Technology

A report by IDC, commissioned by demand-side platform The Trade Desk, said real-time bidding (RTB)-based “forward markets” will see massive spending increases over the next five years. The report said RTB-based premium display ad spending is expected to grow globally from $230.3 million in 2013 to $14.2 billion by 2018. The United States, which is […]

Call 2011 and 2012 the first wave of social CRM, when companies like Salesforce.com and Oracle snapped up social media analytics and marketing companies. Little more than one year later, all signs point toward paid media becoming a part of the enterprise social stack with more M&A and partnerships likely to come. Although CRM, in […]

Israel-based performance network Matomy has scrapped plans to raise about $100 million in a London Stock Exchange public offering that would have valued the company at around $400 million. The withdrawal was motivated in part by a “technicality” of London IPOs that requires at least a quarter of shares to be claimed by investors in the […]

Jelli, a programmatic ad platform for radio, and radio ad software provider Marketron are partnering up on an automated supply-side service for radio stations, the companies said Thursday. “Billions of dollars in radio inventory are still being traded in an analog way,” said Marketron CEO Jeff Haley. “We’re taking the innovation that happened on the […]

Supply-side platform (SSP) AdsNative received Thursday a $2 million injection of funding led by Interwest Partners, raising about $750K in convertible debt prior to this series. The company also released a mechanism called Mediation/SSP, designed to maximize publisher fill rates for in-stream native ads. AdsNative will devote the majority of the funds to getting more publishers […]

As the digital video ecosystem gets more crowded, players that plan for cross-device content delivery and who can partner with multiple platforms will win. Both Amazon and Yahoo have been working toward this by mastering their respective delivery methods, increasing audience scale and developing premium inventory. Consider Amazon’s Wednesday launch of its Fire TV set-top […]

Rubicon Project began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday at $15, the low end of its previously stated $15 to $17 range range. Updated: As of 10:45 a.m. EDT, the stock was trading up 34% at $2o.10 per share. CEO Frank Addante and fellow C-Suite founders Greg Raifman (president) and Todd Tappin (COO/CFO) were […]

The brand-agency relationship used to be relatively simple. True, brands would have multiple agencies – social, digital, media-buying, for instance – but most of the spend would focus on a single area, usually television. But as other digital channels become more important to consumers, brands are beginning to realize that stuffing too much money in […]

Google Plus is often compared unfavorably to Facebook when it comes to drawing up a social media advertising strategy. But a recent study by Forrester concludes that when compared to other social media outlets, notably Twitter, Google Plus promotes stronger brand engagement. Forrester tracked 284 profile pages of 50 top brands and more than 3 […]

Are programmatic media companies about to hit the wall? Ken Sena, managing director and Internet analyst at investment banking analyst firm Evercore Partners, is wary. Despite the exuberant expectations around companies like Criteo and Rocket Fuel, Sena sees a possible multifront threat on the horizon. In an Evercore report called “Questioning Competitive Barriers In Programmatic,” […]

During his three years at Kellogg Company, Bob Arnold became a poster child for programmatic buying at the brand marketer level. Arnold, who recently quit cereal to join Google, presented his rules for programmatic at the Association of National Advertisers’ Media Leadership Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., on Tuesday. His key message: Don’t let complexity […]

As consumer apps companies ramp up efforts in geo-targeted ads and hyper-local search, Foursquare has responded by turning check-in data into marketing services opportunities. Following a February announcement that Microsoft would invest $15 million in the location-savvy startup after its $35 million Series D in December, Foursquare’s revenue stream – and data reach – may get […]

Amazon’s rumored development of an ad-supported, free streaming media service, reported first by the Wall Street Journal Thursday, but subsequently denied by a company spokesperson, could solidify its relationship with FreeWheel. FreeWheel is a video ad platform used by Comcast and Amazon among others. When Comcast announced its intent to acquire FreeWheel earlier this month, […]

Despite the recent headlines generated around Newegg.com’s battles with patent trolls, the company is best known as an ecommerce retailer of computer hardware and software. The company is privately held, and has an estimated revenue of $2.8 billion. A large part of Newegg’s growth has to do with its continuous customer acquisition. At Adobe Summit 2014 the […]

Digital ad fraud has lately gained mainstream awareness, and many marketers at leading brands now realize the threat that fraud poses to their ability to track online advertising. A Wall Street Journal piece last week chronicled concerns at organizations like L’Oreal, General Motors and Verizon Communications. Fortunately for marketers, as the bad guys are shifting their […]

Video demand-side platform TubeMogul on Wednesday filed its S-1 registration document with the US Securities Exchange Commission, signaling its intention to raise $75 million in an initial public offering. Read the S-1. In the filing, TubeMogul stated, “For 2011, 2012 and 2013, our total revenue was $15.7 million, $34.2 million and $57.2 million, respectively, representing […]

With Tuesday’s announcement that SAP will resell Adobe Marketing Cloud, packaged with the analytics platform HANA and the ecommerce solution hybris, it’s fair to wonder what SAP’s role in digital marketing will be going forward. Will it, for instance, ever develop its own marketing cloud to compete with Oracle, Salesforce.com or IBM? Brian Walker, chief […]

Every couple of months, Adobe announces a new element of integration with its marketing automation and email product Campaign, the sixth and most recent addition to the Marketing Cloud. Last September, Campaign rebranded from Neolane, its maiden name before Adobe acquired the marketing automation company. In January, Adobe stated its intention to integrate Campaign with […]

MyBuys, a provider of personalized recommendations solutions for retailers, has rolled out a display ad offering called MyAds and rewired its product suite. CEO Bob Cell said the changes let marketers more easily measure across the full consumer journey. And just as larger vendors like Adobe have moved toward “customer profile” pricing schemas, so too […]

For anyone wondering what SAP AG is up to these days in digital marketing, an answer was provided at the Adobe Summit in Salt Lake City. SAP has a global partnership with Adobe to resell the latter’s Marketing Cloud along with SAP’s HANA platform and its hybris Commerce Suite. Read the release. Let’s back up […]

If Adobe’s Monday announcements at its annual Summit are any indication, the theme for the company’s Marketing Cloud going into 2014 is “Integration.” This theme manifests in new features Adobe introduced including: a customer data repository (Master Marketing Profile), the ability to evaluate online and offline marketing activities (Marketing Mix Planning), deeper integration with Adobe’s […]

Self-serve programmatic media buying is gaining favor with the in-house marketing set. That was a key trend that emerged at AdExchanger’s Programmatic I/O conference in San Francisco Monday, where approximately 500 marketers and data-driven tech companies convened to share how programmatic media buying is changing advertising. At the outset of the show, AdExchanger Director of […]

Tag-management systems (TMS) are ripe for acquisition. Enterprise tech firms with data-management platforms (DMPs) have commonly incorporated them into their stacks, either by building their own or, like Adobe, by buying a start-up shop. But last week’s acquisition of TagMan by rival firm Ensighten was unusual in that it was a tag-management firm acquiring another […]

“The Sell-Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Bob Walczak, general manager of mobile and video at PubMatic. When it comes to publishers, premium is the operative word, a designation that, like VIP access to any major event, opens up a whole new […]

If all goes according to plan, Rubicon Project’s public offering will raise about $108 million ($77 million after expenses) in cash and give it a market cap of $671 million. In an update to its January S-1 filing with the US Securities And Exchange Commission, the company said shareholders will offer 6.8 million shares of […]

Facebook and Google have emerged as the front-runners in the race to capture mobile ad dollars, with Google leading the charge. Facebook’s efforts to extend its mobile reach and rapid growth has made it a strong contender for first place, but can the behemoth social network overtake Google’s hold on mobile advertising? It is difficult […]

“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 Matt Scharf, manager of display media operations and analytics at Adobe. The topic of viewability has infiltrated our lives. Viewability vendors flood the marketplace as marketers take steps to measure […]

As brick and mortar giants like Walmart and Tesco do more to monetize their customer data, the question becomes – will they go it alone or maintain third-party partnerships? Tesco subsidiary dunnhumby’s rumored purchase of demand-side platform Sociomantic is the most obvious example of a seismic shift that’s occurring in the shopper data space. The […]

Adobe’s fiscal Q1 (Oct to Dec 2013) delivered healthy demand for its six-product-strong Marketing Cloud suite, which includes Media Optimizer, Social, Analytics, Target, Experience Manager and the newest entrant to the pack, Campaign. “When we look at prospects for Marketing Cloud, we are optimistic,” CEO Shantanu Narayen said during Tuesday’s earnings call. Customers licensing Marketing Cloud products in Q1 include […]

Are brick-and-mortar retail chains setting their sights on demand-side platforms (DSPs)? The rumor that Tesco’s customer insights subsidiary, Dunnhumby, will acquire Sociomantic, a DSP provider, adds fuel to the possibility. And whether or not the rumored acquisition is true, industry experts expect to see more retailers working with DSPs. If the deal occurs, Dunnhumby will […]