With the revamp of its partner program last week, Facebook is for the first time allowing agencies to pursue certification – under a specialization called Media Buying. (Don’t call it a badge.) The change is a tacit acknowledgement that Facebook’s key relationships in the ad ecosystem include not only the builders of tools for reaching […]
“Marketer’s Note” is a regular column informing marketers about the rapidly evolving, digital marketing technology ecosystem. This week it is written by Lizzie Komar, Associate Analyst, AdExchanger Research. Good news traveled fast last week when Facebook decreed its position on viewability [AdExchanger story]: The company plans to sell only in-view impressions, which it can do thanks to […]
There’s an updated standard in town: OpenRTB 2.3. The latest version incorporates guidelines for native advertising creative within a real-time bidding environment, accounting for metadata like headline, content URL, description text and images. The standard should mean more native advertising will flow through more exchanges with fewer hiccups, right? Well, not exactly. AdExchanger asked industry […]
Rocket Fuel appears to be bracing for a chilly wind, at least when it comes to the insertion order-based media sales business that has been the core of its revenue engine for the past several years. The programmatic platform company reported Q4 revenues of $139.5 million, a 63% lift compared to Q4 2013. That’s a […]
Facebook has decertified more than half the seat holders on its Facebook Exchange (FBX) as part of a revamp of its marketing partner program, unveiled Tuesday. Among the partners no longer badge-certified to buy on FBX are some very big ad platform players, including Adobe, Advertising.com (AOL), Rocket Fuel, IgnitionOne and Dotomi/Conversant (Epsilon). In total, […]
When Yahoo eyes the future, it sees the words “premium mobile media company” appended to its name in lights. That’s been the hope since Marissa Mayer became CEO in 2012. Recent acquisitions of video DSP BrightRoll and app analytics company Flurry speak to Yahoo’s plans and Mayer herself articulated those plans at the Goldman Sachs tech conference in […]
Whether you’re Coca-Cola or the NFL, building experiences across 15 device and app environments is a tall order. It’s why video publisher SnagFilms launched spin-off company ViewLift on Thursday, aiming to help media networks as well as brands target video app audiences and boost discoverability across mobile devices, smart TVs and set-top boxes. ViewLift has […]
One hundred percent desktop ad viewability sounds like the simplest thing and an easy standard to meet. But advertisers still are in want, publishers wish they could provide it and this demand has generated frothy press releases from the ad tech community with “100% viewable” bolded in the header. The problem is that “100% viewable” […]
A global consumer packaged-goods giant and specialty automotive company have very different digital aspirations. For toothpaste brand Colgate-Palmolive Co., its target demographic is everyone. “How many teeth exist in the world?” said Jack Haber, VP of global advertising and digital for Colgate-Palmolive Co., during Simulmedia’s Salon series panel event Thursday with MediaLink. “For some brands, […]
Mobile is the mother of all invention at BabyCenter, an online content hub for pregnancy and parenting-related content. Founded in 1997, BabyCenter has always maintained a digital-first mindset – but the changing consumption habits of its more than 40 million global monthly users, mainly current and expectant mothers, means that mobile is fertile ground for […]
Advertisers’ demand for viewability is frustrating for publishers, who must contend with new contracts, new billing structures and new ways to value inventory, all while ensuring meeting viewability standards doesn’t erode ad revenue. During a town hall at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in Phoenix, about half the publishers in the packed room said they had […]
WPP Group’s data management investment division Kantar entered Thursday into a strategic deal globally with online measurement mainstay comScore, which could give it up to 20% equity stake in the company — if all shakes out as planned. Read the full release. Through the deal, comScore will issue about 5% of its shares in exchange for […]
AOL’s programmatic revenue grew 250% in the fourth quarter, and now accounts for 39% of AOL’s non-search revenue. In Q4 the company “integrated the first set of private marketplaces,” Armstrong said, for a total of 15 private marketplaces. AOL’s shift to programmatic led to a recent restructuring of its sales force, another area of heightened attention from investors. AOL recently […]
Programmatic activities contributed $20 million in incremental revenue to Omnicom Group’s top line in Q4 2014, suggesting the machine-driven media buying trend continues to drive growth in agency land. For full-year 2014, the holding company’s programmatic revenues were around $140 million, CFO Philip Angelastro told investors during the company’s earnings call. That’s about 1% of […]
Pitney Bowes, a 90-year-old company commonly thought of as a manufacturer of postage meters, is quietly sitting on an $838 million digital commerce business. Like its competitors, Pitney Bowes’ marketing services is the sum of many acquired parts. Its many acquisitions include: MapInfo, a mapping and location intelligence platform acquired in 2007; Portrait Software, customer […]
Two years ago, Dairy Queen was spending about $200,000 a year on research. Today, the brand spends upwards of $1 million to mine consumer insights. “Previously, a lot was done based on emotion,” said Barry Westrum, EVP of marketing at American Dairy Queen Corp. “Now, decisions are backed with data.” Historically, Dairy Queen is a […]
You know the Twitter earnings narrative by now. Enthusiasm around strong revenue from advertising products is dampened by concerns over the growth rate of monthly active users (MAUs). Such was the case with the company’s Q4 Thursday, in which Twitter’s ad revenue doubled from the previous year to $432 million, beating Wall Street estimates. Mobile […]
For Acxiom’s 2015 Q3 earnings, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Or, in the words of CEO Scott Howe, “Spectacular growth in AOS and LiveRamp has been mirrored by declines in our core business.” Read the press release. Howe, speaking during the company’s earnings call Wednesday, was referring to the data connectivity […]
When you put five magazine magnates in a room and ask them about the future of print, things get a little tense. “Fear is not a strategy,” said Condé Nast President Robert Sauerberg, asked if he was afraid of print going away. “I’m not afraid of anything. I have the greatest brand in the world.” […]
At Industry Preview 2015, a group of analytics pros discussed what attribution looks like in 2015 in this panel led by Gartner’s Martin Kihn. Participants included: Anush Prabhu, Chief Channel Planning & Investment Officer, Deutsch NY Jon Vein Co-founder & CEO, MarketShare Michael Wexler, Director, Digital Insights and Marketing Effectiveness, Citi Sunny Youn, Director, Digital Media Analytics, Epsilon Check […]
Twitter is finally giving its promoted tweets wings to fly beyond Twitter’s own walls. In a blog post Tuesday, Ameet Ranadive, Twitter’s senior director of product, said that advertisers will be able to syndicate promoted tweet campaigns running on Twitter to non-Twitter properties using the same creative and audience targeting parameters. Twitter didn’t get specific on how the […]
“Marketer’s Note” is a regular column informing marketers about the rapidly evolving, digital marketing technology ecosystem. This week it is written by Melissa Parrish, Executive Director, AdExchanger Research. Like pretty much every other resident of my New Jersey town, I found myself in a home improvement store last Monday hoping to buy a couple of extra shovels […]
Verizon’s zombie cookie is now killable. In a development initially reported by The New York Times, the telco will allow its users to opt out from what the privacy community and a censorious media referred to as a “zombie cookie.” Previously, there was no way to opt out of Verizon’s persistent tracking mechanism. Users could opt out of having […]
If you happen to have $4.5 million burning a hole in your pocket, congratulations! You can afford a 30-second Super Bowl TV spot. Of course, for most big game advertisers it’s not enough to have 30 seconds of spectacular creative – you also have to support it via online and social channels. “Social is huge […]
“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Peter Spande, chief revenue officer at Business Insider. Two years ago, Tim Armstrong co-opted the expression “barbell strategy” to describe AOL’s approach to balancing programmatic with direct sales. On one side of the barbell […]
If you’re looking for a deep dive into Google’s advertising business, you’re not getting it in an earnings call. Google reported FY 2014 revenue of $66 billion, up 19% YoY. Its Q4 revenue was $18.1 billion, all inclusive of traffic acquisition costs (TAC), which were $3.6 billion in Q4 (22% of ad revenue). Read the […]
Ad tech observers tend to assume it’s early innings in the “programmatic-direct” game, but that may not be the case. Newly reported revenues from one early startup suggest the game hasn’t started yet. iSocket, a programmatic-direct platform company acquired by Rubicon Project in November, posted full-year revenues of just $207,000 in 2013, according to a filing with the […]
Home furnishings company IKEA looks for consumers undergoing life changes – like moving, having a new baby or becoming empty nesters – and tries to get them to set foot into its retail outlets, where most purchases occur. Even its website, which has ecommerce features, is generally used as a tool for customers to plan […]
During Yahoo’s earnings call Tuesday, CEO Marissa Mayer went into some detail about Yahoo’s plans to leverage Flurry’s developer connections to launch a mobile ad network. Mayer said mobile app developers who have downloaded Flurry’s free analytics will be able to turn on monetization with Yahoo Gemini, its native solution, as well as BrightRoll video ads. More than 600,000 apps […]
Despite the amount of attention Facebook Exchange generated when it was released way back in 2012, today it’s mostly focused on retargeting desktop users. Consequently, some ad industry insiders are skeptical of its future. When asked directly about FBX’s future at AdExchanger’s Industry Preview conference, David Fischer, Facebook’s VP of business and marketing partnerships, said […]
