MediaMath reduced its workforce by 8% through a combination of layoffs and furloughs due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remaining employees will take a 10% pay cut and MediaMath paused 401(k) matching. “We are preparing our businesses to weather these uncertain times and taking actions that will strengthen our position for the […]
On Tuesday, PlaceIQ announced its acquisition of Toronto-based location data and measurement company Freckle IoT. Terms were not disclosed. Foot traffic may be way down during the pandemic, but consolidation in the location data space is heating up. The day before, Foursquare revealed merger plans with location data provider Factual less than a year after […]
The advertising department at The New York Times before the coronavirus pandemic is completely different than the one in motion now. The team is working remotely. In-person meetings and planned live events are out. And the hot topics with clients have completely changed. So The New York Times is trying to be helpful as clients […]
Mediaocean CRO Ramsey McGrory has seen some turbulent times, from serving in an Army combat hospital during the Persian Gulf War, to working as an executive at Right Media during the 2008 recession. He knows how to operate through chaos. “I tend to get very focused and even more productive because I’m so focused,” he […]
Venture capital is venturing carefully during the coronavirus crisis. But raising money is possible, economic uncertainty aside, for companies with differentiated technology and a healthy customer base, especially if they’re focused on digital transformation. On Tuesday, Glassbox, an Israeli startup with offices in London and New York that offers customer experience analytics for sites and […]
Brands are avoiding “coronavirus”-related keywords like they’re the actual coronavirus. And in times like these, it’s up to the buy side to start an open conversation about brand safety tolerance, said GroupM executive Oscar Garza. “It’s understandable some brands don’t want to be associated with tragedy, but at the same time, news is news,” he […]
Comms plans and product launches that were in place before COVID-19 invaded the world either need to adapt or be scrapped. It’s so easy to step in it right now. That’s as true for consumer-facing brands as it is for B2B marketers and ad tech vendors looking for pickup in the trade press. “Be very […]
“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Kevin Krim, CEO at EDO. In a short period, COVID-19 has taken an enormous human toll and massively disrupted the status quo of our daily lives. It is an understandable reaction to pull back […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Sub-Prime Amazon will delay Prime Day until at least August, Reuters reports. Amazon hasn’t confirmed the postponement, but it’s mentioned in a memo obtained by Vice News last week. The delay would mean $100 million to $300 million in losses on excess devices Amazon […]
Google is temporarily reversing its plan to stop supporting cross-site third-party cookie sharing by default, citing the “extraordinary global circumstances due to COVID-19.” This decision means the SameSite changes Chrome started enforcing when it released Chrome 80 in February are on hold. It plans to restart the process at some point over the summer. In […]
Marketing and agency veteran Wendy Clark will become the global CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), the company said on Monday. She is the first female CEO of a global agency network. She will start in September and report into Tim Andree, DAN’s global chairman, who took on the global CEO role after Jerry Buhlmann […]
Amazon has removed third-party vendors from its affiliate program. Starting at the beginning of this month, affiliate networks such as Skimlinks and Sovrn (which acquired VigLink) can no longer send traffic to Amazon and get a cut of transactions, according to sources at many affiliate networks and publishers. Removing third-party affiliate networks frees up significant […]
As a digital advertising OG, John Nardone has steered quite a few ships through economic downturns. While this one feels different, he has a lot of practical advice on leading during a hard time – whether it’s the necessity of overcommunicating or the importance of preparation for client calls on Zoom. John also weighs in […]
Being a freelancer right now in the marketing and advertising industry is unpredictable. While some work continues to come in, other projects are sputtering to a halt. But as more marketing professionals get laid off or furloughed, demand for freelance work is on the rise. “We get really good news and then really bummer news […]
“On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Joel Cox, co-founder and executive vice president of strategy and innovation at Strategus. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, many people had already spoken: They want to consume their television media on their time and terms […]
Most mornings, you’ll find Barry Lowenthal, CEO of The Media Kitchen, doing makeshift yoga and Pilates with his neighbors on the beach near his condo in Palm Springs – at a safe distance, of course. And then the day kicks off, a series of Zoom calls and hangouts and conversations with staff, vendors and brand clients […]
“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Simon Harris, head of sales EMEA at MightyHive. Safari has just beaten Chrome’s 2022 deadline for killing the third-party cookie (while also delivering blows to several other tracking methods). Legislation and […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Unblocked Google and Twitter lifted their bans on coronavirus-related advertising. Twitter will allow marketers to feature their pandemic responses in paid tweets, Ad Age reports. Twitter initially banned COVID terms to forestall misinformation, but now feels that “the messaging that brands and businesses can […]
A factoid for our times: Kohler’s sales of smart toilets increased eightfold during the first two weeks of March compared with this time last year. The trend makes sense to Alex Farr, CEO of Zammo, a platform that brands can use to easily build voice apps. Touchless tech is taking off as people do their […]
Todd Garland spent the past 12 years building BuySellAds into a programmatic mainstay, and a standout of the Boston ad tech scene. “The idea that you can wake up one day and wonder if it’s gone is terrifying,” he says. The questions of existential dread have mostly subsided, as people settle into their work-from-home routine. There are even […]
If you’re blocking the word “coronavirus,” you’re essentially blocking everything. In this episode of “Social Distancing With Friends,” The Washington Post’s VP of commercial tech, Jarrod Dicker, checks in from his high-energy household (its members include three boys and two dogs) to talk publisher problems, including aggressive advertiser blocklists and the general trend of deflating […]
Like all of us, marketing veteran Laura Desmond is navigating the new rules of the video call. In this installment of AdExchanger’s “Social Distancing With Friends” podcast series, she shares her thoughts on the emerging rules of remote collaboration. “The level of intimacy is actually pretty high, but I also find that my energy is […]
Marketers facing today’s uncertainty can focus on internal initiatives like stack evaluation and data strategy, said Ana Milicevic, principal and co-founder of Sparrow Advisers. That is, of course, if they still have the budget. For many of Sparrow’s clients, it’s hard to look beyond the next few weeks. Publishers are doing anything they can to […]
The playbook for how to advertise during a pandemic is still being written. Coronavirus marketing fails are inevitable. Retargeting ads for out-of-stock products and tone-deaf or opportunistic messaging trail consumers on the web. “This is an unprecedented situation. You have to think deeply about what is right for your business,” said Forrester principal analyst Jim […]
Bowing to pressure from agency holding companies, Ascential has canceled the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for 2020. The ad industry’s largest annual event was postponed on March 18 from its regular timing in late June to late October 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The festival will now resume in June 2021, when […]
Over the last two weeks, there probably wasn’t a lawyer in America who didn’t field at least one phone call from a stressed-out client asking about activating force majeure to get out of a contract. With events on ice for the foreseeable – media buys either canceled or postponed and commercial productions ground to a […]
Really though, does a pharma company like Bayer even need to advertise during a global pandemic? Actually, yes, says Bayer’s head of media in North America Josh Palau. “Right now, consumers are so in need of the products we make that anything we can do to make sure we’re front and center to get what […]
Gamers don’t just wear hoodies. “Hypercasual gaming breaks down every barrier,” said Jon Hook, VP of publishing at Polish game developer BoomBit. “It’s teens, parents – your nan could be playing these games.” Considering the audience is anything but hardcore, the key to success in hypercasual is creating a game that’s snackable and simple to understand. […]
A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. How To Finnish The Job In Finland, social media influencers join jobs like doctors, bus drivers and grocery store workers as “critical operators” who continue working during a crisis. It seems like a strange designation (especially in the United States, where some influencers have […]
