Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
No ATDs Allowed!
In Australia, agency trading desks using demand-side platform (DSP) models are being rejected by Fairfax Metro Media as CEO Jack Matthews tells AdNews, “We want to control access to our audience because we think we have a uniquely valuable audience across our platforms. We are happy to let other publishers drive their yield down.” Read more.
Google+ And Facebook
In “Google+ – An Advertiser’s Perspective,” Efficient Frontier’s Dr. Siddarth Shah dissects Google’s answer to Facebook’s social media domination and finds four key areas that the “+” can help advertisers benefit: transparency, signals, targeting capability and ad formats. Pointing to a potential crossroads for Google if it doesn’t get its social act together, he writes, “It’s the market leader in Search but has failed to take social networking head on until now. (…) to make {+1] work they should first incentivize consumers to rebuild their social graphs to avoid the fate of Google+ becoming a Facebook clone.” Read what he means.
Burt Gets $3 Million
Sweden-based company Burt (AdExchanger.com Q&A), makers of Rich, an ad creative analytics product targeting creative agencies, announced that it has raised $3 million. Creativity Online reports, “The new funding will be used to open Burt offices in the U.S. and the U.K. The company has grown from two to 24 employees within the last year alone.” Read more in Creativity Online.
Latest Lawsuit
In the latest online privacy and ad targeting lawsuit, the Flash cookie reappears. Boston Business Journal reports, “Sandra Person Burns of Hinds County, Miss., alleges in the suit filed in federal court in Boston that she paid AOL $10 or more per month for service that purportedly included use of a web browser with privacy settings she could control.” Her legal representation is based in Boston and New York. Read more. How’d she find those lawyers?
Are You In Sun Valley?
If you’re not, don’t worry. The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Vascellaro is at the annual media conference produced by investment bank Allen & Co. Amidst the most jumbo of shrimp, hobnobbing executives are not as enthralled with the digerati as they used to be. Now, the digerati is the competition. Vascellaro writes, “This year, the name expected to spark much conversation is Netflix Inc., the online and by-mail movie and TV-show rental business (…) which has more than 20 million subscribers, could eat into [media execs’] businesses.” Read more.
Publisher Privates
A dinner for OpenX clients has yielded a list from the company on what it believes are the publisher advantages and disadvantages of “private exchanges” or, as it is known in OpenX product lingo, “Private Trading.” Leading the list of advantages, “# Transparency and control over who can buy inventory and who cannot; Prevents channel conflict.” Meanwhile on the negative side according to OpenX: “Audience fragmentation for the buyer; unclear how to handle frequency capping; Reduced competition could depress rates.” There are more of each on the OpenX blog here.
You’re Hired – or – Shaken Up!
- Top Management Shake-Up at Havas Digital – AdWeek
- Improve Digital appoints Donald Hamilton as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) – Improve Digital
- Facebook Ad Vendor Blinq Names John Tawadros COO – All Facebook
But Wait. There’s More!
- IPG Updates China Ad Forecast – Asia Media Journal
- Ad Insights From Zynga’s IPO Filing – ClickZ
- Times Co. Sells Part of Stake in Red Sox (subscription) – The Wall Street Journal
