Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Clearspring To Acquire
Online publisher tools and audience targeting company, Clearspring, announced yesterday that it has raised $20 million more dollars from investors. All Things D’s Liz Gannes reports that Clearspring will be on the acquisition warpath: “Clearspring co-founder and CEO Hooman Radfar said his company opened this year with its first profitable quarter, and that it will bring in tens of millions in revenue annually, ‘tripling this year and accelerating.’ Radfar attested that he doesn’t need the new funding to operate, but rather plans to spend it on acquisitions.” Read more. And, read the release.
Display Fever
CNN Money’s David Goldman gets display fever and writes about the growing display ad business at Google. From the article, “Google became a $30 billion company on the back of search advertising — but the company thinks its other multi-billion-dollar advertising business will be its growth engine of the future.” The “other” is display. Read more.
Got Video Inventory?
Brand marketers are moving their dollars online according to agency panelists at yesterday’s Streaming Media East show – and are particularly interested in online video. ClickZ’s Jack Marshall quotes Carat’s Gina Smilyansky who “admitted her agency buys relatively little video inventory for brand clients on a data-driven or behaviorally targeted basis. ‘We’re used to doing so in display, but not so much in video yet,” she said, adding that it is something “clients like P&G would definitely be interested in.'” Read more.
Spongecell CEO Ben Kartzman explores “where the hype is coming from” for online display advertising in a think piece on MediaPost. He identifies what he calls “format evolution” as one key driver saying, “We have bigger screens and much higher screen resolutions today than ever before. As such, it was only natural that larger ad sizes and new creative formats would follow.” Read more.
Math Evolution
MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki takes his company’s “Math Men” thesis to Advertising Age and rebuts Kendall Allen’s recent “Math State” article in an opinion piece. Zawadzki begins, “I’ve always liked Kendall Allen. But it’s so hard seeing someone you respect hold a spectacularly wrong opinion. It’s like discovering a best friend or spouse doesn’t believe in evolution.” Read it all.
You’re Hired!
Sell-side platform PubMatic announced that it has picked a new executive to lead its European efforts as Gianluca Carrera will lead “international sales, operations, and expansion” for the company according to a press release. PubMatic says Carrera has held positions in Overture Europe and Yahoo Europe previously. Read more. Meanwhile, online privacy tools provider, Evidon, has hired former CEO of Adroit Interactive and MediaMath executive Greg Smith as its CRO. Read more in PaidContent.
The Web Brand
Upstream Group’s Doug Weaver says the Web has a “brand crisis” on his company’s blog. Before he takes apart the Web’s brand challenges, Weaver starts with a definition, “One of the best definitions I’ve heard for the term ‘brand’ is ‘the premium a customer will pay for a product over its generic alternative.’ Simple, straightforward, measurable.” Read it all.
Online Privacy
- New Director of Self-Regulatory Group Plans for Global Rollout – ClickZ
- Facebook Security Flaw Exposed User Accounts – The Wall Street Journal
- Tracker List 2.0 – Privacy Choice
But Wait. There’s More!
- For Journalists, a Call to Rethink Their Online Models – The New York Times
- Why Microsoft Is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion – GigaOm
- Mochila Utilizes ‘Portrait’ Ads To Rejuvenate Online Display Spend – MediaPost
