As Editorial Director, 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.
Programmatic direct will go from 8% to 42% of all programmatic spending by 2016, according to eMarketer research. BuySellAds, founded in 2008 and which has 18 employees, followed a different path from iSocket and Shiny Ads, both of which were recently acquired by Rubicon Project. It focused on connecting smaller publishers with large brands like […]
While most of the 14 million websites using AddThis aren’t likely to invest in expensive enterprise-level tools like data-management platforms, they would probably like the personalization capabilities those tools can offer. AddThis’ self-service content engagement platform, announced Wednesday, is designed to provide this personalization cheaply and efficiently. “We want to let website owners quickly segment […]
Burberry greeted visitors to Yahoo’s home page in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain last Monday with large takeover ad units. The Dentsu Aegis trading desk Amnet executed the deal programmatically through the DSP Adform. Through a private exchange, the trading desk bid on every home page impression for the day. The campaign was […]
Earlier this year, Yieldex – mostly known as a yield-management, forecasting and pricing tool for the largest publishers – expanded its focus with an automated guaranteed product. About a third of Yieldex’s customers use it. eMarketer has predicted programmatic direct will grow from $800 million this year to $8.57 billion by 2016. Two weeks ago, […]
Consumers prefer digital media players like Roku, Chromecast and AppleTV over live TV, according to the GFK study “Digital Media Players 2014.” Nineteen percent of US households own digital media players. These preferences are changing consumer behavior, not just through cord cutting but because people who use these services find new shows and increase their […]
Although native advertising is typically used for branding, it can provide results for direct-response campaigns. That was the goal for Microsoft Store – the software giant’s answer to the Apple Store – when it launched a test in early July along with Seattle-based agency Point It and native ad-tech platform TripleLift. The native ad-tech company […]
From the start, foodie site Food52 planned to have two revenue streams: advertising and commerce. Today, commerce drives two-thirds of its revenue, with advertising accounting for the other third. The site now averages four million unique monthly visitors. After building up content, 98% of which is contributed by readers, Food52 had the audience to add […]
When Apple announced last week it was dipping its toe into programmatic via partnerships with ad tech companies, it cited retailer L.L. Bean as an early purchaser of iAds inventory via MediaMath. It’s the first time the outdoor-focused retailer has bought through Apple’s iAds, though it’s gradually devoted more marketing spend to mobile initiatives. “We […]
It’s been a busy week for Rubicon Project. It acquired programmatic direct players iSocket and Shiny Ads on Monday, adding guaranteed capabilities to its platform. It partnered with Apple’s iAd, ramping up its mobile supply. And last Friday, it hired Adam Chandler as SVP of revenue as the company builds out its buy side. Rubicon’s […]
Not every publisher sees selling drones as a natural extension of its business. But converting readers into customers is the next goal for The Next Web, an online tech magazine that has 6.6 million unique monthly visitors. For the past three months, the company has been using StackCommerce to power its e-commerce store, called TNW […]
Apple’s iAd inventory will be available programmatically through open exchanges. Rubicon Project is one of “several advertising technology companies” that will be selling the inventory, according to a press release. MediaMath is among the other partners, according to an AdExchanger source. iAd hasn’t been a star for Apple so far. “This partnership means that Apple […]
For recipe sites, the days leading up to Thanksgiving bring a rush of users searching for turkey-basting tips and instructions for making stuffing and pumpkin pie. In the coming weeks, the winter holidays will bolster traffic even more. These audience surges represent an opportunity and challenge for publishers as they try to maximize yield. Sales […]
Rubicon Project has snapped up iSocket and Shiny Ads, two companies in the rapidly emerging category of automating direct, negotiated deals between ad buyer and publisher. The total cost of both deals is less than $30 million, mostly paid in stock, according to a press release. The bulk of that $30 million likely went to iSocket, […]
On election night, ABC News wanted to engage users with breaking news via its app, but it didn’t want to overwhelm them. Among its updates, ABC News wanted to point users to video content. For the ABC News mobile app, pre-roll video ads drive the most revenue. Thanks to ABC Unified, which sells TV and […]
Rubicon Project wants more customers on its Buyer Cloud and has hired ad sales vet Adam Chandler as SVP of revenue to bring brands to the platform. He started Monday. “There’s a lot of education needed on Madison Avenue and with brand marketers directly to explain what automation means,” Chandler said. “I see a big […]
The walled gardens around publishers’ premium inventory are hard to take down, since publishers are reluctant to put premium inventory in channels associated with low-priced, performance-focused inventory. But Sonobi, whose platform combines direct-sold impressions with those sold programmatically, is trying to chip away at those walls. The company hosted a Premium Programmatic Summit with its […]
This Old House, the venerable home-improvement brand, possesses a trove of video assets highly valued by users and advertisers alike. Video is the very foundation of This Old House. The brand started off as a local Boston television show in 1979, and it now runs nationally on PBS. Time Inc., which had been running This Old […]
MyBuys creates “recommended for you” modules on retail sites, but then it goes a step further: It buys display ads based on a user’s behavior or viewed products and sends triggered emails enticing customers to complete abandoned buys. MyBuys’ expansion into paid media—display advertising—is now its fastest-growing line of business. While it first got into managed […]
Does anyone want to be a content creator anymore? Women’s lifestyle site SheKnows has jumped into the user-generated content fray by buying BlogHer, which provides a technology platform for bloggers as well as opportunities to monetize. SheKnows paid an estimated $30 million-$40 million, The acquisition fits with SheKnows’ recent efforts to turn its community into […]
CEO Tim Armstrong thinks AOL’s bets on programmatic are paying off. Programmatic grew to 37% of non-search ad revenue, compared to 12%. Forty seven percent of revenue from AOL’s network Advertising.com was programmatic, compared to 18% during the same period last year. Advertising revenue grew 18% YoY to $473.4 million. Armstrong attributed the increase to larger shifts in the […]
TripAdvisor grew revenue by 39% in the third quarter but disappointed investors by missing its guidance for Q3. Half of TripAdvisor’s traffic now comes from mobile, big news for a site that attracts 315 million monthly unique visitors. That shift has challenged many traditional publishers, but TripAdvisor said it has mobile monetization and user experience […]
Time Inc. reported increasing digital revenues and declining print revenue for the third quarter. Digital revenue rose 5% YoY, but that increase upped to 19% excluding the impact of corporate transactions related to the spinoff from Time Warner. During September 2014, Time Inc. attracted 93.6 million multiplatform unique visitors, an increase of 27% from December […]
Last year, Livingly Media’s entertainment site Zimbio attracted 1 million Facebook referrals a month. So far this year, it’s 20 million referrals a month. “Facebook’s recent changes have been very beneficial for us,” said CEO Tony Mamone. He co-founded Zimbio Inc. (now Livingly Media) in 2006, and launched StyleBistro in 2010. In 2012, the company […]
RTL Group is buying itself more video content by acquiring StyleHaul in a deal that values the lifestyle-focused YouTube network at $151 million. “StyleHaul is an excellent fit with our digital portfolio, complementing our recent, technology-focused acquisitions BroadbandTV and SpotXchange,” said Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch, co-CEOs of European TV and radio company RTL Group, […]
Financial advertisers tend to focus on performance advertising. They want people to fund a brokerage account or sign up for a new credit card. But TheStreet, which attracts 40 to 50 million visitors a month at its sites, which include a namesake website, plus Stockpickr, The Deal and MainStreet, has noticed more interest in brand […]
Digital revenue rose 17% in Q3 at The New York Times. During the same time period, digital subscriptions rose 20%. But overall revenue rose just 1% for the quarter — anemic growth, though The New York Times spun it as good news, since digital increases almost offset declines in print. (earnings release) “Smartphone, tablet, and video, […]
When targeting ads and content, health publisher Remedy Health Media, whose network of sites attract 16 million unique visitors a month, faces greater challenges than most digital publishers. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) contains a privacy rule regulating the use of consumer health data, making it more difficult to personalize content and […]
Publishers looking for new digital dollars have homed in on native and custom advertising packages. These initiatives, more than programmatic, served as the focus for the MediaNext conference Monday through Wednesday in New York City, where the publishing community convened to discuss the status of integrated marketing campaigns. “More advertisers are separating their budgets, with […]
Two years is a long time for online publisher Vox Media. In that span, the owner of seven editorial sites – including The Verge, SB Nation, Eater and Polygon – went from eschewing programmatic to embracing it. Vox’s strategy changed because its sites grew, explained Joe Purzycki, Vox Media’s VP of advertising. Vox totaled 20 […]
Rubicon Project’s stock rose over 20% in after hours trading following the announcement that the company posted a record quarter. That’s good news for a supply side platform that has struggled to educate Wall Street of its value. Rubicon Project hoped its IPO would give it a market cap of $671 million. The current market cap is […]
