Platforms

Like many companies, outdoor lifestyle brand Columbia Sportswear was no stranger to using 15- and 30-second YouTube videos as a complement to TV. Because consumers weren’t necessarily going to YouTube for “conversion-based” content like product reviews, Columbia experimented with 360-degree video to make its content more immersive. Columbia sent its production crew out with US […]

Google launched a customer call center measurement and attribution solution on Wednesday alongside new research on call-based marketing. The product uses a unique identifier placed on Google’s search ads with tap-to-call functionality to tie inbound calls to an AdWords campaign. If the user goes to the company site instead and ends up making a call […]

Nielsen has entered into an open marriage with three viewability providers. The company will now support Integral Ad Science, Moat and DoubleVerify within its digital audience measurement solution, Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings. Although it had a preexisting relationship with Integral Ad Science since 2012, clients have requested support for alternative providers that fit their preferences. […]

Political ad dollars, even more so than brand budgets, have conglomerated around a handful of major players. Of the more than $1 billion analysts predict candidates and super PACs will spend online this election, “half will go to Facebook and Google, Pandora – those are the big ones – and Twitter,” said Jordan Lieberman, politics […]

App users that don’t convert or engage in some way are not healthy for a developer’s bottom line. On Monday, Facebook rolled out a product to help publishers attract users that are most likely to keep using an app after they download it. Facebook also expanded dynamic product ads and its full-screen mobile ad unit, […]

Google’s programmatic video revenues are growing fast, thanks in part to its decision to turn on exchange-based monetization of YouTube’s TrueView ad formats. Just how fast they’re growing can be seen in figures obtained by AdExchanger as well as in data released by Google directly. Google claims programmatic buying on YouTube via its demand-side platform, […]

Google debuted a number of shopping and travel ad products on Tuesday, including dynamic price alerts for flights based on Google search queries. But first, YouTube. When Google rolled out TrueView for shopping last spring on YouTube, it claimed the units generated three times the revenue of standard TrueView video ads – and the volume […]

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has no trouble getting people interested in March Madness, when the fans are rabid. It’s the rest of the year that poses a challenge. “The hardest thing is that we have a brand everyone wants to be a part of – but only at the end,” said Chris Dion, the […]

When brands think about video advertising, sequential retargeting isn’t always top of mind. But multinational rental-car company Sixt, in its bid to capture more share in the US market (it has 50 stations across the US, after opening its first in Florida in 2011), is test-driving Facebook video coupled with expanded Custom Audiences to improve […]

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, […]

IHeartMedia relies heavily on listeners to inform its online marketing efforts. When advertising its stations, the digital audio giant has found its biggest influencers aren’t celebs with millions of followers, but music fans who write quality social media posts, said Chris Williams, iHeartMedia’s chief product officer. “If you can find the five or six Justin Bieber […]

If the content is good, the distribution – paid, earned or otherwise – nearly takes care of itself, said Anthony Ingham, global brand leader at W Hotels & Resorts. “We’ve steered away from peppering tactical ads in mass numbers across multiple channels,” Ingham said. “We start with the premise of trying to create the best content, and then […]

App publisher Betternet is eschewing banners in favor of native because the results are better and the experience is less annoying for the user – but getting enough quality demand can be a challenge. “This year I observed that the fill rate for most of the ad networks we work with is sometimes even less […]

Microsoft, which spent $26 billion on LinkedIn, isn’t the only company betting big on B2B data. Business database Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) also placed wagers over the past year by striking 16 strategic deals with publishers, agency trading desks and vendors like LiveRamp, Xaxis and Adobe. Despite being known for its commercial credit listings and […]

LinkedIn is launching more programmatic buying access to its historically walled arsenal of B2B inventory, just two weeks after Microsoft acquired it. Tuesday’s launch of programmatic display opens RTB access to all major demand side platforms and agency trading desks. Advertisers can either buy LinkedIn display ad inventory via the open exchange or through LinkedIn Private Auctions. The […]

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 […]

Agency buyers believe Snapchat’s partner program, which allows third parties to buy inventory, will help the messaging service migrate from a bespoke buy to a more central part of a media plan. “If you look at the scale and daily time spent, especially among millennials, you have to consider Snapchat a core reach vehicle,” said […]

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 […]

With TV upfront negotiations underway, digital tactics are wielding more influence as networks court buyers with cross-platform guarantees and enhanced data products. “You can still invest client dollars in proven media, but upfronts are now about online video partnerships you can make long-term investments in,” said Maureen Bosetti, the chief investment officer for Interpublic Group’s […]

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 […]

Updated with details from the Microsoft/LinkedIn investor call. Microsoft’s surprise $26.2 billion deal to acquire LinkedIn, among the largest digital technology acquisitions ever if it goes through, has the potential to transform the competitive dynamics in the CRM software industry. It also holds the promise of rebirth for Microsoft’s moribund, outsourced digital advertising business, via […]

Merkle is introducing Publisher Addressable Marketplaces, which matches its advertisers’ CRM data with publishers’ subscriber data in order to target real people through partners like Pandora, Trusted Media Brands, Viant and LiveIntent. Publisher Addressable Marketplaces’ data onboarding and targeting capabilities are similar to Facebook’s hugely successful CRM matching program Custom Audiences, and its introduction comes […]

Snapchat added Moat and DoubleClick to its measurement arsenal Thursday. Moat will enable measurement based on viewability, audibility and human audiences. The Google DoubleClick ad server joins nine other measurement partners, including Sizmek and Innovid, to help ensure an ad has been served and to add reach and frequency data. With these third-party measurement tools […]

Kim Kardashian and pop star Taylor Swift are the only people with more social followers than Ellen DeGeneres. The popular talk show host’s brand transcends demographics and geographies, which has spurred a deeper shift into digital despite Ellen’s TV ratings strength. In May, Ellen Digital Ventures and Warner Bros. Television launched the Ellen Digital Network […]