Pinterest filing its S-1 late last week makes it the last of the social media walled gardens to go public. The OG Facebook might still be in a class of its own, but Pinterest bears comparison to Snap, which filed its S-1 in 2017, and Twitter, which filed a lifetime ago in 2013. Notably, while […]
Buying beer online may be uncommon, or downright illegal in some states, but that isn’t stopping Anheuser-Busch from investing heavily in ecommerce. Except since beer is such a poor ecommerce converter, the world’s largest beer brewer is focusing on merchandise and apparel to generate online sales and shopper data. Branded merch is insignificant compared to […]
If a customer data platform (CDP) is a “fad,” then it’s a lasting one – because Salesforce is launching one. The details are a little sketchy right now. Salesforce isn’t officially announcing its CDP until June at its Connections conference in Chicago, there isn’t a tangible product yet and Salesforce demurred to say exactly when […]
As all online advertising exchanges – including Google – switch to a first-price auction format, marketers and publishers can trust they will be run fairly. The auction type ensures that the exchanges, acting as the auctioneers, have no incentive to cheat. “First-price auctions wipe out a lot of ways auctioneers would be tempted to bend […]
Internet-age companies like Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Netflix, not to mention Chinese technology giants, are spending more on advertising, catching verticals like CPG, automotive and financial companies that traditionally spend the most on ads. There are 10 new-age tech companies among Ad Age’s top 100 global advertisers. In 2017, the most recent full year data […]
Disney closed its $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox on Wednesday, more than a year after it signed a definitive agreement to acquire the entertainment company, which at the time was going to cost $52.4 billion. Disney’s initial agreement in December 2017 turned out to be less definitive than the term implies. Comcast stepped […]
Marketing, once largely a creative occupation, now requires understanding of data, tech and business. And many CMOs don’t have the necessary skills. “Clearly, marketing folk are not able to justify their existence,” said Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar. He added: “There is such a significant component of technology within marketing that without understanding how to leverage […]
AdExchanger Talks is a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here. The godfather of programmatic has retired from advertising. Or has he? In his first interview since selling AppNexus to AT&T for an estimated $1.6 billion (and stepping down), former CEO Brian O’Kelley comes on the AdExchanger podcast for a nice long talk. O’Kelley, known to friends […]
Looking for AddThis audience data in the EU? You won’t find it. Oracle Data Cloud has quietly pulled the plug on that business line. Although Oracle declined to say exactly when it began shutting down AddThis, the process started at some point in the last number of months. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, unconsented […]
Years ago, TV buyers didn’t bother with connected TV (CTV) because it offered little benefit for a lot of hassle. “Digital players were the earliest adopters. Because it was TV-like, everyone wanted to get into the video game.” said Gibbs Haljun, total US investment lead at Mindshare. But young viewers leaving linear TV changes that […]
Embattled holding company MDC Partners has a new owner. The Stagwell Group, a new-model agency holding company helmed by former Microsoft chief strategy officer and political advisor Mark Penn, said Friday it will invest $100 million to take a 30% minority stake in MDC Partners. Penn will become CEO and sit on MDC’s board. The […]
Bid shading is a technique buyers use in first-price auctions to avoid paying too much, and its importance has increased as every major exchange has switched over to a first-price auction. “Bid shading uses an aggregated view of the market to avoid overpaying,” said Matthew McIntyre, head of programmatic EMEA for Essence. “DSPs or exchanges […]
The 40-year-old company IRI, known for providing market share data to CPGs, has worked its way into marketer tech stacks, where its data is used for both targeting and attribution. The bulk of IRI’s revenue still comes from its longstanding market share analytics business, said President and CEO Andrew Appel. “But business is shifting dramatically […]
FreeWheel, the Comcast-owned video ad tech company, hosted its first television upfront on Wednesday and is mounting a campaign to expand its buy-side business. The marketer outreach centers on new attribution features and the launch of FreeWheel Media, which formalizes its buy-side accounts and ad-serving business into a cohesive offering, CRO Brian Wallach told AdExchanger. […]
Google’s move to create unified, first-price auctions for publishers using Google Ad Manager doesn’t just change the auction type. It impacts pricing, header bidding, publisher floors and how publishers see AdWords demand. Under the new rules, all exchanges will bid for an impression at the same time, and Google will lose the “last look” it […]
When Jeanna Corley started working in Radio Shack’s marketing operations in 2014, she knew it would be a short-term gig. But the CEO at the time, Joseph Magnacca, coached her into the role, promising there’d be no red tape and, as a marketer, she’d be able to do whatever she wanted. “So, take a risk, […]
The phrase “bidstream data” is popping up more and more, but few understand what the bidstream is and what data is available. In the world of real-time ad auctions, bidstream data comes from a publisher or app and includes basic facts about the ad unit, like publisher and URL, device type, IP address and ad […]
Google will move to first-price auctions for Google Ad Manager, its publisher exchange and ad server, by the end of 2019. At that time, it will also run a single, unified auction and remove last look, ceding a key advantage Google held in a second-price world. Google Ad Manager will be the last major exchange […]
Sizmek needs another investment round after facing setbacks and revenue shortfalls in 2018, and it won’t find new funding with Vector Capital, the firm that backed the acquisitions and integration of Sizmek and Rocket Fuel. Sizmek is working with Cerberus Capital Management, the PE firm that financed the debt on Vector’s deal for Rocket Fuel […]
Xandr just can’t deal right now, according to sources. When AT&T hired Brian Lesser to run its new targeted advertising business and acquired AppNexus as its anchor asset, the company signaled it might move quickly on more acquisitions. But the appetite for mergers has faded since then, and the company now plans to hold off […]
Zach Rodgers and Allison Schiff contributed. Comcast is looking to enhance its targeted advertising business by acquiring more ad tech assets, and is evaluating a group of companies that includes Cadent and dataxu, AdExchanger has learned. Comcast is motivated by a range of factors, including stiffer competition from AT&T and its Xandr ad unit as […]
Targeting on TV with the same precision as digital is becoming a reality. Hulu, Roku and other over-the-top (OTT) providers offer advanced audience and behavioral targeting capabilities like CRM onboarding, while companies such as Xandr and NCC Media are applying unique data sets to make the linear TV landscape more addressable. But just because marketers […]
The Trade Desk shocked many observers last May when shares jumped from around $50 to $90, and then again in August when the stock leapt to about $130. Now shares are trading at almost $200. But what’s behind The Trade Desk’s monumental growth in the past year? The company benefits from a smaller field of […]
Ad buyers need to be on the lookout for a new problem called “declaration fraud,” where buyers paying for full-screen mobile video ads instead get itty-bitty versions that take up less than 5% of the screen. The trick takes advantage of the same loophole sellers used to spoof domains prior to ads.txt. Here’s how it […]
Kraft-Heinz’s $15 billion write-down on Kraft and Oscar Meyer last week shows that underinvesting in marketing and brand hurts long-term growth. “It indicates investment in innovation and branding is essential,” said Martin Sorrell, CEO of S4 Capital. “In addition to being frugal, you have to invest in product or service innovation and marketing. You’re throwing […]
The programmatic video ad tech provider Telaria earned $55.2 million in 2018, up 26% from the year before, with total profits up 20% to $16.8 million, the company disclosed in its earnings report on Tuesday. Telaria shares were up more than a third during the day and have now recovered from the company’s earnings report […]
Facebook wants that upfront money. On Tuesday, Facebook said it will start letting TV buyers purchase inventory in specific programs hosted on Watch. This offering, called Showcase, resembles an upfront buy, as the inventory will be priced against Nielsen-validated demos and sold in advance at fixed prices. This content includes programs like “Sorry For Your […]
Marketers’ push for viewability, ads.txt and GDPR eventually led to the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of RockYou, an ad network and media holding company, on Feb. 13. The bankruptcy filing listed $14.9 million in liabilities to 738 different ad tech companies and publishers. Most notably, RockYou owed $2.1 million to Facebook, where it likely paid to […]
Once upon a time, direct-to-consumer startup Parachute sold high-quality sheets online, touting efficiencies by cutting out middlemen. Five years later, Parachute sells sheets, towels, mattresses, bathrobes and baby blankets to consumers online and in five stores on each coast. “Bedding was a vehicle to gain customer trust, but it was never the end goal,” said […]
If Xandr wants to live up to its promise and create a programmatic marketplace for the TV industry, it’s going to have to convince agencies to buy what it’s offering. The AT&T-owned company recently hired Jay Askinasi for the job, and he joined Xandr in early February as VP, head of digital and agency partnerships. […]
