Salesforce wants to “democratize” the development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. That is, making AI available to as many business users as possible. Consequently, it’s baked an AI system called Einstein into the Salesforce platform – such that its capabilities are available across its various clouds, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud. “AI […]
Six weeks ago, Laura Ipsen – a former Microsoft and Cisco exec – succeeded Kevin Akeroyd as SVP and GM of Oracle Marketing Cloud (OMC). Akeroyd, one of the original architects of the OMC business, had moved on to the CEO role at Cision. Ipsen – formerly an SVP of Oracle’s global industry solutions group […]
The fast-moving space of sponsored content has already gone through three different metrics. First, brands paid a CPM to show article snippets. Now cost per view dominates. When Medium launched its sponsored content program in April, it took the currency one step further. It charges for “total time read” (TTR), a metric that bets that […]
Data management platform Krux is joining the header-bidding fray. Krux built a header bidder because it wants marketers to buy both data and media in one place. Header bidding is the best mechanism to facilitate that transaction. By rolling out the tech, Krux adds a media-buying capability to Krux Link, the data exchange bazaar it’s […]
If AppNexus Chief Economist Gabriel Weintraub could go back in time to the beginning of real-time bidding (RTB), he would have designed a different type of auction. “Because you are targeting so finely, you are creating thin markets. So the question is, how do you create rules that alleviate that issue, especially from the publisher […]
Facebook just showed up to the header bidding party. Facebook confirmed it’s “exploring header bidding with a small set of publishers.” Those partners may include USA Today and Hearst, according to The Information, which was first to report the news. For Facebook, the move could mark a significant expansion of its Audience Network platform, expanding […]
GhostBed is ready to go to the mattresses to gain share of voice in the super-competitive bed-in-a-box market. One tactic in its arsenal: cars wrapped in advertising. “It’s like a moving billboard – you’re getting an enormous number of impressions and it’s cost-effective for us,” said Marc Werner, CEO and founder of Nature’s Sleep, manufacturer of […]
Antonio Garcia Martinez led the team that built Facebook Exchange, the company’s first foray into programmatic advertising. He also had a front-row seat when Facebook killed off the initiative, a decision that effectively aborted his future with the company, as he details in his tell-all book “Chaos Monkeys.” “I had bet my entire social capital […]
As publishers embraced header bidding, many programmatic buyers observed the trend from the sidelines. Since header bidding boosts yield for publishers by increasing competition, it follows that buyers may be paying more. But buyers wouldn’t necessarily know if that’s the case, since SSPs don’t note whether the impression comes through a header or not. If […]
Salesforce has named CRM technology pioneer Bob Stutz as CEO of its Marketing Cloud, replacing outgoing CEO Scott McCorkle. McCorkle, a soft-spoken and well-liked exec, has for the past two years driven the marketing tech bus at Salesforce, a bus that has arguably been stuck in a fast idle since the company paid $2.5 billion […]
Header bidding is changing the industry and creating a new set of winners and losers. After a dismal earnings call, Rubicon Project’s stock fell 32% and lost $200 million in value Wednesday. Rubicon CEO Frank Addante said the company failed to respond quickly to the header bidding trend, sending its desktop revenue into decline. […]
Rubicon Project CEO Frank Addante told investors on Tuesday that the company was slow to recognize the importance of header bidding to its publisher customers. As a result, desktop managed revenue declined 2% in Q2. That unexpected drop led Rubicon to lower its revenue guidance for the year. Rubicon’s FastLane header bidding product did not enter the […]
Yahoo and AOL sell the same stuff to the same advertisers and, once their sales organizations combine – likely after the deal closes around Q1 2017 – there will be plenty of layoffs. Yahoo CEO Marisa Mayer said as much in Monday’s call to investors as the acquisition progressed. She said the company already has its lowest headcount since […]
As proprietor and chef at Café Avalaun, a gluten-free restaurant just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Brian Doyle would rather cook, bake and make crêpes than spend his life on marketing. “We don’t do a lot of traditional advertising because it’s expensive and it’s hard to know if you’re actually hitting your target audience,” said Doyle, […]
Since some people will never tune into their local 5 o’clock news broadcast, many local news stations are setting aside competitive concerns to partner with NewsOn. The app brings 141 local news broadcasts to OTT and mobile audiences. “While these companies compete fiercely with each other in local markets, they see the value of NewsOn,” […]
Google is building a technology platform that will underpin two of its buy-side solutions: DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM), a DSP and ad server for large advertisers, and Google Display Network (GDN), where search advertisers and small advertisers play. “We think there are huge opportunities to democratize programmatic for Google Display Network buyers,” said Brad Bender, […]
Facebook, which recently took the wraps off a tool that lets advertisers link location-aware ads to store visits, may have more than 1.5 billion users, but scale isn’t the only prerequisite for cracking offline attribution. “My question for Facebook would be: Do they know the spatial outlines of every McDonald’s in America?” said Duncan McCall, […]
Microsoft and LinkedIn both have advertising businesses. But Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn wasn’t about advertising. At least, that’s not the main reason. “It’s less about ad tech and more about mar tech,” said William Furlong, a former Bizo executive and current adviser and consultant. Forrester VP and principal analyst Melissa Parrish agreed. While […]
Performance Horizon revealed Wednesday it has raised $15.4 million in Series C funding. The partner marketing platform helps large global corporations manage all their affiliate relationships in one place. The company plans to use the funds to double its workforce from 120 to 240 over the next year. Sixty percent of the new hires will […]
As of Wednesday, there’s a new lord of the manor at AOL Platforms. Tim Mahlman, formerly president of publisher platforms at AOL, has been promoted to president of AOL Platforms, effectively filling the shoes left empty upon Bob Lord’s departure to IBM in April – but with one big difference. “It’s the first time AOL appointed […]
AppNexus and Taboola have connected with each other to enable buyers to purchase Taboola’s native placements programmatically. Eighty-five AppNexus buyers have already used this connection to buy on Taboola. The integration represents a step forward for programmatic native just as another huge native pool of supply disappeared: FBX, which will shut down in November. Taboola CEO Adam Singolda […]
Marketers can now target advertising on Pinterest using their CRM lists or mobile ad IDs, and expand those campaigns through lookalike targeting. The product update gives marketers a way to reach their existing customers, a la Facebook’s popular Custom Audiences product. “This is becoming a must-have in the marketplace because of the performance it drives,” […]
Impact Radius is bringing fraud detection in-house with the acquisition of Forensiq. The deal, announced Tuesday, helps create what Impact Radius CEO Per Pettersen calls “a system of record with built-in fraud detection.” Forensiq and Impact Radius are keeping the terms of the transaction secret other than to note it was a mixture of cash […]
After a late start, AppNexus is continuing to double down on video. The company launched a closed beta for video viewability measurement and reporting across its platform on Tuesday. The plan is to move into open beta by the end of Q2. The announcement comes a little less than three months after AppNexus took the […]
Facebook-owned Instagram debuted business profiles and account tools on Tuesday. While many personal accounts are used for business, Instagram formalized the system and added promotional capabilities like putting spend behind a post and basic targeting, measurement and reporting tools. While business accounts aren’t meant to be an enterprise-class solution, the vast majority of advertisers on Instagram […]
Google is cracking open the gates on its AdWords demand. Its giant pool of search buyers will be able to dip into other exchanges when they need to find a user for retargeting campaigns. The move was buried in a blog post about mobile innovation Tuesday. The change makes Google far more open, benefiting buyers, […]
Instagram announced Tuesday that it’s opening up its advertising Partner Program to a new category of member: media buyers. The program today is comprised of a set of about 50 vendors certified for Instagram’s ad tech, content marketing and community management services. Bringing media buying services into the fold is the natural next move for Instagram […]
In a nod to mobile’s growing importance for advertisers and its own bottom line, Google on Tuesday unveiled AdWords updates and local ad formats to help marketers execute mobile-focused ad campaigns. Advertisers can now connect more widely with Google Maps users and give consumers more information in their text ads. Google also gave manufacturers access to […]
Facebook and Google may hoover up 85% of incremental digital ad dollars, but that doesn’t mean it’s time for the LUMAscape companies to pack it in. Facebook is “not where the smart money is being spent,” said Jim Payne, co-founder and former CEO of MoPub, speaking at the Acceleration show hosted by mParticle in New York […]
SAP entered the digital advertising market this week, creating a DSP and DMP from scratch it’s dubbing SAP Exchange Media (XM). Wolfgang Faisst, co-founder and head of SAP XM, acknowledged that despite an ecosystem of “thousands of ad tech companies,” SAP decided to step up because of demand for end-to-end integration. Because SAP XM connects […]
