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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. Now With More Engagement Google has expanded the capabilities of its Engagement Ads, which run on the Google Display Network, are offered on a CPE (cost per engagement) basis and are more interactive than static banner ads. Engagement Ads now run across mobile devices […]

Driving continued mobile app engagement is a continuing challenge for businesses — and the stakes continue to rise. Mobile app downloads will reach 102 billion in 2013, up from 64 billion in 2012, according to a September report from Gartner. The research firm also said that in-app purchases will account for 48% of app store […]

A change has happened among creative agencies in which they’re now using cloud-based solutions to develop their in-house creative ideas. Part of this has to do with the changing demands of business clients and the growing acceptance of crowdsourced content for marketing purposes. “Agencies are now being tasked with delivering high-quality content at a price […]

Over the past few months, French real-time bidding (RTB) services provider AlephD has expanded work with AppNexus with particular focus on French publishers. Maxime Agostini, AlephD’s CEO, said that despite greater adoption of programmatic methods by advertisers there aren’t many services aimed at the sell side. Although AlephD is already integrated with AppNexus, Agostini said […]

Edit 12/20: Experian’s SVP of government affairs and public policy Tony Hadley (who also testified during the hearing) has written in with his observations. In the wake of Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s (D-WV) hearing on the practices of data marketers, AdExchanger reached out to the three data marketing solutions companies he accused of not complying with […]

It’s that time of year. To get a sense of what’s coming in 2014, we asked some senior marketers to answer a single, open-ended question about the coming year: “What new consumer or technology trend do you expect to see in 2014 that will change your marketing strategy?” The below response is from Tamara Gruzbarg, […]

“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 Jeff Sporn, SVP and GM for digital solutions at IXI, an Equifax division. Data is important for every online advertiser, but the rise in demand has led many to take shortcuts. […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. Video Fraud Adweek’s Mike Shields continues his coverage of fraud issues in online video advertising, this time focusing on video technology company OneScreen. According to the article, the company was working with Touchstorm, which reported a slew of issues they faced before ultimately dropping […]

A Wednesday hearing held by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the operations of so-called “data brokers” highlighted the disconnect between data marketers and consumer advocates. The hearing followed the release of a report detailing the findings of a yearlong investigation into data marketers. The core disagreement revolves around the extent to which businesses […]

Twitter’s Wednesday release of conversion tracking is the company’s latest direct-response push. Beta advertisers, including retailer Alex and Ani, food-delivery and takeout service GrubHub Seamless and political agency Targeted Victory, used the tool to measure ROI on Twitter ad campaigns. Targeted Victory initiated CPA campaigns to meet a target number of “sign-ups” for a National […]

Facebook’s acquisition Tuesday of sports-centric social analytics and real-time trending platform SportStream signifies it’s not letting up in its tête-à-tête with Twitter. “Twitter has natural advantages in the social TV space,” commented Martin Kihn, a research director at Gartner. “It’s the go-to platform for real-time event-driven conversation, facilitated by hashtags. … On the other hand, […]

Marvelkids.com and Sanrio, two companies that produce popular children’s characters such as the Hulk and Hello Kitty, have been accused of violating privacy laws by collecting personal information from children without giving notice or receiving parental consent. Several advertising companies may also be held liable for knowingly collecting personal information from children, as well. The […]

Beijing-based BlueFocus Communications has bought a majority stake in We Are Social, strengthening its Western presence and gaining a global social marketing capability. Under the deal terms, BlueFocus paid an initial $30 million for an 82.8 percent position in We Are Social, with additional incentive-based compensation doled out over the next three years. London-based We Are […]

A growing number of ad exchanges, trading desks, DSPs and agencies are emerging to occupy the Chinese programmatic market. AdChina, an advertising-technology company for both the supply and demand side, has been around since 2007 and its CEO, Alan Yan, has seen how the Chinese marketplace has evolved in recent years. “Our original goal, when […]

As major publishers adopt programmatic methods to boost efficiency and cost-savings, one thing keeps them from putting more valuable inventory up for bid: The perceived lack of transparency in pricing. Consequently, an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) task force made up of publishers has been working on guidelines to clear up the fees and better define […]

“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 Lauren Moores, vice president of analytics at Dstillery. Location metadata is revealing fresh insights about consumer behavior and giving marketers the ability to target a consumer by location context across channels. Using […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. Adaptive Agencies It’s time for 2014 predictions and Digiday is serving one up about agencies. As marketers and brands try to figure out digital marketing, agencies should benefit, according to the article. They have the opportunity to tie their work into hard business metrics […]

Pushing hyperlocal mobile advertisements is becoming increasingly viable for businesses as tech giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter, as well as startups, enter the space. One such hyperlocal ad startup is Thinknear, which was acquired by GPS solutions provider Telenav for $22.5 million last year. AdExchanger spoke with Thinknear CEO Eli Portnoy about the evolution […]

Social advertising has become table stakes for multiplatform marketers. On the vendor side, the emerging leaders providing social-ad technologies share a few key commonalities to meet that demand, according to an inaugural Forrester Wave: Social Advertising Platforms report released Tuesday. In a series of interviews with 21 digital marketers, Forrester Research found the average amount […]

‘Tis the season for predictions, so AdExchanger reached out to members of the venture capital community for their opinions on what’s in store for 2014. Click below to read “the bets” or scroll for more: Jeff Crowe, managing partner, Norwest Venture Partners Seth Levine, co-founder and managing director, Foundry Group Roger Ehrenberg, founder and managing […]

It took the better part of a year, but Facebook has overcome its internal angst about “motion” in the News Feed with the debut of cross-channel, auto-play video ads. The offering (officially in beta) instantly creates the largest digital video buy ever, with potential daily reach covering nearly half the U.S. population. Mindshare purchased the […]

Sailthru, a provider of data marketing and personalization solutions, has raised $20 million in Series C financing from ScaleVP, whose past investments include cloud-based marketing technology companies like HubSpot, Omniture, Vitrue and ExactTarget. Sailthru’s founder and CEO Neil Capel, a venture partner at Bowery Capital, said the funding will go toward sales, marketing, product engineering […]

Yahoo is making an unspecified portion of its reserved inventory available to demand-side platforms (DSPs), months after display rivals like AOL pledged to put its guaranteed placements on exchanges. Read the release. When Yahoo acquired ad exchange pioneer Right Media six years ago for $680 million, the portal was seen as taking steps far beyond […]

Two announcements last week underscored the importance of email as a means for bridging the gap between online and offline customer data. The first was the acquisition of Rapleaf, a provider of email marketing personalization solutions, by email data services provider TowerData. And Facebook announced it was adding a feature within Custom Audiences that links offline […]

“Marketer’s Note” is a weekly column informing marketers about the rapidly evolving, digital marketing technology ecosystem. It is written by Joanna O’Connell, Director of Research, AdExchanger Research.   As I was interviewing a senior level marketer in the beverage industry the other day for my customer lifecycle management research (which I’ll be presenting at the Industry […]

“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 Marcus Tewksbury, global vice president for product strategy at Experian Marketing Services. American Civil War experts recently posited that neither the tactical genius of Grant nor the moral superiority of Lincoln […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. The Apple Exchange Apple is pushing its iTunes Radio inventory, according to Adweek, as it aims to compete with other ad-supported radio services. It’s also looking to create an RTB exchange for in-app ads. However, sellers are being told to focus on radio right […]

WPP Group’s digital and direct marketing agency Wunderman and its media-buying agency MEC have launched a joint venture called CHOREOGRAPH to address converging client demands in paid, earned and owned media. The proliferation of cross-channel marketing campaigns and the subsequent need to marry transactional, customer and demographic data with audience-level information drove CHOREOGRAPH’s creation. “Over […]

Last January, T-Mobile declared itself the “Uncarrier.” It was part of a massive brand revamp, one that involved a new network, new devices (including iPhones) and new phone plans (and the carrier might be in line for yet another overhaul, if rumors about a possible acquisition by rival carrier Sprint bear fruit). T-Mobile’s “Uncarrier” messaging […]