Still thinking of AOL as a media company? Tim Armstrong wants to change your mind. On the company’s Q1 earnings call Wednesday, its CEO repeatedly invoked “platforms,” “mechanization” and, of course, “programmatic” as the underpinnings of the business. AOL’s Tuesday acquisition of multitouch attribution vendor Convertro also hammered this message home. Armstrong’s platform ardor almost […]
Following Google and AOL’s acquisitions of multitouch attribution vendors Adometry and Convertro Tuesday, several questions arose. The first, and perhaps easiest to answer: What was the driving force for the purchasers and how will the technologies plug into their existing platforms? “The macro rationale for both of the acquisitions seems to be the growing need […]
“Mechanization,” “piping,” and “programmatic” are the keywords at AOL these days as the company puts the pedal down on its ad tech plans. One day after scooping up multitouch attribution vendor Convertro for $101 million, AOL revealed revenue from the company’s ad platform business grew 55% during the first quarter 2014 to $186 million, despite a 3% decline in […]
Alibaba’s big IPO filing on Tuesday shows the company is one of the world’s largest ecommerce companies – maybe the biggest. But there’s a subtler message, too: Thanks to its transactional data and exchange platform, the Chinese company is also among the giants of ad technology. “With rich consumer data generated from our China retail marketplaces, we utilize our proprietary algorithms to evaluate the […]
Digital marketing attribution is in vogue. AOL will acquire attribution vendor Convertro for approximately $101 million, the company announced Tuesday afternoon. This comes on the heels of Google’s move earlier in the day to snap up competing attribution pure play vendor Adometry for an undisclosed sum. Customers will have access to Convertro in a couple […]
Google will scoop up Adometry, a marketing attribution firm whose product is designed to assign value to incremental media impressions. Some industry watchers, like research firm Forrester, consider Adometry’s solution superior to Google’s home-grown technology. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Austin, Texas-based Adometry and its approximately 130 employees will eventually be incorporated into the Google Analytics […]
“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 round out research interviews for my forthcoming State of Programmatic Media report, I had a really interesting conversation with a senior-level operations person at a major […]
TubeMogul, whose IPO is expected soon, saw revenue from direct users of its demand-side platform (DSP) ramp up dramatically in the first quarter of the year. According to an updated S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, total revenue for Q1 2014 grew to $22 million, 130% more than it made the first three months […]
Google is walking the walk when it comes to promoting YouTube personalities. After hearing from agencies that it was not acting swiftly enough to tout its own programming, the video platform embarked this month on a “massive” TV, print and out-of-home campaign starring several of its high-profile personalities (YouTube calls them creators) that target Millennial […]
Facebook unveiled its mobile ad network at its f8 Developer Conference on Wednesday, noting the Facebook Audience Network will include native advertising formats for developers that “want to invest a little more time.” The ad network buy will be available to all advertisers via a “single click” within the Facebook Advertising interface as well as through its Advertising […]
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong addressed a crowd of close to 2,000 media buyers at its NewFront Tuesday night with an exuberant, “tonight is about connecting content with distribution.” It’s clear, with AOL, that much of that connection will happen through video. Ran Harnevo, president of AOL Video, talked up digital video and its intent to […]
Note: Story updated to point out Forrester analyst Susan Bidel, who authored the report, is a former PubMatic employee. Bidel tells AdExchanger she does not hold equity in the company. Forrester Research‘s Wave reports are harrowing events for tech startups, which find themselves labeled Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders or – heaven forbid – Risky Bets. And those labels often stick. […]
Rubicon Project went public earlier this month, becoming the fifth ad tech company – give or take – to do so since the IPO door was flung open around this time last year. Since then its stock has had a bumpy ride, but no more so than some others in its class. CEO Frank Addante […]
“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. Digital marketers are sitting on a gold mine – their own organization’s first party data– and they are finally starting to tap into it. Chances are, millions of […]
Content discovery company Outbrain has allegedly flirted with an IPO for well over a year now, with the most recent report claiming a target of around $100 million. CEO Yaron Galai did not comment on a potential IPO, which is expected to materialize in the first half of the year. Instead, he focused his attention […]
With the Omnicom-Publicis merger now in some doubt, WPP Group retains a glimmer of hope that it could remain the world’s largest agency holding company past the third quarter. In its Q1 earnings report Friday, WPP listed media investment – represented by its GroupM network and the Xaxis ad tech unit – as among its […]
There are two general methods for targeting consumers as they flit across desktops and devices: match various online log-ins and/or make educated guesses about an identity based on aggregated device characteristics. Many data-focused ad tech companies can do the former; fewer can do the latter as well. MediaMath, through its acquisition Thursday of French cross-device […]
Facebook reported first-quarter earnings Wednesday, exceeding analyst estimates with ad revenue growth of 82% to $2.3 billion. In contrast, Google’s Q1 revenues were seven times larger at $15.4 billion, but its growth was only 19%. Read the earnings release. Mobile was the star of the show, from both an audience and revenue standpoint. The number […]
J.D. Power will buy Orlando-based Korrelate, an online-to-offline data company that nearly went out of business in February. The solution will supplement J.D. Power’s reporting solutions for auto marketers seeking to better understand the car shopper’s path to purchase. The companies have complementary, largely non-overlapping solutions. Korrelate was founded as Ad Summos four years ago […]
Marketing M&A deal activity increased 22% year over year, marking one of the highest volume quarters on record, according to new data from mid-market investment bank Berkery Noyes. On a quarterly basis, media and marketing transaction volume increased by 3% from 423 to 434 deals; average deal size also climbed, increasing from $25.1 billion to […]
In recent months, Evidon has pushed to get more people to use Ghostery. As of Monday, everybody who uses Evidon will by default be using Ghostery, because the entire company is taking the name of its popular browser app. More specifically, Evidon will become Ghostery Enterprise. “We’re refocusing on the concept of transparency for everyone,” […]
Krux’s co-founders, CEO Tom Chavez and CTO Vivek Vaidya, discuss what the company offers in terms of linking consumers across devices. This is the eighth in AdExchanger’s series on the cross-device question, in which we examine what each DMP can provide in terms of connecting the identities or profiles of consumers across the digital, mobile […]
Twitter, as rumored, is developing an ad product specifically designed for app installs. On Thursday, Twitter acknowledged the existence of the mobile app promotion suite, the first product that connects Twitter with the mobile ad exchange it inherited when it acquired MoPub last September. Advertisers shouldn’t try to jump on board quite yet, however: The […]
Salesforce.com has partnered with offline audience-targeting specialist Datalogix. Salesforce.com’s clients now have access to what Datalogix claims is an offline audience data set that represents $1 trillion in spend. Eric Kirby, Datalogix’s chief product officer, told AdExchanger the data provider’s offline reach enables Salesforce.com’s CRM clients to supplement their CRM databases with new prospects “by […]
Google posted a solid quarter, as total revenues for Q1 2014 jumped to $15.42 billion, a 19% increase compared to this time last year. During its earnings call, Google emphasized its ambitions to extend its value as a brand builder and to close the price gap between mobile and desktop display advertising. Google also stated […]
Although theme-park operator Six Flags says TV still accounts for half of its media mix, smartphone adoption has led the company to define that mix more expansively, meaning “the sight, sound and motion” of digital video. To account for cross-screen consumer habits, the advertiser and its agency, BPN, tapped Tremor Video’s “all-screen” campaign optimization tool, […]
Apple has been slow to improve its offerings around mobile app installs, but it’s showing signs of life. Last week, the company issued its first clear signal that its Identifier for Advertising (IDFA) can be used as an attribution tool. But what about its own mobile ad product, a.k.a. iAd? The company has been more […]
Lotame’s VP of Product Management Kalyan Lanka discusses what the company offers in terms of linking consumers across devices. This is the seventh in AdExchanger’s series on the cross-device question, in which we examine what each data management platform (DMP) can provide in terms of connecting the identities or profiles of consumers across the digital, […]
“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. The news last week that the New York Times is opening restrictions on programmatic access to its inventory made a big splash – understandably, given the Times’ fits […]
While native advertising is this year’s digital buzzword, it’s not clear how one can measure its effectiveness. AdExchanger ran this question past a number of agencies: “How do you measure native advertising?” Click below or scroll down to read their responses Cary Tilds, chief innovation officer, GroupM Lisa Penelton, VP of marketing science, Critical Mass Andrea […]
