As Executive Editor, Sarah oversees AdExchanger’s news and feature coverage and event content. Sarah has written extensively about publishers, sell-side technology and Google. Understanding and explaining the business implications of technically complex topics is her forte. Over her years at AdExchanger, she’s documented the rise and maturity of programmatic tech, as data-driven advertising has spread far and wide in its marketing applications.
After Microsoft determined that using the Verizon Media supply-side platform (SSP) for its display inventory increased CPMs in September, it officially switched – the companies said Thursday – making Verizon Media its primary SSP for MSN and Outlook inventory across nine markets, including the United States. The switch validates the work Verizon Media has done […]
In December 2020, Get Maine Lobster sold more lobsters in three weeks than it did in the entirety of 2019. And all this year, it’s often selling more lobster than Maine fisherman can catch. The decade-old lobster-by-mail business experienced hockey-stick growth because CEO Mark Murrell took a big risk last March. As millions of Americans […]
Google Ad Manager remains on the top perch across almost every category in the latest Advertiser Perceptions report. Though the pandemic transformed the buy side of the advertising business, giving Amazon Publisher Services a huge boost, the sell side saw more of the same. Publishers leaned into the partners they already used and were comfortable […]
SHE Media is seeing an uptick in programmatic buyers interested in showing their ads in places with niche appeal. Instead of showing ads on health-related content, they’re contextually targeting articles about colds and flus, seasonal allergies or diabetes. But the infrastructure to set up these deals has traditionally been lacking. “That data is passed through […]
Meredith introduced its Data Studio Monday, a platform built out of its extensive first-party data set to help brands better understand their consumers both on and off Meredith’s properties. Data Studio is a way for Meredith to diversify its revenue away from advertising and monetize its massive first-party data set. And it is also available […]
ViacomCBS’ advertising business fell 27% to $1.9 billion in the second quarter, as marketers pulled back during the coronavirus pandemic and golf programming was postponed. “We believe Q2 was the bottom [for advertising],” President and CEO Bob Bakish said. After bottoming in April, each month in the quarter showed sequential improvement. The scatter market held […]
You & Mr Jones said Thursday it has acquired influencer marketing agency Collectively in a quest to create one of the top five global, scaled influencer marketing companies. You & Mr Jones snapped up San Francisco-based Collectively for an undisclosed amount. Collectively will be combined with theAmplify, the 25-person, LA-based influencer marketing firm You & […]
The pandemic has made The New York Times even less reliant on advertising than it was before. The New York Times added a record 669,000 digital subscriptions in the second quarter as people sought news about the coronavirus pandemic and followed coverage of the protests after the killing of George Floyd. The 8.4% increase in […]
Disney’s Q3 revenue plummeted 42% to $11.8 billion, as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc across its lines of business. Promising increases in its paid streaming subscriptions were far outweighed by the closure (and gradual reopening) of its parks (85% decrease) and movie theaters (65% decrease). Disney lost $3 billion in revenue directly due to the […]
Google’s new VP and GM of ads, Jerry Dischler, sees the big picture of Google’s advertising business, from top-of-funnel video ads on YouTube, mid-funnel display ads served through DV360 and Google Ad Manager, and Google search and shopping ads. The future of automated advertising, top to bottom, is changing in two critical ways. First, machine […]
In-housing programmatic has gone from a nascent trend to the norm as brands seek more control over their first-party data. Sixty-nine percent of brands have either partially or completely moved programmatic buying of display, video and/or CTV in house, according to a 2020 survey conducted by the IAB and Accenture Interactive across the US, European […]
As streaming TV takes off, Vizio Ads is scaling up its offering to include video retargeting. Advertisers on Vizio TV’s native apps can retarget that same household with a video ad on a different device. The goal is to help advertisers sequence their messaging or optimize frequency, said Travis Hockersmith, VP of platform services at […]
The coronavirus pandemic slashed Alphabet’s growth rate from 22% last year down to zero in Q2 2020. Revenues totaled $38.3 billion vs. $38.9 billion the year prior – a 2% year-over-year decline, or 0% once constant currency is taken into account. Like many of its advertising revenue-dependent peers, Google reported steady improvement throughout the quarter. […]
After a tough Q2, McDonald’s sees an opportunity to grow market share and accelerate recovery by bolstering its marketing spend. McDonald’s will add $200 million in incremental marketing spend for the rest of the year across the United States and its top international markets, CEO Chris Kempczinski said during its earnings call Tuesday. The amount […]
OpenAP is enabling attribution within its advanced TV marketplace via an iSpot partnership. OpenAP is a consortium of TV networks – AMC Networks, Fox, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, The Weather Channel and Univision – that allow advertisers to buy standardized audiences across all of them. Now, buyers purchasing inventory in the OpenAP Market can do a single, […]
Ad management firm Freestar said Tuesday it has acquired Chocolate’s app mediation platform so it can serve more mobile app publishers. Terms were not disclosed. Freestar is largely a services company that performs tasks such as setting up header bidding and optimizing yield for about 400 desktop and mobile web publishers. But the fast-growing company […]
TripleLift Chief Privacy Officer Julia Shullman has been digging in to understand ad tech from the beginning. “When the legal or privacy team is brought in at the end of the process, most companies end up in a world of pain,” Shullman said. She joined TripleLift from AppNexus in February, just before the pandemic. Since […]
The impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on AT&T and WarnerMedia are far reaching, totaling $2.8 billion in the second quarter alone. Overall, AT&T revenue declined 9% YoY to $45 billion in Q2. CEO John Stankey expects the effects of the coronavirus to become the “business norm well into next year.” AT&T’s WarnerMedia division took the […]
OpenX has turned the growing number of log-level data requests from buyers into a product that simplifies the process, called Bidding Intelligence Data Set (BIDS). “Our intent was to make what used to be a wonky and difficult process into as streamlined, productized and standardized a process as possible, to make our customers’ lives easier,” […]
Meredith Kopit Levien will assume the role of CEO and president of The New York Times Sept. 8, the company said Wednesday. She will succeed Mark Thompson, who has served as CEO since 2012. Read the release. “I see a big opportunity to expand journalism’s role in the lives of millions more people around the […]
Nielsen plans to overhaul its digital measurement methodology to prepare for a future without cookies or mobile ad IDs. The first phase of the overhaul will happen in early 2021, with more stages to follow. Because its product is used as currency in some global markets, the measurement company is giving its customers a heads […]
As the publisher that’s all about comfy, organized homes, recipes, gardening and decorating, Meredith’s content has been especially relevant during the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean the publisher hasn’t experienced its share of disruption, says Meredith SVP of data, ad platforms and monetization Nicole Lesko. Like the rest of the industry, programmatic CPMs bottomed out […]
When Google’s DSP DV360 stopped buying on the tech site XDA Developers, revenue dropped 30% overnight. The site soon realized it was on a “shadow blocklist,” where buyers don’t reveal why they stop bidding on a site, to prevent nefarious publishers from skirting the rules. It took almost six months of guesswork and methodical changes […]
Streaming behavior has skyrocketed during the pandemic, and advertisers have been rising to meet that change. “Major catastrophic events don’t change what’s happening, but they do make trends accelerate. OTT was already growing, but it has accelerated so much,” said Lindsey Harju, co-founder of Blinc Digital, a consultancy that advises buyers, sellers and tech companies […]
Online sales only accounts for 1% of all used car transactions, but this final frontier of ecommerce got an unexpected boost from the pandemic. And Vroom, an ecommerce platform for used cars, is revving up to catch the attention of consumers who want to buy a car – just not in person. “This crisis has […]
During times of crisis, advertisers want to connect with people reading local journalism. Michigan-based healthcare company McLaren Greater Lansing used Gannett’s sponsored content offering to share critical messages during the pandemic with a more nuanced, responsive approach than it could achieve with just banner ads. For example, the health care company noticed many patients were […]
AdExchanger’s Social Distancing With Friends podcast now has its own channel. Subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. When your well-meaning mother posts something on Facebook, Snopes is where you go to fact-check. In fact, one reader was so appreciative of the ability to send her mother links correcting […]
Media buying has gone far beyond age and gender – with agencies betting on their first-party data platforms as the new secret sauce to guide planning and activation. But the tools to plan campaigns using advanced segments across mediums like TV, digital and radio often involve slow, manual matching and lots of grunt work. To […]
The pandemic changed how people checked the weather – but the usefulness of a weather forecast never ceased. “Weather is still a part of our users’ lives, but it’s different,” said AccuWeather President Steven Smith. “We had to adapt, learn from what we’re seeing, and then adapt again.” Instead of checking a forecast before a […]
As people nest in their homes during the pandemic, Food52 has been serving them content – and products – that match their interests. During the pandemic, sales in Food52’s shop have risen 175% year over year. Unique visitors doubled in May. But the pandemic also changed Food52’s own ambitions to grow its brand. After receiving […]
