Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Grandpa’s Got Game
Nielsen has acquired gaming intelligence firm SuperData Research to better track user engagement with video games and esports, VentureBeat reports. SuperData tracks the behavior of 160 million gamers and extrapolates that out to the US population. As gaming and esports become more popular – just look at Amazon’s plan to make Twitch a $1 billion ad business – Nielsen needs insight into a huge chunk of consumer media behavior. “We recognize the growing importance of the digital gaming ecosystem,” said Chris Morley, who heads up games and esports at Nielsen. But Nielsen will have to compete with The NPD Group, which has been measuring game sales since the 1990s and gets data directly from video game publishers as opposed to tracking consumer behaviors. More.
An Olive Branch
Branch, a four-year-old mobile deep-linking and attribution startup, is acquiring Tune’s mobile attribution business, Ad Age reports. It’s a useful pairing, since Branch only recently pivoted into attribution and needs a developed product and Tune’s mobile measurement has been damaged goods since Facebook revoked its measurement status in 2014 for allegedly holding on to data too long. In February, Branch became the first new company added to Facebook’s mobile measurement partner program since 2013 [AdExchanger has more on that]. “Given the current environment surrounding data privacy, it was a longshot at best for Tune to regain its partner status. That may have encouraged its sale,” reports George Slefo. More.
Pilot Program
Facebook is updating its ad offering for airlines and airfare booking companies and will rename the product Flight Ads. The former product, dynamic travel ads for flights, could be used to retarget customers who visit an owned site or app and search for a particular flight. The new version expands the pool of potential travelers by targeting people who have visited multiple airline or booking sites or who visit a travel-related Facebook page but have yet to settle on a destination or airline. Hopper, an airfare forecasting app, brought down its cost per install by 20% as one of the beta advertisers for the new travel product, says user acquisition head Simon Lejeune in the Facebook blog post on the news.
But Wait, There’s More!
- Apple’s Takeover Of Shazam Is Cleared By EU Regulators – NYT
- If Privacy Is Dead, Should People Sell Their Own Data? – Bloomberg
- Elite SEM Acquires Amazon Specialist Agency CPC Strategy – release
- Location Tech Co. Uberall Raises $25M, Acquires Rival Navads – TechCrunch
- In France, Digital Ads Are Often Seen As Intrusive And Irrelevant – eMarketer
- Ad Execs Are Skeptical TV Measurement Will Catch Digital – Business Insider
- Viant Launches B2B With D&B, Infogroup And Other Data Partners – release
- Mar Tech Is Still Booming, But Are We Facing An Overload? – Martech Today
- American Are Changing Their Relationship With Facebook – Pew Research Center
- MediaMath, IAS And Rubicon Join Mindshare’s Blockchain Alliance – The Drum
You’re Hired!
- Programmatic Mechanics Hires Heather Arouh As Director, BI – release
- Vevo Veteran Alan Price Named CEO To Grow Ad Business – The Drum
- Gain Theory Appoints Shawn O’Neal CEO, North America – release
