Technology

Mobile advertising companies are being snapped up at eye-popping valuations. But wait … isn’t Apple torpedoing the ability to target and measure app advertising with its AppTrackingTransparency framework, SKAdNetwork and other privacy-focused policies? We untangle that contradiction on this week’s episode of The Big Story, where the editorial team is joined by special guest John […]

Party Like It’s 95 Google Chrome 95, the latest browser version, was released from beta on Wednesday. It won’t make marketers quake in their boots, but this is the first version of Chrome that will allow people to opt in to a reduced user-agent string, which is the data passed to a site operator regarding […]

Wait, Wait … Addressable Linear?  AMC Networks announced a partnership with The Trade Desk and Magnite to run addressable ads on linear TV. “This is a huge development, for us and for the entire industry, unlocking the value of linear inventory,” said Evan Adlman, SVP of advanced advertising and digital partnerships at AMC Networks. AMC […]

There’s a talent crunch bearing down on the digital advertising ecosystem. Agencies, brands and publishers are struggling to manage an ongoing labor shortage that’s been exacerbated by the pandemic, a demand for more flexible working environments and elevated expectations for diversity, equity and inclusion practices. “Everyone’s heard of ‘The Great Resignation,’ and we’re really seeing […]

Do Me A Favor Amazon told Congress in 2019 that it doesn’t favor Amazon-owned brands in search results. But that isn’t credible to sellers, who time and again see Amazon rivals shoot into the top three search results immediately. A former Amazon employee told The Markup that Amazon reserved a top search spot for new […]

Developers have been reporting allegedly strange behavior from AppLovin’s MAX Unity SDK. At least one developer discovered that MAX, AppLovin’s in-app monetization solution, appears to have been capturing iOS 15 postbacks for installs generated by other ad networks automatically and without permission. The tip was shared anonymously with the mobile ad industry forum Mobile Dev […]

Oh, (beta testing in) Canada. On Thursday, The Trade Desk said that live beta testing of Unified ID 2.0 is now underway in Canada. Some existing UID2 partners are helping to shepherd the test, including Index Exchange, Magnite, Publicis, Omnicom Media Group and IPG’s Kinesso. (Kinesso is one of two “closed operators” for UID2 that […]

Let us help you serve yourself. That’s the accelerating trend in fast-food chains, car dealerships, remote work life and, yes, in ad tech. The ascendancy of the self-serve DSP is here, according to the latest Advertiser Perceptions DSP wave. The report is based on a survey of 336 brand and agency advertisers who spend at […]

Platform Peril Seemingly every grocery chain now has a programmatic platform, not to mention Lowe’s, Home Depot, Instacart, GoPuff and buy-now-pay-later companies like Afterpay and Klarna, to be joined soon by Uber, perhaps Shopify and who knows who else. Many of these companies – the BNPLs and all the mobile app-based businesses – got into […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. After this exclusive first look for subscribers, the story by AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff will be published in full on AdExchanger.com tomorrow. Driving downloads is important. But Ben Webley, CMO of game developer Scopely, is looking for users who want to stick around. “We’re […]

How Blockbusters Survive Netflix The latest Bond flick, “No Time to Die,” and the Marvel movie “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” kindled hope for cinemas with blockbuster ticket sales. But Hollywood won’t return to pre-pandemic standards. For one thing, only action or horror movie franchises have performed, “particularly when they are offered […]

“On TV & Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video.  Today’s column is written by Jonathan Teitloff, director of product management at TripleLift. Don’t go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the bidders and the auctions that you’re used to. Ultimately, we know that you’re going to have it your […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Deliver Or Delay The global supply chain crunch is hitting the ad industry, even before the Q4 holiday shopping season moves into high gear. Brands and their creative and media agencies plan campaigns months or a year ahead. But those campaign rollouts are being […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Lior Shvo, Managing Director at Sellers.guide. It’s not rocket science: Advertisers want to reach the right audience, at the right time, at the right price. Here’s the thing, though: Doing that is waaaay too […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Big Game Amazon CEO Andy Jessy (Jeff who?) issued a bold statement at the GeekWire Summit in Seattle this week. “In the case of games, we have a belief that that could end up being the largest category in entertainment over a long period […]

First-price auctions are coming to Google AdSense. The change will go into effect later this year, Google shared in a blog post on Thursday. Google Ad Manager and AdMob have already switched to a first-price auction. Though not nearly as momentous as when Google flipped the switch for Ad Manager, the AdSense change signals that […]

“On TV & Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Outside Inc. CEO Robin Thurston is very aware of subscription fatigue. At a time when streaming platforms are working to boost their subscriber numbers with bundled ad-free and ad-supported channel packages, Outside TV is being used in part as a vehicle to entice […]

Sustainable digital media business models exist – just look at Dotdash. Dotdash acquired Meredith at a $2.7 billion valuation Wednesday to form a new media business to be called Dotdash Meredith. At first glance, the two entities coming together feels like a marriage of opposites: a century-old magazine media company and a digital native. But […]

Mobile ad platform AppLovin loves acquiring companies. On Wednesday, AppLovin entered into a definitive agreement to buy MoPub from Twitter for $1.05 billion in cash. The move makes a lot of sense. Recently-public company AppLovin has been on a mobile ad tech buying spree, with more than a half-dozen acquisitions under its belt in the […]

“The Sell Sider” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. Today’s column is written by Andrew Frank, VP distinguished analyst at Gartner. As yesterday’s cross-domain tracking methods fade into history, the entire digital ad community is casting around for a suitable replacement – and marketers trying to navigate through the […]

Begun, The CDP Wars Have The CDP startup mParticle raised $150 million, bringing its total fundraising to $272 million. mParticle is valued at $800 million, Business Insider reports. The valuation is a smidge short of the billion-dollar club – an arbitrary benchmark, though the CDPs Amperity, Tealium and Segment all recently reached unicorn status. mParticle […]

With your permission, please endure yet one more Privacy Sandbox-related bird reference: Chrome’s Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) proposal will not fly in its current form. “We’ve got a long road to hoe before it’s possible to prove this can be a working model for advertising,” said Todd Parsons, chief product officer at Criteo. The […]

Advertisers are ready to buy TV like they buy digital, says Dave Clark, general manager of Comcast-owned FreeWheel, on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks. As digital-like capabilities rapidly come online in the TV space – like buying across fragmented audiences, managing frequency, better targeting and understanding lower-funnel metrics – the demand is proving quick to follow, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Ecommerce Byte? TikTok parent company ByteDance is looking to take on Amazon and Alibaba with its own global ecommerce platform, Business Insider reports. The company hopes to expand its online shopping platform outside of China, which could launch as a stand-alone app or within […]

“On TV & Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video.  Today’s column is by Paul Gubbins, VP, CTV Strategy, Publica. While definitions of what actually constitutes a connected TV (CTV) impression are still being widely debated, brand safety companies discover new cases of fraud in streaming on a regular […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Instacart Exit Seth Dallaire, out! Instacart’s ad chief is jumping over to Walmart as chief revenue officer amid a shakeup in the grocery delivery service’s executive ranks, Business Insider reports. Dallaire will work to scale Walmart Connect, the retail giant’s ad platform unit – […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Kii To Success? As the ad industry struggles to come up with solutions to its identity crisis, Kinesso, IPG’s data and technology unit, claims it has the key … ahem, the Kii. That’s what Kinesso is calling its new identity offering. In a world […]

The technology of marketing is always evolving, and that lifecycle is especially evident on this week’s episode of The Big Story. The use of customer data platforms (CDPs) – the trendy software category taking over where DMPs left off and building on CRMs and marketing automation – is on the rise. Special guest Stuart Schneiderman, SVP […]

“On TV & Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video.  Today’s column is by Joel Cox, Co-Founder and EVP, Innovation & Strategy, Strategus. If you buy it, they will come. Media buyers increased their ad spend on connected TV (CTV) during this year’s upfronts by almost 50%, according to […]