Liz is a former Reporter for AdExchanger.com where she covered agencies and wrote the daily news roundup. Previously, she worked as a music journalist for BestNewBands.com, and has also worked as a freelance writer and editor for Elite Daily and L/A Mag. Fluent in French, Liz worked for a time at l’Alliance Française de Washington after earning her degrees in political economy and French from Bates College in Maine.
On Monday, Interpublic Group snapped up a minority stake in Samba TV, a startup that offers TV analytics and attribution tools. IPG did not disclose the value of its investment. IPG Media Lab initiated the relationship and managed the integration of Samba TV’s data and tools with IPG Mediabrands’ Audience Measurement Platform. “IPG, like every […]
Last week, WPP launched the “marketing foresight” consultancy Gain Theory, housed within GroupM. Gain Theory, which has 200 people and a new office in New York City, rolls together two existing WPP agencies: the London-based marketing effectiveness agency Ohal and the Bangalore-based data analytics firm Meritus. Jason Harrison, previously CIO at Maxus, has been appointed […]
Spotify added Playlist Targeting to its advertising mix on Thursday, an offering that lets brands access its first-party data to target listeners based on current moods or activities. Playlist Targeting will be available for all brands when it launches out of beta on May 1st. Thursday’s launch adds to Spotify’s video offerings, Video Takeover and […]
The European Commission hit Google with a Statement of Objections on Wednesday, claiming the tech giant prioritizes its shopping comparison service in search results, featuring Google Shopping results more prominently on screens, thereby abusing its dominance. The Commission claims this policy artificially diverts traffic, hinders market competition and violates EU antitrust rules, which ultimately harms […]
On Monday, WideOrbit, a broadcast tech provider and a cross-channel SSP, officially launched WO Programmatic TV, a local broadcast TV marketplace that had been in beta for the past few months. WideOrbit also unveiled a dashboard for sellers to access that exchange as well as a tool to help both buy and sell sides distribute, track […]
You can’t un-ring a bell, but you might be able to un-hash an email, depending on whom you ask. In order for marketers to safely use hashes for targeted advertising, they must stay abreast of the latest hashing formats. Email hashing involves converting an email address to a hexadecimal string. Each time an email address […]
The Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) will be the inaugural media company to trial WideOrbit’s programmatic radio beta program, released Friday. SBS is the largest publicly traded, Hispanic-controlled media company in the US. Through the alliance with WideOrbit, a broadcast technology provider and a cross-channel SSP, the SBS will make its digital radio inventory available to brands, […]
iHeartMedia media revealed Wednesday that it’s bringing programmatic, real-time radio ad-buying to terrestrial radio, powered by Jelli’s cloud-based ad platform. The news means that advertisers and agencies will soon be able to access iHeartMedia’s inventory in private exchanges for broadcast radio. As part of the unveil, iHeartMedia and Katz Media Group, a firm that does […]
Microsoft has reversed its approach to Do Not Track (DNT) and will no longer make it the default setting on the Internet Explorer browser and IE’s eventual replacement, Spartan. In a Good Friday blog post, Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch said the decision was made in order to comply with the World Wide Web […]
M&A activity in marketing services and tech declined in Q1 2015, compared to the same period last year, in volume and value. Investment bank Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc. (JEGI), which released its Q1 2015 M&A Overview on Thursday, noted 128 deals in Q1 2015, compared to 154 in Q1 2014 (a 17% decline). Value of […]
The past year has seen numerous private equity firms buy ad tech companies. Although there has been slight uptick in the overall volume of transactions and investment bankers predict more of these types of deals on the horizon, they are divided on what’s piquing the growth and timing of PE investor interest. These include Rockbridge […]
Facebook violates EU law by tracking users for targeted advertising, a European privacy panel said Tuesday. The report was commissioned by the Belgian Privacy Commission, which sits under the EU’s European Commission, and is an updated version of an initial draft that surfaced in February. A key development of the update claims that Facebook cookies […]
With digital audio consumption on the rise, advertiser expectations about targeting and buying advertisements are also growing fast. These concerns surfaced Thursday during Mediaocean’s “Radio Reinvented” panel in Manhattan. Panelists included executives from Pandora, Spotify and Triton Digital. The panelists revealed there are 143 million monthly online radio listeners in the US, representing 53% of […]
Is traditional advertising dying in the US? Not for midsize advertisers, according to research from Kantar Media. However, while smaller and midsize advertisers are spending more on “traditional linear media,” the largest US advertisers are redirecting those budgets to digital forums. “The growth of the ad market is on two different tracks right now,” said […]
There are a number of reasons programmatic buying has yet to permeate the digital audio space, a growing area that would seem ripe for automation. Among those reasons is a lack of standards. The IAB’s first stab at standardization was the Digital Audio Ad Serving Template (DAAST), which surfaced some six months ago. But according […]
Private equity firm Vector Capital has acquired Triton Digital, a digital audio firm whose proprietary tech connects audio supply to advertising demand. The deal closed Monday morning for an undisclosed sum. Triton Digital has been building out its nascent programmatic business through SaaS solutions designed for publishers and advertisers since 2006. The company has a […]
Podcast consumption swelled from 29 million monthly users in 2014 to 46 million in 2015, according to findings from an ongoing study by Edison Research and Triton Digital. The popular podcast “WTF? With Marc Maron” is happily riding the wave. “We’re benefiting from the shifting media landscape,” said the podcast’s producer, Brendan McDonald. “There is […]
Boston-based DataXu is getting into the cross-device game with a management, targeting and measurement capability of its own. The demand-side platform’s cross-device tool, dubbed OneView, exits beta next month. DataXu’s take on cross-device simplification hinges on compliance management. The tool offers check-box controls for marketers to tailor which data sources are used for targeting and […]
As programmatic buying continues its steady forward march, many are wondering when and how data-driven media buying and creativity can be reconciled. According to Nandini Nayak, managing director of design strategy and innovation at Fjord, the analytics and creative worlds are gradually coming together. Purchased by Accenture Interactive in 2013, Fjord has 500 designers and current […]
Mobile ad tech platform Millennial Media reported fourth-quarter and year-end earnings on Monday – with revenues down in Q4 but up from 2013’s full-year total. Q4 2014 revenue dipped to $86.4 million from $96.7 million in Q4 2013, while year-end revenue rose from $259.2 million in 2013 to $296.2 million in 2014. Read the earnings […]
VaynerMedia, a social and digital marketing agency, acquired Mondelez-owned startup Betabox on Wednesday for an undisclosed sum. The platform distributes CPG product samples to ecommerce providers, who can then layer on a creative call to action through mobile landing pages. This creates a digital feedback loop for VaynerMedia to track engagement with sample-sending campaigns. “Betabox […]
Criteo is retiring its AD-X attribution product and replacing it with a new partner-based approach to mobile tracking, the French company revealed Thursday. Criteo, a retargeting company that works with Internet retailers, brands and agencies, first acquired AD-X in July 2013. AD-X remained a standalone business within Criteo, offering advertisers and app developers in-app measurement […]
Metamarkets has raised $15 million in a round led by Data Collective, a VC firm in which Metamarkets CEO Mike Driscoll is a partner. Other new investors include John Battelle, LiveRamp founder Auren Hoffman and City National Bank. Existing investors Khosla, IA, True and Village Ventures also joined in. The company’s total funding to date […]
MDC Partners had a record-high number of client wins in 2014, includeing Diageo’s Johnnie Walker, Unilever’s Magnum Ice Cream and InBev’s Corona in Brazil. As a result, its Q4 revenue increased 17.5% YoY (from $289.2 million to $339.9 million). Organic revenue also increased $12.5%, with new business wins totaling $56.7 million. FY 2014 revenue increased […]
Paris-based direct and programmatic ad platform Smart AdServer will break away from its parent company, the Internet portal AuFeminin, through a buyout by private equity firm Cathay Capital for $42.1 million, the companies said Thursday. “Smart AdServer is entering a new phase and the market is evolving very fast,” said Smart AdServer US General Manager […]
During Interpublic Group’s (IPG) Q4 and year-end earnings call on Friday, chief Michael Roth emphasized – as he did after Q3 – the holding company’s barter-based programmatic model that discloses margins. This isn’t the only difference from the black-box models of IPG’s competitors, which deploy programmatic on an agency-by-agency basis. “We continue to believe that […]
Has real estate advertising reached a digital saturation point? Borrell Associates, a research firm focusing on local advertising, says it has – at least for the agent and broker community. Digital ad spend among agents and brokers is projected to decline 2% – a $200 million drop – in 2015, according to a report the […]
Pandora will leverage its data assets and introduce mobile programmatic capabilities later this quarter for its iOS and Android platforms, CEO Brian McAndrews said during the company’s Q4 and year-end earnings call Thursday. “Advertisers are looking for high engagement on mobile,” McAndrews said. “In terms of digital revenue opportunities, we are positioning Pandora to lead the […]
The New York Times reported relatively modest fourth-quarter and full-year earnings on Tuesday, but chief Mark Thompson hailed it as “the most encouraging year-over-year trend” for total advertising revenue since 2005. To that end, he touted strong growth in digital advertising, sponsored content and subscription-based revenue. “We were particularly pleased with the strong growth in digital […]
If you happen to have $4.5 million burning a hole in your pocket, congratulations! You can afford a 30-second Super Bowl TV spot. Of course, for most big game advertisers it’s not enough to have 30 seconds of spectacular creative – you also have to support it via online and social channels. “Social is huge […]
