The Aol-Microsoft-Yahoo! Display Deal; Engaging Ads At IAB Ops; Video Ads Growing

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

Pooling Inventory

ClickZ’s Zach Rodgers sees challenges for the new Yahoo!/Aol/Microsoft coalition with operations, data ownership and “a third danger is that the integration could remove the differentiating audience characteristics of the companies’ three ad network products: Yahoo’s Network Plus, AOL’s Advertising.com, and the Microsoft Media Network. Those networks will still offer unique data and other capabilities.” Commoditization nation?

Entrepreneurialism’s Siren Song

The New York Times’ Saul Hansell, wait, no, I mean Aol’s Saul Hansell, wait, no, not anymore. Hansell has left Aol’s Patch unit and says on his personal blog, “Now it’s time to strike out on my own and seek my fortune as an inventor. I’ve left AOL, and Monday I started as an entrepreneur in residence at Betaworks.” To err is human, to EIR is divine. Read more.

Interacting With Media

Reporting from Monday’s IAB Ad Operations Summit, VentureBeat’s Erica Berger says more interactive ad formats were a theme of the gathering and that there is a “change in popularity of various ad sizes, but most importantly, the change in where users are consuming their content (i.e. on mobile and tablet devices rather than on desktop). With the shift to the mobile web, advertisers are being forced to create more interactive and engaging units.” Read more.

DSP Can Mean Many Things

It’s a DSP! But, not quite the DSP you’re thinking of. Limelight Networks, former owners of rich media company Eyewonder, announced its foray into the dynamic-site platform (DSP!) world for mobile. From the release, “Limelight Dynamic Site Platform for Mobile is built on the company’s cloud-based Dynamic Site Platform to integrate all web content management tasks.” Read it.

Match My Audience

Yahoo! launched two new ad products from the Yahoo! Advertising blog yesterday. First, it announced a new geotargeting solution called Proximity Match which it says allows local retailers to target consumers which are close to their store, for example. (Sounds like good ol’ geotargeting within a given radius.) Also the company announced a new product informed by data from Nielsen Catalina Solutions called Consumer Direct which combines in-store purchase data with Yahoo! user online data – kinda like an online-offline cookie matching service. Read more.

Specify The Next Job

Reuters reports that software and digital analytics company Adobe plans to lay off 7% of its workforce. From the release, “The 750 positions to be eliminated — spanning all business units and geographies — reflect shifts in investment toward digital media and marketing, changing priorities, and reductions in unspecified projects.” Tip: Always make sure your job is specified. Read more.

Channel Momentum

CEO Brian Lesser of WPP/Group M trading desk Xaxis answers questions for an interview on Direct Marketing News. Lesser details the expanding global footprint of his company and says, “Video is the fastest growing part of our business right now. What we’re seeing is that while display tends to attract direct response advertisers, video has been more successful in attracting brand advertisers…” Read more.

But Wait. There’s More!