For the big six holding companies, 2016 was a year of acquisitions, restructures, reviews and leadership shakeups, centering expertise around data and digital. But they also engaged in strategies at odds with best practices and client interests. Faced with shrinking margins and rising technology costs, holding companies found new ways to eke revenue – methods […]
Maureen Bosetti, the chief investment officer for IPG Mediabrands’ Initiative, will discuss dynamics for this year’s upfronts alongside other TV power players at Industry Preview on Jan. 18 in New York City. The 2016 TV upfronts ended with networks posting double-digit CPM increases, but will that momentum carry into 2017? Two key factors could help buyers wield […]
Tolman Geffs of global investment bank Jordan, Edmiston Group, along with Bill Wise, the CEO of Mediaocean, will speak about the “private equity path” at Industry Preview on Jan. 19 in New York City. What really happens during – and after – a private equity (PE) investment? While the experiences of different companies vary, one thing […]
For YouTube, the recent election cycle was the best of times and the worst of times. Multiple campaign sources think the Google-owned video network remained the single largest platform for political video dollars (aside from TV networks), despite Facebook’s meteoric rise. “YouTube is the second most trafficked site in the US, so it played a […]
Amazon’s ad business is gaining steam. In 2016, the company ramped up its DSP, Amazon Ad Platform, and began to market it more aggressively to holding companies and independent agencies. Then it made a big move this month with the launch of server-side bidding for publishers, a major evolution of its header bidding product that reduces […]
Meet Methbot, the Russian hacking operation that’s costing advertisers between $3 million and $5 million a day. At the very least, that’s a little over $1 billion a year – a hefty chunk of the ad industry’s estimated $7.2 billion annual ad fraud problem. White Ops first uncovered the browser-based botnet in September 2015, when it […]
Over-the-top (OTT) television is at an inflection point. While it’s a promising way for media owners to capitalize on changing consumer consumption habits – the number of connected TV users totaled 181.8 million viewers in 2016, a 20% year-over-year increase, according to eMarketer – with reward comes risk. OTT’s lucrative CPMs could also attract bad […]
As expected, Tom Wheeler will leave his post as FCC chairman on inauguration day and his legacy looks shaky. Likely on the chopping block in a Republican-majority FCC are the commission’s recently ratified ISP privacy rules and a reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers, seen by many as an encroachment on the Federal Trade […]
Agencies are developing skills and business models around advanced TV buying, just as they once did for programmatic buying. GroupM has a dedicated department in Modi Media. IPG Mediabrands’ Cadreon, Dentsu Aegis’ Amplifi, Omnicom and Publicis Groupe also have added expertise. Even independent agencies like Horizon Media are building out advanced TV centers. “Advanced TV” […]
Another independent attribution solution is off the market. SAP said Wednesday that it had purchased Abakus, a move that puts it further into the paid media arena. Terms were not disclosed. Abakus’ attribution system is unique since it applies game theory to forecast scenarios that influence media buying and optimization. It also uses split-funnel attribution […]
Neustar has been acquired by a group of investors led by private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for $33.50 per share in a deal valued at $2.9 billion, including debt, the company revealed Wednesday. [Here’s the release.] This transaction encompasses all assets of Neustar, which had been edging toward a split into two publicly traded companies: […]
Adobe made a big upgrade to its multidevice ad-delivery system Adobe Primetime on Wednesday. The platform, TV Media Management, improves the way Primetime users package and price TV audiences and content. “TV Media Management allows you to see where there may be contention for impressions if certain TV deals close and the best place to […]
Welcome to episode No. 7 of AdExchanger Talks, a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here. Are ad tech fees still shrinking? “Without a doubt,” Erica Schmidt says in the latest episode of AdExchanger Talks. A 15-year veteran of search and digital advertising, Schmidt is the North American managing director at Cadreon, Interpublic Group’s programmatic arm. […]
As the clock ticks down to President-elect Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, the future of regulatory agencies like the Federal Communications Commission is uncertain. But one thing is clear: Enforcement will continue. “The overwhelming majority of the work we do is bipartisan,” Travis LeBlanc, the FCC’s enforcement bureau chief, said last week at an International Association […]
A few weeks ago, WPP initiated [m]Platform, a unit designed to consolidate data and tech expertise throughout the GroupM media agency families. Most of [m]Platforms’ executive leadership came from Xaxis. But where does that leave Xaxis? With global CEO Brian Gleason leaving to oversee [m]Platform, EMEA CEO Nicolas Bidon became Xaxis’ top dog – as […]
The Federal Trade Commission is watching smart TVs. An FTC workshop on Wednesday in Washington, DC, laid out consumer privacy concerns around smart-TV tracking and sought to clarify how the ad industry is using the data that’s being collected. “Consumers expect some level of data collection when they use their computer,” said Jessica Rich, director […]
Pandora will launch in-stream programmatic audio ads later next year, although no timeline has been specified. “We’re really excited about where programmatic goes in 2017,” Pandora Chief Revenue Officer John Trimble told AdExchanger on Tuesday at a company-hosted event in New York City. “We’ve built a really strong business on the mobile side. We’re looking […]
Video ad platform Innovid will integrate with marketing clouds from IBM, Adobe and Oracle, the companies said Tuesday, allowing video and TV planners to use CRM data to inform video ads served by Innovid. Conversely, those marketing cloud customers can apply intent data from their mobile, desktop and OTT video campaigns to their broader marketing […]
AppNexus has filed confidentially for its IPO, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. AdExchanger reported in June that its IPO filing was imminent. The company is seeking a valuation in the $1.5 billion to $2 billion range, according to the Journal, which would put it in line with its 2015 round of […]
Mobile apps need revenue but have limited screen space on ads. Enter Button, which lets consumers click on an icon to move easily from app to app. It collects fractional fees from its partners, like a toll road connecting different apps. “We continue to see these transactional models embraced in mobile compared to traditional advertising […]
WPP-owned GroupM said Tuesday it will centralize its tech and data expertise worldwide into a unit called [m]Platform. The division will be helmed by Xaxis CEO Brian Gleason with key executives drawn from Xaxis and across GroupM. “The collective mission of [m]Platform revolves around technology, data and expertise,” Gleason told AdExchanger. “The mission is how […]
Adobe might have won TubeMogul’s hand in marriage, but there were several other strategic acquirers involved in the courtship. According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing dated Nov. 18, TubeMogul’s sales process really began last November. Up until the time Adobe agreed to acquire the DSP in mid-November, 16 entities – including […]
Agencies often select a few “preferred partners” instead of dealing with numerous demand-side platforms (DSPs). While agencies, barring a client preference, should choose a DSP that can access the best inventory at the best rates for a given campaign, many buying platforms offer volume-based discounts. And because agencies feel the squeeze on margins, they might […]
Ad tech companies flocked to Washington, DC, during the recent election cycle in pursuit of political ad budgets, but many were disappointed. Rocket Fuel was the most aggressive newcomer, adding approximately 15 people to its DC office for political business development beginning last summer. But the company dismissed most of those hires in the week […]
Oracle is buying domain services provider Dyn. While Oracle didn’t reveal the sale price in its release, former Forbes columnist Dan Primack pegged it at just north of $600 million. Dyn made waves in recent months after it was hit by a massive DDOS attack, which temporarily shut down major websites including Spotify and Twitter […]
Has performance-based pay finally arrived for agencies? Traditionally, marketing services firms were paid on a set scope of billable hours worked by each employee on an account. But a growing number of advertisers are pushing for more tangible, ROI-based remuneration. The biggest recent example is McDonald’s. The quick-serve advertiser’s RFP process specified that agency compensation […]
Since launching “programmatic guaranteed” at the 2015 DoubleClick Leadership summit, Google says demand for programmatic execution of direct deals has skyrocketed. In the last 10 months alone it has quadrupled the number of video impressions served on a programmatic guaranteed basis. More recently, it opened this mode of buying to a wider set of customers, […]
When Atlas served ads, the industry shrugged. On Friday, Facebook made the inevitable official by retiring the ad-serving component of Atlas, thereby making it primarily a people-based measurement pixel. The ad-serving capability will be phased out over the next couple of months so as not to be disruptive to users. Facebook’s ad stack looks quite […]
Publicis Groupe has merged digital agencies SapientNitro and Razorfish, it announced Thursday. The combined agency, SapientRazorfish, will sit under the Publicis.Sapient umbrella, which houses the holding company’s digital and technology assets. SapientNitro CEO Alan Wexler will become CEO of SapientRazorfish and co-CEO of Publicis.Sapient as current CEO Alan Herrick moves to a chairman role. Chip […]
LiveRamp will drop $140 million to finance its people-based marketing dreams. On Thursday, the Acxiom-owned onboarding company announced its intention to acquire two companies: Arbor, a marketplace for people-based data, and Circulate, which helps app developers monetize their first-party data in a privacy-friendly way. LiveRamp declined to say how much it paid for each company. […]
