Strategy

Uber ended 2024 with its strongest quarter ever, posting 20% year-over-year revenue growth of $12 billion in Q4 – due in no small part to Uber Advertising.

With signal loss on the rise, many advertisers are giving first-party data more of a shot. Not scotch whisky brand Dewar’s, though.

Instacart is expanding its ad offerings with Caper Carts, the Instacart-owned shopping carts that scan items for self-checkout. But the rollout will be gradual while Instacart figures out how the ads are actually impacting shopper behavior.

We asked the experts: Which channels are you leaning into — and where are you pulling back – during Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday season?

Brands interested in targeting Hispanic and Latinx audiences run into challenges, from insufficient data that doesn’t accurately represent different segments to cookie-cutter creative that erases the complexity of a demographic with roots in more than 20 countries.

CTV contributed $52.5 million to Magnite’s Q3 earnings, actually declining 6% from $56 million at the same time last year. CTV comprised 39% of overall revenue this quarter, compared to 41% for mobile ads and 20% for desktop ads.

Magnite’s still enamored of CTV. CTV’s contribution to Magnite’s revenue was up 8% YOY, from $52 million to $56 million.

PubMatic reported meager YOY revenue growth in Q2, up just a smidge to $63.3 million from $63 million in Q2 of last year.

Brand and performance marketers don’t always speak the same language. But for language-learning app Duolingo, they are complementary.

On the heels of the launch of its latest supply-path optimization product, PubMatic posted $55.4 million in Q1 revenue, growing 2% YOY.

The slow dismantling of cookie-based tech had its fingerprints all over our coverage in 2022 (if you’ll excuse the mixed metaphor). Data privacy supplied the drumbeat, from stories about clean rooms to new privacy-forward ad tech products to the rise of retail media (a data safe haven).

In 1973, Timberland – then called Abington Shoe Company – debuted its waterproof yellow boots. In 2023, the outdoor apparel and accessories company will observe the boot’s 50th anniversary. And Ezra Martin, Timberland’s newly minted vice president of marketing, Americas, will be rolling out a new marketing strategy for the occasion. Martin shares his insights on personalized customer experiences, localized campaigns and more.

If you’re a marketer who wants to hear a comforting bedtime story about how brand marketing will endure during the impending recession, you’re not going to get it from Sir Martin Sorrell. The conventional thinking goes that if companies maintain their investment in brand marketing to stay top-of-mind, even when the going gets tough, they’ll be […]

Marketers spent the past decade and a half obsessing over how to reach millennials (many of whom are in their late thirties by this point, god help us). Now, brands are turning their attention to Generation Z … and some are a little flummoxed about how to relate.

When messaging app developer Pinger started experimenting with CTV advertising last year, it learned a lot – about what not to do. “Mistake number one is that we really thought a CTV agency could guide us through the process … and I would encourage you not to assume that,” says Brook Lenox, Pinger’s senior marketing manager.

Supply-path optimization (SPO) is one of three key growth strategies for PubMatic this year, Rajeev Goel, PubMatic’s CEO and co-founder, told investors during the company’s Q4 earnings call on Monday. Omnichannel and audience addressability are the other two top priorities.

Media leans white, from the content studios of Hollywood to the ad agencies of Madison Avenue. Where does the lack of diversity come from? A lot of it has to do with insufficient industry exposure to Black college students and graduates, said Steven Golus, a digital advertising trainer and consultant. Golus founded The Boyd Initiative […]

The National Basketball Association is scoring higher tune-in for live games by optimizing its media planning using attention, including on connected TV. The league has been on the hunt for a more effective real-time optimization metric tied to larger business goals, like brand lift and tune-in, said Larisa Johnson, VP of paid and CRM media […]

Programmatic is a journey – and most advertisers need a copilot. But the advice they get is often too narrowly focused on tactics, like programmatic ad buying and supply-path optimization (SPO), rather than on auction dynamics across all biddable media, said Rob Norman, former chief digital officer at GroupM and a strategic advisor to Up & […]

There’s a talent crunch bearing down on the digital advertising ecosystem. Agencies, brands and publishers are struggling to manage an ongoing labor shortage that’s been exacerbated by the pandemic, a demand for more flexible working environments and elevated expectations for diversity, equity and inclusion practices. “Everyone’s heard of ‘The Great Resignation,’ and we’re really seeing […]

Disney laid out an aggressive plan to unify all of its screens, automate more than half of its business and make the majority of its inventory – both linear and digital – addressable within five years. As part of that plan, it created a programmatic exchange, DRAX, which will allow programmatic buyers to compete for […]

Digital marketing firm Jellyfish has acquired five companies specializing in ecommerce, creative tech, content creation, gamification and more as part of an aggressive global expansion. The company has scooped up Seelk, a French software and consultancy for Amazon Marketplace; Splash, an England-based creative technology service with global localization; UK-based Quill, which offers performance content for […]

Ad software provider Viant Technology Inc. filed an S-1 on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of an initial public offering as the company positions itself for future growth. The company anticipates a boom in the growing programmatic advertising market, particularly across linear TV, CTV and mobile. Viant, which was founded in […]

Ever since MeritDirect partnered with private equity firm Mountaingate Capital in 2019, it’s aggressively expanded its data and service offerings in the B2B space. In November, the Rye Brooke, NY-based company purchased 180byTwo – terms were undisclosed – marking its second acquisition deal this year; it bought Compass Marketing Solutions in January. “Putting these companies […]

The Trade Desk is on a tear, striking three partnerships in quick succession over the course of a week to support the Unified ID 2.0 initiative. First was LiveRamp, then Criteo, followed by Nielsen. Each partnership tackles a different piece of the development process for UID 2.0, which aims to use encrypted and hashed email […]

A firm handshake is an integral part of the B2B sales and marketing cycle … which is kind of tricky in a world where even elbow bumps aren’t recommended. And so with in-person meetings and events off the table, B2B marketers are getting creative with their efforts and turning to digital at an accelerated pace. […]

After months of sheltering at home – and retail sales in the toilet – Americans are ready to shop. Retail sales in the United States were up nearly 18% in May after record lows in March and April, according to the US Census Bureau’s most recent monthly retail trade report, released on Tuesday. And hey, it’s encouraging […]

Ad tech founders know how to spot a trend when they see one, but there are always the ideas that got away, or the startup inspiration that sparks from a current event or a chance encounter. Today, some founding industry vets have moved on and are applying their expertise chops to brand-new industries. Post-AppNexus, Brian […]

Paula Hansen, CRO of SAP Customer Experience (formerly SAP Hybris), is juggling what’s become a typical work-from-home situation: a responsible job, two kids under 13 homeschooling on their iPads and a dog running around in the background. The transition hasn’t been too tricky, though, she said. SAP was a big supporter of remote work even […]

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 […]