Senior Editor
James covers the intersection of commerce, media and advertising technology.
AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:
James Hercher
Articles By James
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Fairmont Tests Facebook Travel Ads – And Is Hungry For More
Hotel and travel brands are looking to pour more performance dollars into Facebook. For years, hotel operators have used the social platform as a source of online check-ins, reviews and customer service responses, but “the next step was taking it to advertising,” said Chris Georgas, digital marketing manager for Fairmont Hotels. After debuting its Dynamic […]
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With Brands On Board Or Not, Right-Wing News Is Full Steam Ahead
In the months leading up to and following the US presidential election, publishers with right-wing and occasionally extremist views, such as Breitbart and InfoWars, have joined stalwarts like the Drudge Report and Newsmax on the Republican right. In spite of their growing audiences, monetization can be tough for these challengers. Some brands have stayed away, […]
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P&G’s Pritchard: Marketers Need More From Digital Platforms Than Audit Agreements
Speaking Thursday at the ANA Media Conference, Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard was pleased that Facebook and Google had agreed to independent MRC audits, but he emphasized that the audits are only the first steps toward improving the media supply chain. “It’s not enough to accept [audit pledges] until the audits are […]
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PebblePost Comes Knocking With $15 Million For Programmatic Direct Mail
PebblePost on Tuesday announced a $15 million Series B funding round to expand its programmatic direct mail offering. RRE Ventures joins as the startup’s lead investor. PebblePost takes in CRM data and tags a brand’s website, matching visitors to home addresses in its own database and against third-party onboarders. Seventy percent of site traffic can […]
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Last-Click Attribution Seems Unkillable
Alain Portmann and Oscar Garza will speak about last click attribution at Programmatic IO on April 5 in San Francisco. Last-click attribution may never die. Although digital multitouch attribution (MTA) pioneers like Visual IQ, Google’s Adometry and AOL’s Convertro hit the market more than a decade ago, last-click remains the prevailing measurement model. Big brands and network agencies still tend […]
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Ad Blocker Shine Shifts To Ad Targeting And Rebrands To Rainbow
The Israeli startup Shine is rebranding to Rainbow as it abandons its ad-blocking roots in favor of ad-targeting and verification services, the company revealed Friday. “We have been really trying to identify a path forward and the commercialization opportunities for the base technology,” said CRO James Collier, who joined the company last July. Shine (ahem, […]
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With Ad Tech, Nielsen Catalina Solutions Sheds Its One-Trick-Pony Reputation
Nielsen Catalina Solutions’ (NCS) original value prop focused on connecting media consumption with in-store sales for CPG brands. But in the past two years, NCS has moved beyond attribution and into building programmatic audience segments. Programmatic targeting is already almost 25% of NCS’ business, with a revenue goal this year between $20 million and $25 […]
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The Trade Desk Passes $1 Billion In Platform Spend As Non-Display Products Gain Steam
The Trade Desk broke the $1 billion mark in gross ad spend on its platform in 2016, generating $75 million in net profit, the company disclosed Thursday afternoon in its fourth quarter earnings report. The demand-side platform (DSP) touted the growth of its omnichannel offerings. In 2016, display ad campaigns made up less than half […]
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How To Drive Live Video Views? Drone Maker DJI Turns To Paid Media
Achieving reach with live video content – whether you’re a brand or a media company – can be a challenge, but there is a growing opportunity to drive audiences via Facebook, YouTube, Amazon-owned Twitch and elsewhere. “Live video amplification is one of those hot topics some would argue doesn’t have real scale,” said Michael Miraflor, […]
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ComScore's Stock Takes A Hit – And Is Delisted – Following Audit Delays
ComScore disclosed Monday evening that it’s been delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange, effective Wednesday, after failing to meet another accounting deadline. ComScore has struggled with an internal audit mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission since February 2016, when the digital measurement firm first notified the agency that it would miss a filing deadline […]
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Approaching The Bullseye: Target’s First-Party Data Play
Over the past two years, Target has activated its first-party data so that agencies and its vendor partners – brands that sell products in Target’s stores – could use it to inform media buys. Target’s data is applied through a product platform called Guest Access overseen by Kristi Argyilan, Target’s SVP of media, guest engagement […]
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Collective Names Kerry Bianchi CEO As The Ad Tech Overhaul Continues
Collective promoted its COO Kerry Bianchi to CEO Thursday, as the 12-year-old startup continues to evolve out of the traditional ad network business. Joe Apprendi, Collective’s founder and now its former CEO, will remain on the board as executive chairman. Since 2015, Collective has reshaped its business to meet what Bianchi described as the next […]
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It’s Pin A Long Time Comin’: Pinterest Adds Search Advertising
Pinterest introduced its first search ad offering Wednesday, almost seven years after the company launched. “Now we believe we’re at a place where we understand how people are leveraging the platform and using it to plan their lives,” said Michael Akkerman, head of Pinterest’s marketing partners program. The new search functionality comes via Kenshoo, an […]
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Survey: Marketers' Data Priorities Shift From 'Collection' To 'Value'
On Monday the IAB released its second “Outlook for Data” report, a survey conducted by the Winterberry Group that benchmarks data-driven marketing practices. Its responses show “a general maturity in the evolution of marketer data,” said Dennis Buchheim, SVP of data and ad effectiveness for the IAB. The number of businesses that plan to increase […]
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Alphabet Quarterly Revenue Jumps To $26 Billion, But Challenges Are Mounting
Alphabet on Thursday disclosed revenue of more than $26 billion in Q4 2016, a 22% jump over the same period last year and beating industry expectations of $25.2 billion in revenue. But despite overall revenue growth, the digital ad platform giant’s earnings were undercut by other costs, including a one-time tax charge that pushed its […]
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Button Raises $20 Million To Create More Mobile Commerce Inventory
The mobile monetization firm Button announced Wednesday it had raised a $20 million Series B round, led by Norwest Venture Partners. The investment, which brings Button’s total funding to $36.5 million, will go largely toward expanding Button’s headcount as the startup looks to tack on new products in fledgling verticals like travel booking and media […]
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Berkery Noyes Sees Sunny M&A Outlook – But US Election Adds Unpredictability
Venture capital and early-stage tech investments may be harder to come by, but M&A exits across the mobile and online industry are still heating up, investment bank Berkery Noyes reported Tuesday. The overall number of deals in 2016 ticked up 1% from the year before, while the aggregate value of those transactions jumped 12% year […]
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Why Mobile Adoption Is Punishing The Biggest Department Stores
Bellwether retailers like Macy’s, Sears and Nordstrom that once anchored US malls never fully recovered from the onset of web-driven ecommerce. Now they’re facing something new that could either be an opportunity to get back in the game or another threat entirely: mobile commerce. Consumers are spending more time on mobile, including on retail app […]
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After A Shocking Election, Will Data-Driven Campaigners Change Their Game?
In the years leading up to the 2016 election, Democrats continued investing heavily in a shared data and technology platform, NGP VAN, across liberal candidates and causes. Republicans took a more market-based approach, with high-headcount, full-service shops meant to continue product development beyond election years. Republicans wanted competition where liberals emphasized collaboration. In the wake […]
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NBCU's Yaccarino On The Challenges Facing Broadcasters Today
What are broadcast advertising leaders thinking about now, with addressable TV on the horizon but squalls demanding attention? Linda Yaccarino, NBCU chairman of ad sales and client partnerships, addressed her pressing concerns and goals with Jennifer Breithaupt, Citi’s managing director of media, advertising and global entertainment, at AdExchanger’s Industry Preview on Wednesday. Below are Yaccarino’s […]
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Instagram Brings Ads – And Measurement – To Stories
Instagram will allow ads in its Stories section, the company said Wednesday. It also unveiled brand measurement tools. “Over the first holidays with Stories we’ve gotten a chance to peek into what people do when they’re home and with their families, at a level of depth and intimacy we haven’t usually had with Instagram,” said […]
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Data-Driven Political Spending: A Sea Change Or Tidal Wave?
In a bizarre, unruly year for political advertising, an analysis of 2016 campaign, party and super PAC spending does reveal one consistent theme: the rise of targetable media. “It turned the page on what will happen in political spending moving forward, because targeted marketing absolutely replaced mass media,” said Kip Cassino, the executive VP of […]
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The Next Big Test For Ad Blocking: Can Adblock Plus Grow And Grow Up?
A year ago, the rise of ad blockers put the online advertising ecosystem into an existential crisis. But not only did the ‘adpocalypse’ never materialize, many of the same stakeholders who were on the defensive now see a chance to reclaim lost ground. “People were literally saying this is the death of the web, and […]
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Kochava Looks To Spin Its App-Based Measurement Network Into Targeting Gold
Kochava has spent the past year building up the Collective, its audience data co-op for in-app advertising. Last week, it picked up its first DSP partner – The Trade Desk – to carry the data. Kochava’s Collective works by gathering data from three sources: aggregated third-party providers, ad networks that pool audience behavior insights and […]
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YouTube Gained Political Ad Revenue This Year, But Lost Influence With Voters
For YouTube, the recent election cycle was the best of times and the worst of times. Multiple campaign sources think the Google-owned video network remained the single largest platform for political video dollars (aside from TV networks), despite Facebook’s meteoric rise. “YouTube is the second most trafficked site in the US, so it played a […]
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We May Be Losing The War On Ad Fraud (Say The Arms Dealers)
While the online advertising trade groups have created anti-fraud programs and exchanges have instituted inventory standards, fraud is still on the rise. AdExchanger reached out to some of the people in the trenches about where the digital ad tech and media ecosystem stands now and how progress can be made. Click below for their responses. […]
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UK Airline Monarch Tries Cookieless Attribution To Cover Data Gap
Despite skyrocketing mobile traffic and climbing mobile conversion rates, British airline Monarch was struggling to determine precisely what was or wasn’t working for mobile media buys. “We persistently got all the data in and still faced the question: What about mobile?” said Robert Foulkes, senior marketing manager for the low-cost airline. Monarch was among the […]
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Pinterest Adds Former Walmart Exec Brian Monahan
A year ago Pinterest was in the process of winding down its sales and marketing services for all but two partner categories: retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG). But after a year spent working on ad tech product releases – like a CRM match program and an expansion of interest-based targeting – it’s throttling up […]
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Private Equity Strikes Again As Clarion Capital Buys Madison Logic
Private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners said Thursday it had acquired B2B marketing shop Madison Logic for an undisclosed sum. Clarion reportedly spent “hundreds of millions,” according to Fortune. Madison Logic hadn’t previously raised any institutional funding and specializes in account-based marketing, which sends targeted content to specific enterprise decision-makers. “We see an opportunity to […]
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App Marketers Learn From Ad Tech, Even As They Abandon Ads
Mobile apps need revenue but have limited screen space on ads. Enter Button, which lets consumers click on an icon to move easily from app to app. It collects fractional fees from its partners, like a toll road connecting different apps. “We continue to see these transactional models embraced in mobile compared to traditional advertising […]