M&A activity in the media and marketing sectors jumped 52 percent in the first half of the year, led by “smaller, complimentary acquisitions.” So says investment banker Jordan Edmiston Group Inc., which tracks deal activity in the space. Among the high-profile acquisitions were those of social CRM platforms Vitrue and Buddy Media, by Oracle and […]
Earlier this month, streaming video distributor Ooyala raised its fifth funding round — $35 million from Telstra Applications and Ventures Group, the investment arm of Australia’s telecom giant, Telstra. In addition to giving Ooyala a big opening in Telstra’s home country, the move also signaled a new level of importance for Ooyala to try to […]
It’s no surprise that retargeting specialist Criteo believes in the value of clicks — that’s the stock in trade. For many traditional marketers and advertisers, there is the view that online advertising is a venue for low-cost, direct response advertising — as opposed to the lucrative, more creative brand marketing campaigns for traditional media. The […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. Studying Facebook Ads A new survey on Facebook ad efficicacy leaves the reader wondering – just wondering – because there are so many opinions on whether the ads work or not Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth introduces the results of the study crafted by his […]
Rik van der Kooi is Microsoft’s corporate VP, advertiser and publisher solutions. In an interview with AdExchanger last week at the Cannes Lions ad fest, he opens up on a range of topics, including Microsoft’s relationship with Facebook, its display strategy, and the industry blow-up over its controversial stance on Do-Not-Track. How is Cannes treating […]
Last week, IBM released the results of its “State of Marketing 2012″ (on Slideshare) survey. The results dovetail with IBM’s own technology plans as it relates to marketing and media as the press release revealed: “The new survey of the marketing industry finds that chief marketing officers (CMO) and chief information officers (CIO) must join […]
Bob Arnold, associate director, Global Digital Strategy at the Kellogg Company, got a huge round of applause during a talk about the cereal marketer’s approach to programmatic buying when told the crowd at the IAB’s Advertising Technology conference not to talk to bring up the topic of banner ad clicks in a meeting with him. […]
Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here. Knights Of The DNT Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth says that ad holding companies among others have been reaching out to Microsoft to re-consider their decision to make their Do-Not-Track functionality default to “on” in the new version of IE. Learmonth adds, “High-level Publicis execs […]
After being banned from buying Yahoo! owned & operated inventory in early November, it appears that retargeters are being allowed to return to Right Media Exchange (RMX) and taste Yahoo!’s (by all accounts) high-performing display media. Let’s go to the AdExchanger diagram so you can see how the retargeting magic is happening. This will assume […]
Jeff Pullen is CEO of AudienceScience, an online ad technology platform company. The company has been relatively quiet in the past year as the company has transitioned from the stewardship of former CEO Jeff Hirsch to the current CEO Jeff Pullen. And today, the company announced the hiring of former MediaMath Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) […]
A couple of weeks ago, Google announced its new Doubleclick Digital Marketing platform which further integrates DoubleClick ad products and begins to offer the promise of efficient cross-channel buying across media channels such as display and search. Many in the industry, particularly privately, see an inevitability in Google corralling much of the data-driven, display ad […]
“Now Serving Mobile” is a column focused on the audience-buying opportunity in mobile advertising. Jennifer Lum is President and Co-founder of Adelphic Mobile. Apple is hosting its annual World Wide Developers Conference this week in San Francisco and there is speculation it will announce significant updates – a few of which could have a big impact on […]
After two weeks of intense M&A in social CRM (see AdExchanger stories on Oracle/Vitrue and Salesforce/Buddy), it’s helpful to keep in mind that Adobe is still arguably the only enterprise software company to bring social CRM, analytics, and search-plus-display optimization under one roof. Efficient Frontier – acquired six months ago – is a key piece […]
Members of a key online standards body are hashing out what to do about Microsoft’s controversial decision to ship Internet Explorer 10 with the Do-Not-Track setting turned “on” by default. On a conference call yesterday, representatives of three member companies in the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) “tracking protection” working group argued forcefully that Microsoft’s […]
Google has 1,000-plus engineers globally working on display advertising, and now – to hear display ad product chief Neal Mohan tell it – all their hard work is about to pay off. In a presentation to DoubleClick customers today, Mohan will outline imminent plans to consolidate DoubleClick’s fragmented menu of advertiser-facing technologies into a single […]
Bob Liodice, CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, is far from alone in being flummoxed by Microsoft’s decision to roll out IE 10 with Do Not Track “on” by default. But, as a key figure in privacy self-regulation, his confusion is poignant. “This came out of left field: no context, no rationale, no rumors […]
Microsoft’s apparent abandonment the Digital Advertising Alliance’s industrywide agreement that “Do Not Track” should be a strictly opt-in has surprised and concerned Interactive Advertising Bureau President and CEO Randall Rothenberg. Still, the IAB head, in a conversation with AdExchanger, was clear that although Microsoft’s forthcoming Internet Explorer 10 browser come with an active “Do Not […]
Google has agreed to buy hosted IM platform Meebo in a deal that signals its growing eagerness to wrap its head (and pocketbook) around social and “earned” media– including how to monetize content-driven brand connections. The purchase price was not disclosed, but in an earlier report about talks between the companies, AllThingsD claimed the price […]
Microsoft’s decision to ship Internet Explorer 10 with Do Not Track “on” by default has created palpable upset in digital ad circles. Evidon, the Association of National Advertisers, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau quickly lambasted the decision, which may renege on a non-publicized agreement among members of the Digital Advertising Alliance that DNT should be a […]
Today, on the Doubleclick Publisher blog, Google released a new report showing a range of display ad trends for publishers using its DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad server, the DoubleClick Ad Exchange, and Google AdSense network. For example, not unexpectedly, Google’s Jonathan Bellack, Director of Product Management, Display Advertising, states, “Sell-through rates (the percentage of […]
Oracle’s deal to buy Vitrue gives it a strong foothold in community management. The execs who brokered it intend for the acquisition to be the foundation of a social platform strategy that will encompass not only to social marketing, CRM and lead generation, but eventually hiring and HR functions too. AdExchanger asked a handful of […]
Yesterday, Microsoft Advertising and WPP Group‘s 24/7 Media announced a new deal, which “consists of four main components that will help strengthen advertising technology stacks and expand opportunities for the marketer and publisher clients of both WPP and Microsoft Advertising,” according to a release. Read more about the components. AdExchanger discussed the deal with Dave […]
Setting aside for a moment the credibility gap inherent in any new Yahoo product launch – let alone a search product – you have to admire the company’s brazenness in talking up the ad potential for Axis, its new lightweight browser geared toward smartphones and tablets. Below are a few choice comments Ethan Batraski, director […]
Despite AOL’s efforts to build up its owned & operated sites, including the Huffington Post Media Group its local content offering Patch, the portal’s real growth has always come from its Advertising.com ad network. So it wasn’t too much of a surprise when AOL announced a few executive shifts that are designed to highlight the […]
With its deal to buy Vitrue, database giant Oracle wants to be the first to help corporate clients integrate social across human touch points – both within and beyond the organization, as well as up and down the purchase funnel. “By combining Oracle’s assets with social marketing, social calling, social service, and social monitoring, we […]
Facebook is keeping the door open to an ad network. Its recently updated Data Use Policy says, “We may serve ads, including those with social context (or serve just social context), on other sites.” But “may” doesn’t equal “will.” In conversations with AdExchanger, Facebook observers place bets on if and when Facebook will launch an […]
Today’s column is in response to “Second-Guessing the Second-Price Auction Model” and written by Jonathan Wolf, Chief Buying Officer at Criteo, a buy-side, display ad tech company. Esco Strong at Microsoft wrote an interesting piece in a personal capacity on this site this week. While I am and remain a fan of Esco, and his […]
In spite of the automation that technology continues to bring to media, the services layer remains as valuable as ever – maybe more so – as talented people put the technology over the proverbial finish line. For some ad tech companies with complex offerings, a robust service layer has been the natural outcome of selling […]
On Wednesday, IBM continued its quest to build out an enterprise marketing system in support of the CMO by acquiring Tealeaf, an Internet and mobile commerce analytics firm. Read the release. Jay Henderson, Strategy Director of IBM Digital Marketing, discussed the acquisition and its implications with AdExchanger. AdExchanger: What does the Tealeaf acquisition by IMB […]
MediaMath has become the first demand side platform to spin off an agency from its core software business. With the creation of Kepler Group, the marketplace gets a new services provider for programmatic media buying – one that will work directly with high-touch brands. The new firm launches in the U.S. with nine clients, including […]
As much as consumers complain about AI-generated content, advertising experts say AI still has an important place in video creation and production, including for ads. But using AI in content without turning off consumers is a tricky dance.
Smart TVs, refrigerators and other home appliances may pester you with marketing, but at least the hardware is cheap. Another startup taking a different approach to the same theory is Tovala, which was founded in 2015 and combines a standalone countertop oven with a weekly meal kit subscription.
Shopify is slowly but surely making its way into the ads business. But the ecommerce leader maintains its laissez-faire approach to ad monetization.
Netflix touts sharper targeting, but buyers say its black-box approach – especially the lack of usable IP data – is blunting measurement and quietly pushing performance-driven spend elsewhere.
Walmart will buy Vibe.co, a self-serve video ad platform, in hopes of attracting more small and medium-sized advertisers to connected TV.
Bonjour, ChatGPT ads. OpenAI’s inaugural Cannes Lions appearance doubled as a coming‑out party for its baby ad business.
