Google Toughens Its Stance On Extremist Content; Addressable Ads Come Together In Marketing Clouds

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Google’s Gauntlet

In the wake of recent terror attacks in London, Google is pledging to continue its crackdown on extremist content through a combination of technology and human intervention. On Sunday, Google said it will dedicate more resources toward identifying YouTube videos that include inflammatory religious or supremacist content. In addition to investing heavily in AI, Google plans to double the number of moderators it uses to suss out and flag problematic content. Google engineers have also developed image matching tech to prevent content that’s been removed from being re-uploaded. “Together, we can build lasting solutions that address the threats to our security and our freedoms,” wrote Google’s general counsel, Kent Walker, in a blog post. “It is a sweeping and complex challenge. We are committed to playing our part.” The Guardian has more.

Head In The Clouds

Addressable advertising is coming to over-the-top television, but through fragmented buying channels supported by multiple partners meeting in a marketing cloud. On Monday, the Adobe Advertising Cloud introduced an addressable offering that merges broadcast partner inventory with its TubeMogul advanced TV-buying product (or another integrated DSP). Last Friday, Innovid announced an OTT service that combines first-party advertiser data, Nielsen Catalina Solutions data and Nielsen’s marketing cloud to generate programmatic streaming audiences. Simulmedia recently launched a programmatic TV partnership that matches brand data to offline purchase data from Oracle’s BlueKai Marketplace or other Data Cloud assets to target viewers on national linear TV. But if you expect consolidation in that supply chain any time soon, bear in mind that a whole new intermediary layer is emerging just to coordinate those OTT pipelines [AdExchanger coverage], like an octopus’s head atop its tentacles.

Roughly Halved

The DSP herd is thinning. Havas mobile agency Mobext is down from about 12 DSPs across its client portfolio a year ago to five to seven platforms today, reports Ross Benes at Digiday. Duplicative inventory and the hassles of bidding against themselves has led many agencies to roughly halve their DSP roster. Channel-specific DSPs in particular are at risk of being swept aside by scaled incumbents. “A lot of companies, understandably, entered the market to take their shot,” says Warren Zenna, US managing director at Mobext. “Some of them have really good technology, and people will want to own that. But not everyone will get an exit.” More.

The Price Of Vice

Vice Media joins the roster of other recent new media investments (including NBC/Snap and Time Warner/Mic) with a whopping $450 million investment from private equity firm TPG, which now values the company at about $5.7 billion, reports The Wall Street Journal. Disney, which has invested $400 million in Vice to date, didn’t participate in this funding round, diluting its 18% stake in the company. Although Disney had been rumored to buy out Vice last summer, that seems unlikely now, given its new PE backing. Flush with cash, the publisher is planning a mobile subscription service, as well as more scripted programming for its cable channel and Viceland, its joint venture with A+E. More.

Advancing The Advanced TV

Another day, another advanced TV ad business. But this one’s particularly big, since it’s backed by one of – if not the – largest pay TV providers in the US. Comcast is unifying Comcast Spotlight, its main ad sales arm, with its larger ad tech portfolio, including video seller platform FreeWheel, addressable ad system Visible World and sales software Strata. Led by former Weather Channel President David Clark, who arrives next month, the new unit will be responsible for creating advanced data and addressability solutions for TV programmers. Read the release.

But Wait, There’s More!