopping spikes, and foot traffic dwindles as consumers travel or hit the beach. But this year, ecommerce and brick-and-mortar retailers are pouncing with mid-July promotional events, hoping to seize the shopping energy stirred up by Amazon Prime […]
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Forrester Buys Its Way Into Technology And Software Subscription Sales
Forrester Research took its first steps into technology ownership on Tuesday with the acquisitions of customer data collection company FeedbackNow and GlimpzIt, a machine-learning and content recognition company. Forrester’s SEC filing said the deals will have insignificant effects on overall revenue and that through 2019 the stock-based compensation and acquisition and integration costs will range […]
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Who Will Buy LiveRamp? A List Of Favorites, And Dark Horses
When IPG acquired Acxiom’s managed services group, Marketing Solutions (AMS), for $2.3 billion last week, it marked the end of a five- months-long strategic review of the business – and the start of the next big sales review process with LiveRamp. Acxiom already had opened a strategic review of LiveRamp but was intent on selling […]
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How World Cup Advertising Is Undercut By GDPR And The US Team’s Absence
The 2018 World Cup has featured an exciting range of upsets and contenders, but some World Cup marketers see early signs of trouble thanks to GDPR throwing a wrench into digital advertising and the absence of the US team. GDPR, which became law less than a month before the soccer tournament, is especially painful for […]
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Facebook And Twitter Offer New Political Ad Transparency Tools To Head Off Bad Actors
Facebook and Twitter each released new political advertising transparency tools on Thursday in preparation for the 2018 US midterm elections, as the social platforms try to forestall the malicious electoral interference they enabled during the 2016 election. Facebook began archiving electoral and issue-based ads in May, so any ad by an active candidate or featuring […]
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The Trade Desk’s New Product Suite Could Boost Emerging Programmatic Channels
The Trade Desk on Tuesday released a campaign planning tool called Planner. Powered by company’s first branded AI product, called Koa, which was also released Tuesday, Planner is designed to drive pre-campaign and in-flight optimization. The vendor hopes the two products will accelerate spend in emerging categories such as streaming audio and connected TV and […]
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Why CPGs Beating Up On Influencers Is Great For Influencer Marketing
Unilever CMO Keith Weed gave influencer marketing a black eye at Cannes this year with a call for brand marketers to demand more transparency and accountability in their dealings with social trendsetters. It’s about time the industry took a more critical view, said Ahalogy’s CEO and co-founder, Bob Gilbreath. Ahalogy is an influencer marketing ad […]
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Exchanges Are Under Pressure To Pony Up For Guaranteed Viewability
Advertisers are sick of paying for unviewed impressions, and some programmatic exchanges are appeasing them by eating the cost of anything that wasn’t viewed. Viewability guarantees aren’t new. For advertisers that demand it, ad tech companies can optimize toward viewability on open exchanges or run viewable deals in private marketplaces. The problem is, those options […]
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Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Stutz On Data, Paid Media And The “Passing Fad” Of The CDP
The marketing cloud landscape has taken big steps into advertising technology and media buying, as with Oracle’s recent acquisitions of Moat and Grapeshot or Adobe’s deal for the video DSP TubeMogul. But Salesforce defies that trend. The company has deferred to partners to provide online advertising. And while rival clouds contend for new data sources, […]
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How Salesforce’s Integration Approach Helps Set It Apart From Other Clouds
Teamwork makes the dream work. At least, that could be the new Salesforce mantra for a suite of cross-cloud integrations and partnerships launched this week as Salesforce tries to separate itself from other leading marketing cloud companies. With so much competition and jargon in the cloud marketing technology space, it can be hard to differentiate, […]
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AT&T Can Acquire Time Warner, District Court Rules
The Washington DC, District Court on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for AT&T’s $85 billion merger with Time Warner, a decision with far-reaching implications for AT&T and the media and advertising industries. Despite the hefty price tag, industry observers initially expected AT&T’s offer to breeze through under a corporate-friendly administration. The last time the Justice Department […]