LiveRamp Announces TV And Audio Partners; Salesforce Isn't Buying Big Anytime Soon

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Ramped

LiveRamp is using the occasion of its RampUp conference to unveil some marquee onboarding partners, with an emphasis on TV and audio media. The Acxiom-owned company paired with Simulmedia, SambaTV and Spotify to help brands match their customer files against new audiences on those platforms. “Most of them have a data relationship already with LiveRamp so they already have a lot of segments there,” Simulmedia CEO Dave Morgan tells Ad Age’s Kate Kaye. More. You can also read MediaPost’s coverage of the Samba TV deal, which characterizes the partnership as a new DMP housing Samba’s linear TV and OTT viewership data. And then there’s Spotify’s release.

Salesforce Shopped Out?

Salesforce won’t acquire another Krux anytime soon. In an interview on CNBC, CEO Marc Benioff said that there just aren’t many companies left to acquire. “I just don’t see any big acquisitions in the short term,” he said. The company spent $5 billion on acquisitions last year, including $700 million on data management platform Krux and $750 million on Quip, a word processing app. It spent that despite losing out on a bid for LinkedIn and mulling a Twitter deal without pulling the trigger. Business Insider covers it.

While The Gettin’s Good

Google is looking for someone to lead its Republican political advertising team as the platform beefs up its conservative credentials. Earlier this year Google hired Max Pappas, former head of outreach for Ted Cruz, and shifted Lee Carosi Dunn from head of election sales to head of White House outreach. Partisan inroads can also matter when it comes to government accounts that are, ostensibly, not partisan. Cambridge Analytica, a data and advertising firm associated with President Trump’s campaign, is now making a push for lucrative federal agency contracts. More at Recode.

Heart Of Prime Time Still Beating?

Broadcasters are fighting an ongoing battle of attrition as viewership fragments among subscription on-demand services and virtual MVPDs (and now throw Google into that mix). Ad Age’s Anthony Crupi reports that the 2016-2017 television season will mark the fifth straight year the top four networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox – fail to average a 3.0-plus rating in the 18-49 demo. In fact, Crupi writes, “there is a very real chance that all four will slip below a 2.0.” Even among the traditionally top-rated prime-time slots – think live sports and tentpole hits like “The Big Bang Theory” or “Empire” – broadcast ratings are flat or down. Then again, a number of networks have lobbied for Nielsen to up its game in the total measurement department to account for viewing on mobile or streaming devices. A limited commercial release is underway. More.

But Wait, There’s More!