Hiring Slowdown; Tracking Do Not Track

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Staying Trim

It’s anecdotal evidence, but a look through LinkedIn data by Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser shows “a noticeable slowdown in hiring at major ad tech firms in the fourth quarter,” according to Wall Street Journal reporter Nathalie Tadena. It isn’t such a dire reveal, as head counts went from steadily growing through the first three quarters to flat over the holidays. As AdExchanger has also covered, covered and covered, ad tech pure-plays are going through a belt-tightening phase. More.

Back-Track

It’s been six years since the FTC unveiled its “Do Not Track,” and it’s hard to consider the initiative anything but a failure. Re/code’s Dawn Chmielewski traces the doomed project, and concludes one major wrinkle was that tracking opt-outs applied only to third-party cookies. (Facebook, Google and subscriber networks could continue to track, but independent businesses like AppNexus could not.) Read it. In any case, the fight ain’t over yet, as a couple of senators have reintroduced a bill that aims to do what the FTC could not: enable broad-based consumer opt-outs of ad tracking. More on that.

Sharpening TV

Turner announced at CES that its networks (including CNN, TBS and TNT) will introduce a new kind of commercial break that features two- to three-minute-long branded spots, which the network will work with marketers to produce and then target directly to audience segments Turner curates across its channels. “The idea is to turn Turner into a giant native ad platform,” said Turner content partnerships head Dan Riess. It wouldn’t be the first trick TV nets learned from the Internet. Read on at Ad Age.

Rest In Pieces

Variety editor Andrew Wallenstein reports that Yahoo is shutting down Yahoo Screen, its app and online video hub. Yahoo spent tens of millions on original programming for the service and landed the first digital-only NFL game stream. A spokesperson told Wallenstein, “Video content from Yahoo as well as our partners has been transitioned from Yahoo Screen to our Digital Magazine properties so users can discover complementary content in one place.” Let the winnowing begin.

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