Right Media Reviewed; Facebook Ad Momentum

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Right Media Reviewed

Mike Shields listens for criticism about Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange – and finds plenty – in an article on Adweek. He also quotes Media6Degrees COO Andrew Pancer who offers hope, “Yahoo has fantastic inventory, and it makes Right Media a must buy for us. If they had other good inventory, it would be as simple as a flick of a switch to turn it on.” There’s only one publisher on RMX that matters – Yahoo. And even then, challenges remain. Read more. More context: remember this AdExchanger round-up from 2009 on the impact of Right Media Exchange (read #1, #2, #3, #4)? Even today, part of the frustration with RMX stems from the industry’s own desire for competition in the exchange space while Google continues to innovate, or acquire, at a breakneck pace. Given Facebook Exchange’s growth in such a short time, maybe there’s possibility of a Yahoo-FBX tie-up down the road using FBX’s newer “pipes”? It could be a powerful programmatic “cocktail” if the partnership could include shared addressability via Yahoo Mail and Facebook Custom Audiences. Let alone those Tumblr log-ins.

Facebook Ad Momentum

Facebook releases its Q2 2013 results Wednesday afternoon and JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth sees ad momentum coming in the second half of the year “to be driven by improved and simplified ad formats, continued progress with News Feed ads, FBX in the News Feed, and video ads.” He adds, “We believe better targetability should lead to ROI improvements and higher advertiser demand. As we’ve indicated in previous notes, we believe advertiser quality improved in 2Q with more large brand marketers on the site.”

Email As Ads

Ads in Gmail are nothing new, but according to VentureBeat, Google has changed things up a bit by introducing ads that look like emails. A statement from the company says that ads will only appear in users’ promotions tab AND will only appear when they are completely relevant AND can be dismissed easily AND the ads always appear at the top of the inbox AND they are clearly labeled. Read more.

Educating Wall Street

Ad tech firms can sell ads, but can they sell themselves? Ad Age’s Tim Peterson explores the problem public companies such as Tremor Video, Millennial Media and Marin are facing with less than stellar stock prices. He finds a lack of knowledge from Wall Street investors, companies that are pushed into going public because venture capitalists need out or, hey, they just don’t want to invest in the first place, OK? Both Marin’s and Tremor’s CEOs noted that educating investors is a top priority. Read more.

Differentiating Video

Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz recommended Tremor Video stock to his firm’s clients yesterday. His Tremor analysis: “Unlike most peers, Tremor has access to exclusive high quality content through tier-1 partnerships with A&E, Viacom, and others. As of 1Q13, Tremor had ~200 out of 500 premium websites and mobile applications partnerships on an exclusive basis, which gives the company a competitive advantage. Tremor fills the white space between Youtube’s reach and Hulu’s brand affinity, providing advertisers with access to premium content, as an exclusive ‘premium publisher’, and wide audience reach.”

Make It Count

kbs+p’s Darren Herman dishes out some best practices for agencies and vendors in a column for Digiday. Some of his points include only taking relevant meetings, being on time and being prepared. Although his tips are tailored for sales meetings, they do seem applicable for most professions. Read more.

Optimizing Shopping

South Korean home shopping network, NS Shopping, has chosen IBM to handle its data, user experience, mobile and more, according to a press release. By utilizing a suite of IBM technologies, the company seeks to improve its digital presence as dictated by changing consumer habits. From the release, “The enterprise-wide transformation with analytics and ecommerce technology from IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative enables NS Shopping to uncover data insights about individual consumer preferences while developing mobile applications to deliver a consistent, connected customer experience across multiple devices.” Read more. Next stop, media.

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