Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Business Intel
Adobe Omniture founder Josh James continues to build his BI/data visualization business, Domo, and Amazon has a seat at the table. According to TechCrunch, Domo has raised $60 million in new financing from several firms including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ personal investment company (do you have personal investment company?). Leena Rao of TechCrunch writes, “Domo has been relatively quiet about its product, besides to announce the funding. In fact, Domo has yet to be released to the public. So what does Domo do?” Read more.
In a “what if” piece about a hypothetical world without cookies,” Digiday speaks with a group of sell-siders who issue a collective “meh,” or in some cases, “bring it on.” Read it. The fate of third party data collection has bubbled up lately thanks to Mozilla’s decision to block non-first party cookies in its next version of Firefox. But even hefty publishers may find their data proposition blotted out by Amazon, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft. Those six are the real winners in a first-party future.
The HootSuite Dashboard
HootSuite is beefing up with some new “premium apps” — paid apps with enhanced features. The first three are customized for Salesforce.com, Statigram, and YouTube. “We know that certain business and power users need increased functionality and performance,” said HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes in a statement. Press release. Signs point to a more robust paid marketing play from HootSuite, which last month was named one of Twitter’s first Ad API partners.
AOL’s Right Turn?
For years, AOL was the tech company that couldn’t get respect, what with its constant reorgs and strategy shifts. Okay, it’s still in perpetual flux, but one thing sticks out: its stock price has been rising lately. If AOL can please investors, maybe the media community will lay off too, suggests VC Ben Parr in a post on Cnet: “Let’s give credit where credit is due — [AOL CEO Tim ] Armstrong has managed to increase AOL’s traffic, grow its revenue, and fend off activist investors. It still has a ways to go in order to compensate for its declining subscription Internet business, but the company is going in the right direction.” Read more.
YouTube Founder’s NewTube?
YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley sure knows how to get attention. In a conversation with Digg founder Kevin Rose at SxSW, he drops a few hints about an upcoming product launch in the video space. Oh, he only wishes he didn’t have to wait to tell everyone all about it. “I wish [South by Southwest] was a month later because I could unveil the new product,” adding that it’s “primarily video-based,” Adweek’s Tim Peterson reported. Read more.
Foursquare Rethink
Foursquare is the universal way to say “Here I am” at places like SXSW, but the social media app has struggled to gain mainstream acceptance, and in turn, drive revenue from brand marketers. CEO Dennis Crowley says, “We’re trying to put more Google juice behind some of our pages. We’re driving more traffic through Google than we were last year, for sure,” Social Times’ Cameron Scott reported Crowley saying this week at SxSW. He said the company is reducing reliance on its own check-in data, while drawing more data from API partners. Read the rest.
The Marin Software IPO
SEM and media buying platform Marin Software has set the price on its IPO valuing the company at $390 million (if this editor is reading it right). The company looks to raise $91 million in the offering. See the updated filing with the SEC. It’s still not clear when Marin will actually become a public company.
Mo’ Money Business
- LinkedIn to Buy Pulse Newsreader for More Than $50M – AllThingsD
- Salesforce To Raise $1 Billion In Convertible Debt Offering To Help Fuel Acquisitions – The Next Web
You’re Hired!
- 33Across Grows Executive Team with Orchid Burnside as New VP of Media Operations – press release
- Chinese E-Commerce Giant Alibaba Hires New CEO To Replace Founder Jack Ma – SiliconBeat
But Wait. There’s More!
- How Time Inc. Should Reinvent Itself As An Independent Publisher – Ad Age
- Adobe Strategy: On Point for 2013 – Darren Herman
- Publicis Groupe Acquires Convonix, India’s Leading Full Service Digital Marketing and Consulting Agency – press release
- Display Campaign Efficiency Using Code Names And Filtering – Marketing Land
- New York Times R&D Chief: We’re Transacting Business ‘Like a Retailer’ – Beet.TV
- WhatRunsWhere Launches First In-App Android Ad Spy To Show Who’s Buying Mobile Ads (And Where) – VentureBeat
- Kantar Media Reports U.S. Advertising Expenditures Increased 3 Percent In 2012 – press release
