Technology

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Bill Gates On Ad Privacy Regulation poses a striking challenge to online ad sellers, “but I do think the big companies, as regulation comes, will be able to handle it,” says Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in a CNBC interview alongside Warren Buffett. “People don’t […]

Aside from the Trade Desk, which outstrips competitors among agencies, independent DSPs still struggle to differentiate or break out from the pack behind the category killers, Google’s DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM) and Amazon’s ad platform, in Advertiser Perceptions’ latest demand-side platform benchmark report released Monday. The report, based on a survey of more 700 execs […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Martin Kihn, research vice president at Gartner. In a muted squib released last week, Google signaled it would no longer include user IDs with log files from its industry-leading ad server. […]

Google disclosed how it will help publishers obtain tracking consent from users during a call last week with the IAB Europe GDPR Transparency and Consent steering committee, and its approach could spell trouble for media and ad tech companies. The consent gathering tool, called “Funding Choices,” is in beta with some DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) […]

“Everyone Wants To Be A CDP. Here’s Who’s Actually Doing It.” is presented by mParticle. Customer data platform (CDP) capabilities borrow attributes from CRM, tag management and even more traditional data onboarding. Consequently, they are often conflated with ad tech systems like data management platforms (DMPs), despite having use cases that go beyond paid media and into […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. End Of An Error Cambridge Analytica has shut down. “The Company is immediately ceasing all operations and the boards have applied to appoint insolvency practitioners Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP to act as the independent administrator for Cambridge Analytica,” the company said in a statement. […]

On Wednesday, Criteo reported revenue of $564 million in the first quarter of 2018, a 9% increase from the same period last year, with profits up 15% at $210 million. Criteo stock jumped after the earnings reports, as strong financials and its relatively optimistic outlook on GDPR and ePrivacy regulations in the European Union assuage […]

Google’s decision last Friday to limit portability of the DoubleClick ID outside of Google’s ecosystem was done in the name of consumer privacy. But the change will also stunt advertisers’ ability to do cross-platform reach and frequency measurement – unless they’re using Google’s Ads Data Hub. While agency execs support changes to protect consumer privacy, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Listen And Learn Data scientists from Uber, Pandora and Netflix published joint research measuring the impact of audio ads on listeners over a 21-month period. Pandora listeners were broken into nine groups, each with different ad exposure levels over that time. With such a […]

In his previous gig, Cision CEO Kevin Akeroyd oversaw $6 billion worth of acquisitions as GM of the Oracle Marketing Cloud. Now he has a similar vision for earned media. Since Akeroyd’s appointment as Cision’s chief in 2016, he’s spearheaded several acquisitions and shepherded the now-public company through a $2.4 billion merger with investment firm […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. TV Dinner A raft of new YouTube ad products highlights the importance of OTT and skinny pay-TV services in its strategy. For the first time, advertisers will be able to target YouTube television screen inventory, just as they can choose to exclusively buy tablet, […]

24 Hour Fitness is trying to transform into a brand that customers will consider even outside of the gym. “The goal is to keep people engaged with fitness and to be this companion along their fitness journey,” said CMO Tom Lapcevic. “That’s where digital really enters the picture. We now have the ability to provide […]

Google is making it more difficult for advertisers to have an independent view of the data generated from ad buys in its ecosystem. In a note to partners sent Friday and obtained by AdExchanger, Google said it will no longer let buyers use the DoubleClick ID when leveraging its data transfer service. The service allows […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Amazon Ad Revenue Accelerates Revenue in Amazon’s “Other” category grew 132% YoY to $2 billion this quarter, with advertising services making up a “majority” of that segment, CFO Brian Olsavsky said during the company’s earnings call Thursday. So it’s safe to say Amazon’s ad […]

Advertising and marketing companies were leading acquirers in the media and telecom industries this quarter, according to PricewaterhouseCooper’s US Media and Telecommunications Deal Insights study released Thursday. Advertising and marketing firms led deal volumes for the quarter, representing 33% of the overall M&A activity in the media and telecom sectors. Deal volumes in marketing and […]

MoPub co-founder and former CEO Jim Payne is getting his next startup off the ground with MAX, a platform that helps mobile publishers sell programmatically. The company launched Thursday following around six months of beta-testing with a $3.5 million seed round led by Payne’s investment fund, Breakpoint Capital, and a handful of angels. They include […]

IAB Europe and the IAB Tech Lab released on Wednesday a commercial version of the Transparency and Consent Framework, a new publishing standard meant to reconcile ad tech with GDPR regulations. From a consumer point of view, the experience would be similar to the current standard for web browsing in Europe, where there’s already omnipresent […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Free Ride Spotify updated its free, ad-supported app on Tuesday with personalized playlists and other features. The changes elevate the user experience to within spitting distance of its paid tier. So why would anyone buy a subscription? “The better our free experience is, the […]

Trigger warning: This article contains references to yet another three-letter acronym in the advertising technology ecosystem. Improvado is an extract, transform, load (ETL) data startup focused on the agency and advertiser landscape. The company raised a $3 million seed round with backing from a range of familiar ad tech names, including Auren Hoffman, the CEO […]

Oracle has acquired Grapeshot, a UK-based contextual targeting startup, the companies announced Tuesday. Grapeshot provides pre-bid insights based on the media being considered. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Grapeshot will join the Oracle Data Cloud, where it will be combined with Moat to strengthen the company’s brand safety service. The company initially focused […]

As the governing body for professional surfers globally, the World Surf League (WSL) promotes the sport to both casual fans and diehards. But just a few years ago, the WSL – at the time called the Association for Surfing Professionals – lacked a cohesive marketing strategy, and campaigns for different surf events were heavily siloed. […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Other Giant Google deserves some of the flack that Facebook is almost exclusively catching in the wake of its Cambridge Analytica scandal, writes Christopher Mims for The Wall Street Journal. Mims argues that Google has lax standards for merging data between its various […]

The Alphabet revenue train is full steam ahead, as the company reported more than $31 billion in revenues in the first quarter of 2018, a 26% jump from the same period last year, the company announced in its earnings report Monday. Programmatic and the core search business were the biggest driver of that growth, rising […]

Viacom on Monday formed a multi-year agreement with Comcast’s advanced ads business, FreeWheel, to expand its use of the tech platform. Previously, Viacom used FreeWheel to power digital ad decisioning, but now, it will also use FreeWheel’s operating system to manage yield and grow revenue across live TV, set-top box and video-on-demand inventory. In addition, […]

The IAB Tech Lab, the research and development arm affiliated with the trade group, has acquired the nonprofit online identity consortium DigiTrust. Terms of the deal are unknown, though a key feature is the acqui-hire of Jordan Mitchell, DigiTrust’s founder and CEO, as the Tech Lab’s senior VP of members and operations. The Tech Lab […]

AdRoll and Magento Commerce announced a partnership on Friday to combine the companies’ ecommerce platforms, incorporating AdRoll’s ad targeting and attribution directly into the Magento cloud management service for online sellers. Bay Alarm Medical, which sells medical alert systems, has been working with Magento for four years and with AdRoll for almost a decade, said […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Rachel Parkin, senior vice president of strategy and sales at CafeMedia. Imagine if every impression could find its perfectly matched buyer. Demand-side platforms (DSPs) are the ultimate gatekeepers for screening inventory, but publishers only […]

No other holding company has had its CEO as ingrained as WPP. Now WPP must keep its massive organization, with so many disparate agencies and pieces, together without Sorrell. “He was important not only as the voice, look and feel of WPP, but he was very much involved in the day-to-day operations,” said Rebecca Lieb, […]

Is opportunity fading for ad tech startups to go public or be acquired at a healthy premium? The answer is no, at least not for everyone, said Elgin Thompson, managing director of the technology investment advisory firm Digital Capital Advisors, at AdExchanger’s PROGRAMMATIC I/O in San Francisco last week. A look back at IPO filings […]

Marketers taking a conservative approach to brand safety are pulling back from buying the long tail to minimize their exposure to fraudulent, non-viewable and brand-unsafe inventory. As premium publishers develop strong programmatic capabilities, brands are transacting with them directly rather than on the open exchange. EMarketer predicts that nearly 80% of programmatic dollars will be […]