Both Publicis Groupe’s Zenith and WPP’s GroupM have lowered their 2017 ad spend forecasts, due to cost-cutting clients and slow economic growth in global markets. Zenith projects 4% growth for the global ad market by the end of the year, down from its original forecast of 4.2%. GroupM revised its 4.4% forecast down to 3%, […]
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands are threatening steep investment pullbacks if higher standards aren’t met on marketing measurement and transparency. And those Fortune 500 CPGs, including Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Mondelez, Nestlé and Kraft, seem to be holding to their lines in the sand. In the past few weeks, holding companies like IPG, WPP and […]
Turns out owning your own cable channel might not be the most efficient way to attract an audience. Poker Central folded its channel last December. Now the network is experimenting with new ways of distributing its content, including partnering with ESPN and NBC Sports and OTT services like Amazon-owned Twitch. It also launched its own […]
While P.F. Chang’s first order of business is stir-fry, it’s also cooking up a fresh data strategy to support its new brand push. As the owner of 212 Asian-themed concept restaurants around the globe, P.F. Chang’s strategy – and its custom-built technology stack – once primarily catered to the dine-in audience. “As takeout and third-party […]
As NBCUniversal’s portfolio has evolved, so has its sales pitch to brand marketers. When NBCU merged its linear and digital sales teams in 2015 and combined all its content groups, its client partnerships team assumed a greater role within its sales organization. That team, led by client partnerships EVP Ali Tarrant, became the broadcaster’s conduit […]
Updated with Q&A with Eric Eichmann, CEO of Criteo Criteo continues to soar high above the scrum of ad tech stocks. The company had a characteristically strong Q2, growing revenue ex-TAC by 32% to $220 million. Yet, “uncertainties” lie ahead, notably around Apple’s recent reveal that, come September, an update to its OS will include […]
The largest advertisers in the world are still dead set on cutting advertising costs and reducing agency fees. On earnings call after earnings call in the past week, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies sent a clear message to the ad industry: The belt is tightening. On Thursday, Procter & Gamble CEO Jon Moeller told investors […]
Amazon is bulking up on headcount to service its Amazon Web Services (AWS) and ad sales divisions, as revenue for the “other” category – which combines advertising with all supplementary revenue like co-branded credit cards – increased 51% to $945 million YoY in Q2. [Here’s Amazon’s Q2 results overall]. Amazon noted accelerated growth in hiring […]
Nielsen’s specialty is media measurement, not mar tech. But a slew of new Nielsen Marketing Cloud wins may help change that perception. Despite the presence of data management platforms from Salesforce, Adobe and Oracle, Nielsen Marketing Cloud just had its largest-ever quarter for new DMP client wins since it acquired eXelate in 2015. CPG marketers […]
Uber’s rider-focused ad spend has increased twentyfold in the last year and a half. “The onus that puts on us to be really clever in our targeting and thoughtful is incredibly high,” said Kellyn Kenny, Uber’s VP of marketing, speaking at Tune’s Postback conference in Seattle on Thursday. Although user acquisition is still a top […]
While broadcaster ProSieben owns about a 30% share of the German TV market, it’s looking to expand its influence in new channels – using its investment arm, SevenVentures, to scout startups. “We look to invest into promising startups on the B2C side of the business, which is different than the investment we make into our […]
Ad tech vendors are clicking “add to cart” on first-party retailer data. As brands and retailers grow more comfortable sharing first-party data, shopper marketing budgets – traditionally spent on last-leg marketing efforts like high-performing shelf space, in-store signage, coupon circulars and co-marketing (“Find us at your nearest…”) – are moving online. “Merchants are talking to me […]
Jet.com has been quietly pitching publishers on changes to its payment structure related to affiliate commissions. The message is clear: Work with Jet and it’s prepared to pay you for the privilege. Affiliate bucks often go to the more established players like Amazon or eBay. But in order to incentivize publishers to send traffic its […]
Microsoft is looking to claim itself a spot beside the top dogs competing on the video and cloud front. It says data is the differentiator. “Unlike other providers who use your data to sell groceries or other services that compete [with your business], your data belongs to you,” Martin Wahl, principal program manager for Microsoft, […]
Traditional web analytics tell advertisers if someone converted, but don’t always provide the context for why. A new breed of analytics solutions, such as ContentSquare and Qubit, hope to break free of these confines by combining data and machine learning to improve personalization. And retailers are among their earliest adopters. French beauty and skin care […]
The convergence of retail and ecommerce accelerated with a blockbuster Friday when it was announced that Amazon would buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion and Wal-Mart is snapping up ecommerce men’s clothing company Bonobos for $310 million. The market response to the deals was clear, particularly to Amazon’s 11-digit investment in a brick-and-mortar footprint. The […]
The slang phrase “I’ve got the receipts” has become a way to declare oneself the indisputable winner of an argument. Mobile shopping and analytics companies are learning to love the term as well. As image scanning and recognition software improves and the value of shopper data shoots up, a growing industry is devoted to accessing […]
Amazon on Monday quietly launched a self-serve platform called Advertiser Audiences, which lets advertisers upload their audience lists and CRM information, enabling tactics like audience matching and lookalike modeling. Advertiser Audiences is similar to solutions Facebook and Google released earlier, though Amazon’s tool has some key differences. The biggest strength, said Wunderman North America Chief […]
Multichannel ad revenue may be the real moneymaker for traditional TV companies in the near future. While the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for total US TV ad revenues between 2016 and 2021 will increase a modest 1.3% to $75.2 billion, most growth will come from multichannel ad revenue, like IP-based streaming content or online […]
As Amazon’s commerce and advertising revenues continue to skyrocket, the company’s enigmatic policies remain a core feature of the platform. While leading digital ad platforms like Google and Facebook churn out regular product updates and constantly brief media and customers on policy nuances, Amazon keeps even its closest partners in the dark, according to several […]
America’s most data-driven retailers and product manufacturers increasingly use mobile channels to drive shoppers to a store. Take the big kahuna. Walmart two weeks ago began offering discounts for products selected online and then picked up at a store. Walmart clears the margin on those discounts because the retailer can push products through its stores […]
Amazon’s ad revenue may be way higher than previously thought. Like, three and a half times higher. According to new analysis from Dan Salmon, managing director for media and Internet equity research at BMO Capital Markets, the company could generate $3.5 billion in ad revenue in 2017. And he expects that figure to grow 63% […]
Procter & Gamble will slash $1.5 billion from its marketing budget over the next five years, the CPG giant said during its Q1 earnings call Wednesday. At least $1 billion will come from media, specifically by lowering rates and getting rid of supply chain waste, said Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller. P&G wants to save […]
CPG brands are among the highest-spending advertisers, but are at the mercy of e-commerce and retail companies that own the data. Bazaarvoice, a hosted platform for ecommerce ratings and reviews, is now ramping up a data collection business to provide those insights-impoverished CPG brands with new ways to measure and target consumers. Bazaarvoice doesn’t sell […]
Chocolate eggs are big business for Hershey’s, the company behind Reese’s peanut butter cups and Cadbury eggs. The candymaker generates $550 million in sales of Easter candies, making it the second-biggest holiday after Halloween. The beloved Reese’s Eggs fill up Easter baskets everywhere. But this year, the Easter candy market became more competitive as other […]
The demand-side platform (DSP) category underwent expected consolidation in the past year, with The Trade Desk’s IPO and formerly independent players like TubeMogul, Turn and Adelphic gobbled up by Adobe, Singtel and Time Inc., respectively. But just because the DSP space has matured doesn’t mean it can’t surprise you. This year, that surprise comes from […]
Discovery Communications wants to prove out the value of its digital properties – both the ones they own and the ones where they’ve invested. “How do we create [intellectual property] on every device, not just linear?” said Discovery CEO and president David Zaslav during the media company’s Tuesday upfront. “As a cable channel, it’s all […]
The mobile app Ibotta, which offers users cash back on purchases from retail and brand partners, is turning its receipt verification system into an in-store attribution tool. Ibotta users can link a loyalty card account or upload a picture of a store receipt to get cash back on products for which it offers discounts. But […]
Foursquare debuted a foot-traffic measurement tool called Foursquare Analytics on Monday. Foursquare Analytics, which uses opted-in users to measure in-store traffic, began in private beta last year with brands like TGI Fridays, Equinox and Taco Bell. Brands that pay a monthly subscription fee to use the SaaS product. TGI Fridays matches customers from its CRM […]
Frontier Airlines is on a quest to facilitate direct customer relationships. To do that, it’s turned to Qubit to build a personalization engine from scratch. While site personalization and cross-channel communications used to be more of a “nice to have” for brands, it’s now table stakes for airlines like Frontier. “For a lot of customers, […]
AppLovin is growing at a blistering pace, but Wall Street investors remain cautious about the business.
High-end ad blockers mimic some of the same behavior as bot traffic. So WiseGuyGaming repurposed the tools it was already using to identify bots to reveal its ad-blocking audience as well.
Criteo has weathered considerable storms in its day, including a painful moment in March 2020 when its market cap bottomed out below $500 million. Can it pull off yet another turnaround?
Disaffection and outright anger toward US sports institutions run deeper than logo-cluttered fields. Leagues and teams are sacrificing player safety and fan enjoyment for marketing dollars.
People Inc.’s referral traffic from Google search is down 70% over the past two years, and by 26% in Q3 alone. But its digital revenue is still growing, albeit slowly.
On Tuesday, Chord, a six-year-old commerce tech startup, acquired Zenlytic, an AI startup with an anthropomorphized data analyst agent named “Zoë,” for $5 million.
