Judith is a former associate editor at AdExchanger where she covered the burgeoning world of mobile advertising. Prior to this, she wrote about marketing trends and business intelligence news at CRM magazine. Her work has appeared at the New York Daily News, TheStreet.com and Business Insider. She has an M.A. in journalism from New York University.
AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:
Judith Aquino
Articles By Judith
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"Visual Ad Tech Company" WeSEE Eyes Video And US Expansion
User-generated photos and videos are a largely untapped resource for advertisers. The challenge is leveraging the inventory. A few startups have offered up solutions: GumGum helped L’Oréal place ads on publisher sites based on the hair color of women in photos and Stipple lets consumers make purchases directly from an image. British ad tech firm WeSEE is […]
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Forrester Report: Customers And Brands Have Different Definitions Of Value, Transparency
Companies face a paradox. Consumers want to be rewarded for their loyalty to a company or brand, but recoil when asked to share their personal data. At the same time, companies risk losing their competitive edge by not personalizing their offerings and acknowledging loyal customers. Marketers toss around terms like “value” and “transparency” when explaining […]
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Run CEO On Using Verizon's PrecisionID For Deterministic Mobile Solution
Mobile attribution remains a critical challenge for advertisers. Through a partnership with Verizon (which has struck similar deals with BlueKai, BrightRoll and Turn) the demand-side platform (DSP) provider Run is tackling the challenge of deterministic measurement and mobile attribution via its solution Device Connect. AdExchanger spoke with CEO Seth Hittman and product manager Kim Glaser. […]
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Apple Giveth App Marketing Features, Taketh Away List Discovery
Apple unveiled more ways for mobile app developers to monetize their products, among other announcements, at its World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday. CEO Tim Cook noted during his keynote that the iOS App Store has more than 1.2 million apps and consumers have downloaded more than 75 billion apps. Starting in the fall, […]
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Q1 Roundup: Mobile App Inventory Demands To Bypass Mobile Web
Mobile and video ad spend are rising and, while North America is the leader in ad spend, Europe is catching up, according to quarterly reports from ad exchanges Turn and Smaato. Increased competition for inventory continued to drive up effective cost per thousand impression (eCPM) rates across channels, reported Turn. Social media eCPM rose 64%, […]
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TheAmplify Bets On Instagram
Vendors are racing to offer advertising solutions for Instagram, which recently struck a multimillion-dollar ad deal with Omnicom. One such company is Culver City, Calif.-based startup theAmplify. The 11-employee firm pegs itself as an “Instagram marketing agency.” AdExchanger spoke with President Justin Rezvani. AdExchanger: What problem are you trying to solve? JUSTIN REZVANI: We want to […]
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Mobile App Analytics Consolidation: Microsoft Scoops Up Capptain, App Annie Buys Distimo
Mobile app analytics is an increasingly competitive space, as reflected by two acquisitions unveiled Wednesday. Mobile app analytics firm App Annie acquired its competitor, the mobile analytics company Distimo, and Microsoft also bought a mobile app analytics startup. Based in San Francisco, App Annie’s services include app-ranking data, app store SEO tools and marketplace intelligence. […]
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FreakOut On Mothers And Why Advertisers Need A Separate Mobile DSP
FreakOut, a Japanese demand-side platform (DSP), received the green light to issue an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Mothers Index on June 24. The estimated initial offering price is $19 per share, or about $120 million. AdExchanger spoke with Yugo Asato, CEO and co-founder of the mobile DSP Dobleas (a FreakOut spin-off in 2012), […]
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Voxel Eyes Opportunities In Try-Before-Install App Ads
App install ads are hot, but what if the apps they advertise are not? Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup Voxel hopes to add an additional dimension to app-install ads via a feature that lets users click on an ad to sample the app in a 30- to 60-second demo that takes over the device’s screen. “We’re […]
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The Trouble With App Install Ads
App install ads may be a lucrative product for Facebook, Google and other vendors, but they’re becoming too expensive for app developers, especially since scaling is still a problem for the units. “We found it difficult to acquire new users on mobile devices because it’s super expensive,” said Kenny Rosenblatt, founder and CEO of Arkadium […]
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Foursquare’s Crowley On Re-Inventing Local Search
Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley wants users to know that the company has moved away from the check-in, its former flagship service. The location-based platform’s future now lies in technology that enables users to do personalized local searches and find their friends on any device. “Our goal is to reinvent local search and local discovery,” said […]
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PubMatic Snaps Up Mocean Mobile
Supply-side platform (SSP) provider PubMatic acquired Mocean Mobile (formerly Mojiva), a mobile ad server, for an undisclosed sum, the companies said on Monday. Mocean Mobile’s ad-serving capabilities and its ad network extend the mobile capabilities PubMatic gained from its 2012 acquisition of mobile development tech startup Mobiprim, according to PubMatic President Kirk McDonald. “We launched […]
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Thinknear Rolls Out Location Score, Highlights Accuracy Issues In Location Marketing
Location-based ad network Thinknear (a division of Telenav) on Monday unveiled its Location Score to help advertisers gauge the accuracy of location data. The Location Score is a 100-point scale (100 being most accurate) that helps marketers understand the quality of location data used in their campaigns. The technology uses Thinknear’s platform to quantify the […]
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PubMatic Joins Forces With xAd On Location-Enabled Inventory
Demand for location-based ad inventory is rising and PubMatic, the supply-side platform (SSP) provider, is one of the latest companies to boost its location-enabled inventory. PubMatic teamed up with location-based ad network xAd to create a programmatic marketplace of location-verified inventory, the companies said Friday. “Location is critical from a mobile standpoint,” said Bob Walczak, […]
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Are Native Ads Different From In-Feed Ads?
As native advertising accelerates, the terminology lags behind. “Native” as a buzzword now encompasses a wide range of solutions – leading to confusion within the industry. One debate is whether in-feed ads (ads inserted in between content) are by default native ads, and whether it should matter. Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and AOL all offer in-feed ad […]
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Adenda Takes A Shot At Lock Screen Monetization With New Tool
Are lock screens the next billboards? A growing number of vendors say yes. One such company is Canadian startup Adenda, which launched an SDK on Tuesday that allows developers to add rich media notifications, ads and animations to an Android phone’s lock screen. “We are providing (app developers) new opportunities for monetization and user engagement,” […]
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Nativo And TripleLift: Different Philosophies Around Native Advertising
Programmatic and real-time bidding capabilities are quickly emerging as differentiating factors in the native advertising landscape. But as more companies enter the space offering similar features, telling them apart becomes increasingly challenging. Nativo and TripleLift are two such native ad companies that both offer programmatic capabilities. Here’s a snapshot look at how they differ. For […]
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Flurry Beefs Up Mobile Video Offering With Programmatic Capabilities
Mobile analytics and advertising firm Flurry will allow advertisers to buy VAST-enabled (IAB’s Digital Video Ad Serving Template) video ad units programmatically through its network and marketplace. It also unveiled additional features through its SDK designed to give app developers more options to show video ads on their apps. “For the first time, publishers or […]
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What Are The Attributes Of Quality Mobile Inventory?
Valuing mobile ad inventory is challenging as advertisers struggle assessing viewability, attribution and other measurements. To find out how media-buying agencies tackle this problem, AdExchanger asked agencies, “What are the attributes of quality mobile inventory?” Click below or scroll down to read their responses. Jenn Cox, mobility lead at Starcom USA Jason Pope, VP of AOD at VivaKi JiYoung Kim, […]
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Millennial Media’s Disappointing Q1: Net Losses Increase, CFO Steps Down
Mobile ad network Millennial Media revealed during its Q1 earnings call Wednesday that although quarterly revenue is up, the company continues to bleed money and CFO Michael Avon is stepping down. As a result of its dismal report, the company’s shares tumbled 45% in after hours trading, hovering in the $3 range. While Millennial Media reported $72.6 […]
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Chrysler Exec: ‘Device Stitching At A Household Level Continues To Elude Us’
Marketing attribution and device fragmentation continue to prevent advertisers from further investing in mobile advertising, said MasterCard and Chrysler executives in a panel discussion at the Mobile Marketing Association’s New York Forum on Tuesday. Bob Arnold, digital strategy and media lead of North America at Google, moderated a discussion with Benjamin Jankowski, group head of […]
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Blinkx Grabs Ad-Targeting Platform Lyfe Mobile
Video search engine Blinkx has acquired Lyfe Mobile, a 3-year-old startup that delivers targeted ads based on geographic data and other location-based analytics, in an all-cash transaction, the companies said Tuesday. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., Lyfe Mobile offers audience-targeting features using GPS data combined with other data points such as weather, traffic and population […]
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Xapp Media Takes A Stab At Interactive Audio Ads
Audio advertisements have been largely one-sided: The advertiser speaks and consumers listen. Startup Xapp Media wants to change that with interactive audio ads. Through an SDK, Xapp Media enables brands to create voice-activated ads that mobile users can respond to with commands like “call now” or “send coupon.” NPR was the first publisher to try […]
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Facebook Beefs Up Video Metrics
Facebook is rolling out additional video metrics such as unique video views, the average duration of the video view and audience retention over the coming weeks, the company said Monday. “These new metrics are designed to help you learn what’s resonating with people and determine how to more effectively create and promote your videos on […]
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As Deep Linking Proliferates, Standards Begin To Emerge
Deep-linking technology, which routes users to a specific page rather than a main landing page, is quickly gaining traction in the mobile app landscape. But as this technology catches on – Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple and a slew of startups are pushing the technology to publishers who are readily experimenting with it – it’s becoming […]
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Facebook Unveils Cross-Platform Tools, Plans To Stop Breaking Things
Over the last decade, Facebook has evolved from a forum for college students to poke each other to a company trying to position itself as a maturing, cross-device communication platform for marketers and consumers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg certainly hopes this maturation is reflected in the company’s evolving slogan, from “move fast and break things” to the […]
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Facebook Ad Network To Support Native Ads, First-Party Data Targeting
Facebook unveiled its mobile ad network at its f8 Developer Conference on Wednesday, noting the Facebook Audience Network will include native advertising formats for developers that “want to invest a little more time.” The ad network buy will be available to all advertisers via a “single click” within the Facebook Advertising interface as well as through its Advertising […]
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What App Developers Want From A Facebook Mobile Ad Network
Facebook is widely expected to launch a mobile ad network at its f8 developer conference on Wednesday. The new product will be called Facebook Audience Network, as TechCrunch has noted. Facebook’s mobile ads have been very successful, and they now represent nearly 60% of the company’s ad revenue. Introducing a mobile ad network that allows […]
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Are Programmatically Purchased Native Ads Native Enough?
It seems everyone and their mothers are pushing native ad units and tools to support them. Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and most recently AOL all have native, in-feed ad units. As these formats catch on, ad tech companies like Sharethrough, Nativo and DistroScale have developed tools designed to automate ad distribution across different publishers’ sites while matching […]
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Former Gaming Company RockYou Rocks Out As An In-Game Video Ad Network
RockYou is clawing its way back. The 8-year-old company, which once produced social games, was one of the first MySpace and Facebook third-party app developers until it suffered a major data breach five years ago that exposed unencrypted user account data of more than 32 million users. That wasn’t RockYou’s only struggle. The company couldn’t […]