telcos

Can a neutral identity layer finally help telcos turn their network data into a viable, privacy-safe advertising business?

Meta’s not beating the scam ads allegations; SEO tools are getting into AI prompts; and the telcos are at it again.

From 2015’s ad tech gold rush to today’s cautious comeback, telcos are once again testing whether they can turn subscriber data into ad dollars – this time with privacy as the selling point.

Subscribe to AdExchanger Talks on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts. On the heels of an Axios report that InMobi is in talks to acquire Xandr from AT&T, InMobi rolled out a new offering for mobile telcos. Coincidence? Called InMobi Telco, the business unit provides infrastructure for mobile carriers […]

Remember when telcos kept dropping billions on media and ad tech assets because they just couldn’t wait to activate their first-party data for advertising purposes? Didn’t pan out. This week on The Big Story, the team dives into the “why” in the wake of private equity firm Apollo Global Management’s $5 billion acquisition of Verizon […]

Remember when telcos wanted to be digital media companies? That was so 2017. On Monday, private equity firm Apollo Global Management announced its intention to acquire Verizon Media for $5 billion. The new company will be called Yahoo – yes, for real – and Verizon will maintain a minority 10% stake in it. Read the release. […]

ironSource is 2021 in a nutshell. It’s a mobile ad tech provider founded more than ten years ago, with a multibillion valuation that’s on the cusp of going public via a special purpose acquisition company by merging with a private equity firm. The SPAC in question is led by Thoma Bravo, whose blank check company […]

It’s not the biggest surprise that Google, The Trade Desk and MediaMath were pegged as “leaders” in Gartner’s third Magic Quadrant for ad tech. Google is Google, while The Trade Desk and MediaMath have both been in the DSP space for a long time. But there are a few new entrants on the scene. Beeswax, […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is researching the privacy practices of AppNexus, Oath and other advertising subsidiaries owned by broadband companies. The agency is in the midst of examining the privacy policies, procedures and practices of broadband providers as part of an overarching study into how telecom companies are morphing into vertically integrated behemoths that […]

Although the Justice Department could try to block the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger (maybe), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai bestowed his blessing on the deal earlier this week. If T-Mobile and Sprint manage to merge, they’ll have around 126 million subscribers and become the third largest telco in the United States behind Verizon and AT&T, […]

Zeotap is launching a global identity graph to try and beat LiveRamp to the punch across the pond. On Tuesday, the Berlin-based mobile data platform announced the global rollout of Connect, an identity solution that deterministically links offline data to anonymized online identifiers based on exclusive relationships with telco operators in markets across Europe, India […]

Verizon still intends to allow the entity formerly known as Oath, now called Verizon Media, to access subscriber data for advertising purposes. It was reported on Wednesday that the telco’s new CEO, Hans Vestberg, was planning to completely pull the plug on feeding data from subscribers into its media unit. Verizon Media told AdExchanger that […]

Mobile ad network InMobi will acquire Pinsight Media, Sprint’s mobile advertising and insights unit, the companies said on Wednesday. A team of roughly 100 people will join InMobi from Pinsight and remain based in Kansas City, Mo., where Sprint has its headquarters. The all-stock deal isn’t a typical acquisition. The idea is for InMobi to […]

Emodo, Ericsson’s mobile ad platform for telcos, is aiming to boost the quality of location data in the ad ecosystem with a tool launched Thursday that uses carrier data to verify mobile audiences on a pre-bid basis. Marketers are shelling out for bad targeting and it’s akin to flushing their budgets down the toilet, said […]

Tapad launched a product on Tuesday that lets telcos stitch their first-party data to Tapad’s device graph – which Tapad will then activate through partners, including Facebook and The Trade Desk. The company is calling this service a Customer Data Platform (CDP), which is the buzzword du jour, though the vendor said it’s been working […]

Ericsson remains keen on ad tech. On Wednesday, the Swedish networking and telecom company announced its acquisition of Placecast, a combo data management and demand-side platform (DSP) for location data. Placecast is now part of Emodo, Ericsson’s programmatic mobile ad platform that helps telcos monetize their subscriber data. Emodo is housed within a newly created […]

During a speech Tuesday at think tank R Street Institute, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai justified his plan to scrap net neutrality (“We’re shifting from one-size-fits-all preemptive regulation to targeted enforcement.”) and took a shot at edge providers like Twitter, Google and Facebook. “Let’s not kid ourselves: When it comes to a free and […]

Ericsson is taking the wraps off its DMP for telcos. On Thursday, the Swedish networking giant announced the global launch of Emodo, a mobile ad platform that lets carriers monetize their subscriber data programmatically. The release of Emodo follows Ericsson’s surprising intention to enter the ad tech space, which it announced in March at Mobile […]

AT&T just hired an ad platform whiz kid to take charge of its new TV and video ad business – but that’s the easy part. On Friday, AT&T revealed that Brian Lesser, GroupM’s CEO of North America, will helm a new business unit so the telco can attempt to realize the potential of its vast deterministic […]

All telcos acquire ad tech to drive revenue, but not all telcos think alike on how to make that happen. Operators divide into four primary schools of thought when it comes to activating their ad tech assets: open ecosystem, closed ecosystem, internal promotion and content distribution. Singaporean SingTel, for example, is willing to partner with […]

When Norwegian telco Telenor acquired cross-device vendor Tapad in February 2016, it seemed comparable to Verizon buying AOL. One year later however, Telenor is using Tapad’s tech to drive sales and customer acquisition for its own products, rather than making its data available on the open exchange. Tapad also continues to operate as a standalone […]

The revenue opportunity around mobile ad spend is too big to ignore, said Dan Rosen, global director of advertising at Spanish telco Telefonica, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in early March. It’s why telcos like Verizon, Telenor, Telstra and SingTel are spending big on ad tech. Telefonica carved out a niche in the mobile […]

Ericsson is about to enter an unexpected space: ad tech. The Swedish networking giant is testing a mobile ads platform to aggregate anonymized deterministic data from across telecom operators to power targeted advertising. Ericsson declined to say whether it’s building the platform itself, licensing it or buying an ad tech company to power its nascent […]

Although Verizon’s appetite for ad tech was the main driver behind its acquisition of AOL, it’s content that really sweetened the deal. “Our content is a differentiator for Verizon amidst all of the other telcos,” AOL CMO Allie Kline told AdExchanger. But there’s a lot knocking around under the AOL umbrella – everything from ad tech […]

[pullquote][/pullquote]Zeotap is banking on 2017 being the year that telcos make their impact on the advertising world. The mobile data platform and telco data onboarder revealed its $12.7 million Series B (12 million euros) on Tuesday, bringing its total funding to $20 million. Zeotap, whose clients include a number of the top carriers in India, […]

To even the most casual observer, AT&T’s $85.4 billion bid for Time Warner appears to accelerate the multiyear land grab between telcos like Verizon and the media and ad tech hybrids like AOL. Although the deals have obvious similarities – both AT&T and Verizon are mobile carriers seeking to grow subscribers and diversify their infrastructure […]