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By Sarah Sluis, Kelly Liyakasa and Alison Weissbrot Some publishers excel in programmatic in ways that make buyers take notice. The best way to stand out in programmatic is by integrating sales teams so it’s easy to buy programmatically and direct with a single conversation. Smart publishers don’t create incentives that make salespeople push direct […]

Although early video investments (and acquisitions) were focused on the desktop, a new influx of funding is pivoting to channels like over-the-top TV. In the span of three months, more than $150 million in VC funding has been injected into startups capitalizing on the demand for new video content – and addressing the challenges of […]

Blockchain, an unmodifiable and unbreachable digital ledger, was conceived 10 years ago to support the cryptocurrency bitcoin. But it has since seeped into new categories, jumping from finance to health care and, more recently, digital advertising. It’s doing so with the backing of big companies like IBM and Comcast, as well as smaller startups like […]

In the past, large linear audiences weren’t always addressable, and TV tune-in marketing was more “spray-and-pray” than precise. But TV tune-in, that mainstay of traditional linear promotion, is getting a data-driven boost. As linear ratings decline and consumers trend toward time-shifted content and new distribution points like mobile and over-the-top, marketers have more data at […]

Addressable TV has earned a rep for being expensive and not all that scalable. But for early adopters like Conagra Brands, the channel does have its perks. Advertisers that invest in addressable TV alongside their larger broadcast buys view the format as a vessel for reducing waste by being able to more effectively zero in […]

The drumbeat of blockchain industry news continues this week with the launch of AdLedger Consortium, a blockchain-enabled online advertising group backed by MadHive, a blockchain ad tech startup, IBM, Integral Ad Science and Tegna’s OTT ad subsidiary Premion. As with other initiatives, like Comcast’s fledgling Blockchain Insights Platform, the AdLedger Consortium is still in the […]

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, […]

Newsy started life as a desktop play. But now the digital video network, purchased by the E.W. Scripps Company in 2013, derives most of its traffic from over-the-top (OTT) devices as buyers begin to warm up to the channel. Marketers are increasingly willing to invest in OTT not just as a testing ground but as […]

James Hercher contributed to this article. Comcast Advanced Advertising Group said Tuesday in Cannes that it will formally launch a blockchain-powered tool in 2018 to help companies share their data with each other. The Blockchain Insights Platform is meant to ease the often clunky and nerve-wracking process of data sharing. Because of these challenges, companies […]

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 […]

Unlike the NBC upfront, which touted TV’s edge over digital, Turner Broadcasting took a different approach at its upfront Wednesday by emphasizing the “omnichannel experience.” “We reach 125 million viewers now across linear, OTT and mobile devices every month,” said Kevin Reilly, president of TBS and TNT, and chief creative officer for Turner Entertainment. “We’re […]

NBCUniversal’s chairman of advertising sales, Linda Yaccarino, went straight for Google’s jugular at the network’s Monday upfront presentation. “At NBCUniversal, you never have to worry about showing up next to something objectionable,” Yaccarino said at the New York City event, alluding to the online giant’s brand safety struggles. “But, let’s be honest: Brand safety is […]

Welcome to AdExchanger Talks, a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here. NBCUniversal’s upfront event at Radio City Music Hall next Monday will kick off a month of negotiations between media buyers and networks. And NBCU is the biggest seller in the upfront. Basically, if ad deals were family meals, this would be Thanksgiving dinner. But […]

Everyone knows the Aflac duck. “We’re lucky in the respect that the Aflac duck can stand alone and people automatically know it’s Aflac,” said Gail Galuppo, SVP and CMO for Aflac. “The Aflac duck, to me, is as iconic as the Target bull’s-eye and the Nike swoosh.” But the insurance brand needed to reinforce its […]

AppNexus wants in on connected TV ad budgets. The ad tech company has doubled down on the infrastructure to support connected TV buying and selling by integrating the forecasting from its Yieldex acquisition with its video ad server. It also has added support for newer connected TV ad formats and long-form content. These developments should […]

Maker Studios, the YouTube multichannel network (MCN) it acquired for more than $500 million in 2014, has been absorbed into Disney’s larger digital portfolio. After months of layoffs at the struggling MCN, Disney revealed at its NewFronts presentation on Tuesday that it would roll Maker’s remaining creators and influencers into the Disney Digital Network, a […]

Hulu is moving into phase two of its advanced TV strategy almost two years after launching its private exchange. But the market has changed since then, and Hulu has evolved its own ad technology stack in lockstep. For starters, Facebook shuttered the LiveRail supply-side platform (SSP) and ad server last year, so Hulu migrated to Tremor’s video SSP. Rather than entering a drawn-out RFP […]

Google is adding advanced TV buying capabilities to its demand-side platform, DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM). For the first time, Google will connect its ad tech to addressable TV inventory through its broadband and TV service, Google Fiber. Google will also support local market TV buys in DBM through a partnership with WideOrbit, as well as […]

Facebook may be sidling away from ad tech, but it’s cozying up to marketing automation through a smorgasbord of APIs. At its F8 developer’s conference in San Jose this week, Facebook rolled out the next version of its marketing API suite, which includes new tools to automate creative production and targeting parameters. Those APIs make […]

British broadcasting and telecom giant Sky is building for a future where digital and programmatic TV play on the same court. To do so, Sky, amid a $14.1 billion takeover by Twenty-First Century Fox, is investing in new media opportunities and ramping up on ad tech. To boost its presence on Facebook and YouTube, Sky just acquired […]

MDC Partners’ media agency, Assembly, has forged a strategic deal with Fox’s true[X], whose products give consumers options in their video ad breaks. The deal also gives true[X] more access to Assembly’s brand roster, like Hotels.com. Assembly and true[X] extended their partnership after collaborating on engagement-based ads for clients like the anti-tobacco nonprofit Truth. While […]

There’s a “simultaneous frustration” on the buy and sell sides to move beyond legacy TV currency standards like C3 ratings, said Linda Yaccarino, chairwoman of advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCU, at the 4As Transformation show in Los Angeles on Tuesday. This upfront season, NBCU is asking buyers to rethink the way they approach […]

Michael Bologna and Jamie Power – both leaders from GroupM’s advanced television-buying unit Modi Media – have left the media agency and founded an addressable TV media-buying startup called one2one Media. One2one is owned by Cross MediaWorks, a consortium of media and advertising companies. One2one matches advertiser first- and third-party data to multichannel video programming […]

Roku will offer audience guarantees this upfront season, joining big networks like NBC with similar programs. Several agencies, including Horizon Media and Hill Holliday’s media spinoff, Trilia, are beta testing Roku’s audience guarantees. Roku’s offering is based on the set-top box maker’s existing integration to Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings, which helped buyers determine their waste […]

Apple’s big iOS update last year created large amounts of new media inventory, which the company is monetizing through a big ad deal with NBCUniversal and direct relationships with publishers. Now the mobile platform giant is opening the gates to outside measurement of its ad impressions, AdExchanger has learned. Through its sales agreement with NBCUniversal, Apple […]

Dish’s streaming TV service, Sling TV, which reportedly topped 1 million subscribers last fall, is now focused on monetizing its audience cross-platform. Connecting the pipes for programmatic monetization across Sling TV, Dish and Dish Anywhere didn’t happen overnight, but Adam Lowy, GM of advanced TV, said years of work are paying off. Dish has been “quietly […]

by Allison Schiff, Alison Weissbrot, Sarah Sluis, James Hercher, Kelly Liyakasa and Ryan Joe Programmatic advertising comes in many flavors. A handful of brands load up to take their buying fully in-house. Many give their agency partners carte blanche. Other brands take ownership of the tech contracts and segmentation, while letting their agencies pull the […]

Unlike in digital, where marketers can buy across multiple publishers, TV planning is largely limited to a single broadcaster’s inventory. Fox, Turner and Viacom have jointly formed an advanced audience platform called OpenAP, which will roll out to media agencies and advertisers in early April, to try to solve that challenge. While each network has […]

Forward-thinking marketing organizations want to integrate digital and OTT media plans with upfront sponsorships and commitments. But doing so isn’t always black and white. Citi, for instance, integrates addressable TV planners with those who focus on traditional upfront commitments or digital video. “Instead of looking just at TV, we’re going to ask more of our […]

If publishers and platforms often hold contentious relationships with each other, NBCUniversal shows signs of wanting to change that frenemy dynamic. Leading up to last week’s Snapchat IPO, NBCUniversal invested $500 million in the video messaging and content app, CNBC reported Friday. That investment would give the media company an approximately a 2% stake, according to […]