iAd Goes Completely Self-Serve; Snapchat Talks Up Ad Product Plans

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DIY iAd

BuzzFeed says Apple’s iAd platform will go 100% self-serve, eliminating its human ad sales force for the mobile ad network giant. “It’s not clear what this means for Rubicon Project, MediaMath, and the other ad tech companies that had been overseeing programmatic, or automated, demand-side ad buying on the platform, but it doesn’t look good,” John Paczkowski writes. Not so fast. Self-serve hasn’t killed DSP and SSP “hooks” on huge ad platforms run by Google and Facebook. Many ad buyers still want that single point of contact. Read it.

Snapchat’s Ad Tech Long Game

Tim Peterson reports for Ad Age that Snapchat execs have been talking up clients and partners about its ad product plans. According to the piece, in which no one is quoted, Snapchat is exploring off-platform ad targeting and has apparently “floated the possibility of redesigning its Stories tab into an algorithmically ranked feed a la Facebook’s news feed.” Don’t expect a launch tomorrow, though. As recent coverage of Snapchat’s ads API ambition has noted, these plans won’t be market realities for months, or even years.

Uber, But For Apps

Uber wants to give developers and apps more chances to contextually target passengers who have booked a ride. “What if you could offer unique features in your app while users are on a trip with Uber?” For instance – having secured the user’s permission – a third-party app could pick up on a user’s estimated 15-minute ride length and offer a video news story to fill that exact time. Uber is also opening up its in-transit location data, as well as arrival and departure addresses.

Friend Or Foe

New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo argues that media titans (think Disney and Comcast) are largely failing to appreciate the threat posed by Netflix. Manjoo cites the streaming player’s recent international expansion, which “nearly doubled Netflix’s potential market,” and the company’s slow, quiet efforts to permeate all syndication and distribution pipes, much like Amazon. More. Of course, Netflix remains isolated from a data and ads standpoint – will that ever change?

But Wait, There’s More!