Buyers have decidedly mixed feelings about outstream video. Outstream formats are generally billed as a highly viewable alternative to scarce pre-roll because they’re embedded natively within article text and only play with the sound on when a consumer scrolls over. But some say outstream formats are difficult to discover within the exchange environment and, unsurprisingly, […]
Google is building a technology platform that will underpin two of its buy-side solutions: DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM), a DSP and ad server for large advertisers, and Google Display Network (GDN), where search advertisers and small advertisers play. “We think there are huge opportunities to democratize programmatic for Google Display Network buyers,” said Brad Bender, […]
Are programmatic advertising and creative storytelling finally coming together in a meaningful way? It’s a good question to ask at the Cannes Lions festival, where the whole point is creativity – or it used to be, before the twin powers of data and media started elbowing in on the joint a few years back. But […]
Nielsen is looking to score more sports marketing dollars with its acquisition of Repucom, a sports research firm founded in Australia and now based out of the US. Nielsen, which closed the deal on Tuesday, did not disclose the price tag, though German sports industry trade pub Sponsors reported it to be more than $100 […]
P&G’s programmatic buying platform AudienceScience has a new CEO. Company Chairman Bill Gossman will assume the role, effective immediately, and former head Mike Peralta will become chief strategy officer. AudienceScience also made two other executive hires: David De Simone, who will serve as COO, and Patrick Reilly, its VP of enterprise sales. “We’ve gotten to […]
Microsoft and LinkedIn both have advertising businesses. But Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn wasn’t about advertising. At least, that’s not the main reason. “It’s less about ad tech and more about mar tech,” said William Furlong, a former Bizo executive and current adviser and consultant. Forrester VP and principal analyst Melissa Parrish agreed. While […]
AppNexus and Taboola have connected with each other to enable buyers to purchase Taboola’s native placements programmatically. Eighty-five AppNexus buyers have already used this connection to buy on Taboola. The integration represents a step forward for programmatic native just as another huge native pool of supply disappeared: FBX, which will shut down in November. Taboola CEO Adam Singolda […]
Impact Radius is bringing fraud detection in-house with the acquisition of Forensiq. The deal, announced Tuesday, helps create what Impact Radius CEO Per Pettersen calls “a system of record with built-in fraud detection.” Forensiq and Impact Radius are keeping the terms of the transaction secret other than to note it was a mixture of cash […]
The ANA report on agency transparency erupted last week, intensifying a long-expected public dispute between brands and their media agencies. While the report focused on brands and agency holding companies, its findings could potentially affect ad tech companies. AdExchanger reached out to some leaders in the ad tech sphere to see how they viewed the […]
Updated with details from the Microsoft/LinkedIn investor call. Microsoft’s surprise $26.2 billion deal to acquire LinkedIn, among the largest digital technology acquisitions ever if it goes through, has the potential to transform the competitive dynamics in the CRM software industry. It also holds the promise of rebirth for Microsoft’s moribund, outsourced digital advertising business, via […]
The current state of the advertising value exchange often leaves a little something to be desired, which sometimes leads to ad blocking and sometimes leads to total disengagement with advertising. “Most people block ads because they don’t feel like they’re getting value out of them,” said Matt Berriman, CEO and co-founder of Unlockd, an Australian […]
While it’s still too early to assess the repercussions of the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) media transparency report issued Tuesday, industry analysts expect the dynamics between advertisers and their programmatic trading desks to bear the burden of the impact. Though the 62-page report didn’t name names, it cited instances of non-transparent practices among agency […]
Programmatic wasn’t to Apple’s taste, but advertising isn’t so bad if you’re the one driving the bus. After killing off iAd in January, Apple on Wednesday shared its plans, notably in advance of its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, to completely change the way its App Store operates – namely with the introduction of paid search […]
Another day, another acquisition of a mobile company by a Chinese conglomerate. Publisher-focused mobile ad exchange Smaato will be snapped up by (this is a mouthful) Spearhead Integrated Marketing Communications Group, a Beijing-based offline marketing service provider. Spearhead will shell out $148 million on the deal, pending the usual approvals. Getting acquired by a Chinese […]
Cross-channel marketing company Signal announced $30 million in fresh funding on Tuesday – seeming evidence that ad tech funding isn’t drying up for everyone. That brings Signal’s total funding to around $70 million since it was founded in 2009, including a $13.3 million round of venture capital in March. Raising funds hasn’t been a problem, […]
Bell Media, the broadcasting and radio subsidiary of Canadian communications company Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), is bulking up on programmatic for its linear, streaming video and mobile platforms. Using Videology, Bell Media is building an audience indexing and delivery tool for advertisers to plan and execute cross-platform campaigns. The first phase of the integration will go […]
With additional reporting by Sarah Sluis. Mobile app marketing platform Fiksu was quietly acquired last Wednesday by an obscure holding company for an undisclosed sum. But it’s a fate that could have been avoided. Fiksu’s cautionary tale has multiple chapters. It’s the story of what happens when a company pegs its future to the dynamics […]
Despite its tax and auditing acumen, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has 3,000 creatives, engineers, strategists and technologists dedicated to experience design and digital services that span ecom to cybersecurity. Like competing consultancies Deloitte Digital and Accenture Interactive, PwC Digital has grown both organically and through acquisition via its 2013 purchase of digital and creative consultancy, BGT, and […]
After a late start, AppNexus is continuing to double down on video. The company launched a closed beta for video viewability measurement and reporting across its platform on Tuesday. The plan is to move into open beta by the end of Q2. The announcement comes a little less than three months after AppNexus took the […]
Salesforce dropped $2.8 billion on ecommerce platform Demandware on Wednesday, which will underpin the creation of Salesforce’s latest business line: Commerce Cloud. The deal catapults Salesforce into the ecommerce space – a tech category largely dominated by enterprise competitors like SAP/hybris and IBM/WebSphere, though Salesforce first dabbled in ecommerce in 2012, when it acquired site […]
There would be far less of an ad-blocking brouhaha if publishers took a page out of the print playbook, said Mike McCue, CEO of Flipboard, one of the earliest entrants on the mobile newsreader app scene. “There’s a big opportunity rooted in the timeless principles of print, where people, generally speaking, actually enjoy the advertising,” […]
Marketing automation giant Marketo has been snapped up by a private equity buyer in a deal that values it among the top ad and marketing tech investments ever. Vista Equity Partners, which took a majority investment in agency billing and workflow software Mediaocean last June, agreed to acquire Marketo in a $1.79 billion all-cash deal. Upon […]
Advertisers don’t have a strong enough grip on the technological ecosystem to make informed buying decisions, agreed leaders of several leading ad organizations at AdExchanger’s Clean Ads IO conference. Panelists from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) got on stage in New […]
Google is cracking open the gates on its AdWords demand. Its giant pool of search buyers will be able to dip into other exchanges when they need to find a user for retargeting campaigns. The move was buried in a blog post about mobile innovation Tuesday. The change makes Google far more open, benefiting buyers, […]
The dander was up at AdExchanger’s Clean Ads IO in New York on Tuesday as the CEOs of two ad blockers engaged in a contentious debate with two prominent adversaries about the rock-and-hard-place situation publishers presently find themselves in. “It might be ironic that an ad blocker can really play a very important role in […]
In a nod to mobile’s growing importance for advertisers and its own bottom line, Google on Tuesday unveiled AdWords updates and local ad formats to help marketers execute mobile-focused ad campaigns. Advertisers can now connect more widely with Google Maps users and give consumers more information in their text ads. Google also gave manufacturers access to […]
After decades of specializing in hardware and on-premise servers, IBM is emphasizing its new-wave agency IBM Interactive Experience (IBM iX), a mashup of design, systems integration, analytics and the Internet of Things, with billings in the billions. IBM iX made three digital, design and brand agency acquisitions in a single week this winter when it snapped […]
“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 John Dempsey, senior director of mobile, Oracle Data Cloud, at Oracle. “Deterministic” isn’t the same as “true.” The industry has reduced cross-device accuracy to a single question: “How many of […]
As some industry insiders speculated, IBM is starting to merge its Weather Co. asset with its cognitive supercomputer Watson, a move that will benefit its marketing cloud and commerce businesses. “Everyone wondered why an IT company like IBM would make such an acquisition, a company that produces forecasts for 2.2 billion locations every 15 minutes,” […]
Location data newbie Unacast is looking to help mature the still nascent beacon market. The Norwegian startup, which aggregates beacon and sensor data across proximity solution providers, announced its $5 million Series A on Tuesday led by Open Ocean Capital and Investinor, bringing the company’s total funding to $6.6 million. Unacast will double its headcount […]
Simon Property Group, the largest shopping mall operator in the world, is taking its biggest step yet into the world of data-driven advertising. On Thursday, the company launched Simon Media Network, its version of a retail media network.
TTD is introducing agentic AI workflow improvements and automated audience building, which are quickly becoming table stakes for programmatic platforms.
In the modern streaming landscape, everything old is new again. At least that’s the case for NBCUniversal, which is trying to bring back bundled distribution deals and appointment viewing.
OpenX CTO Joel Meyer, who was named Prebid’s new chairman, previews the org’s next phase and helping publishers navigate competing agentic protocols.
Alphonso – LG’s ad tech division – finally has a way out of its legal drama with parent company LG Electronics. Actually, it has three potential options.
Much like the ecosystem of life that surrounds a blue whale, a market of AI SaaS vendors is springing up around the biggest AI companies. And AI data startup Micro1 is emblematic of the shifting nature of these early-stage AI vendors.
