Bazaarvoice Now Retargets For Ecommerce; Ad Price Blame Game

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Ad Network & E-Commerce

Social commerce marketing and SaaS provider Bazaarvoice has acquired e-commerce ad network Longboard Media for $40 million+ (if you include the earnout) to expand, or further, its offerings. Since its founding in four years by ex-eBay and Shopping.com execs Scott Engler and Jim Barkow, “Longboard Media has become one of the largest ad networks in the eCommerce space,” writes Techcrunch’s Rip Emerson. Read it. Is “review” retargeting on the menu? Bazaarvoice has also unexpectedly swapped out its CEO as CFO Stephen Collins takes the helm. Read the release. Need more? Read this June 2011 AdExchanger interview with Longboard CEO Jim Barkow. And, read this Q&A on the Bazaarvoice, “social display” partnership with Microsoft from February.

CPM Battleground

Here’s an idea to prop up the U.S. digital media industry: hold Presidential elections every year. eMarketer: “Online, swing state spending has meant CPMs have been pushed higher and higher in a few states, with prices continuing to rise dramatically right up to Election Day.” Read more.

Ad Price Blame Game

Has VC-backed ad tech brought more pain than gain to the media business? On the face, it sounds absurd, but AdWeek’s Mike Shields makes the case: “… there is the issue of real-time bidding, which has enabled audience-based buying to take hold. The result is a massive 40 percent pricing contraction over the last year…” Read more. Varick Media Management’s Jeremy Hlavacek takes exception on Twitter. “I think oversupply is the driver of the problem and adtech is an attempt at solution – tho not perfected.”

RadiumIPO

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Radium CEO Gurbaksh Chahal talks display ads and discusses the opportunity ahead for his company, “We’re three years into it, with 200 employees worldwide. We’re growing faster than any of my other companies. I think 12 months from now, we’ll be in a prime position to be an IPO candidate for Wall Street. Read more.

Structure My Unstructured

CRO James Moore of demand-side platform Simpli.fi takes on the challenge of what unstructured data means for display in a think piece on Marketing Land. Moore writes, “Technology that can manage unstructured data will change the industry for the better. Brands will unlock the full potential of online display advertising through the elimination of traditional segment-based targeting in favor of real-time media buying, optimization and reporting technology fueled by individual data signals.” Read it.

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Mobile Ad Net Momentum

Mobile ad network Millennial Media, which recently raised a bunch more cash in the public markets, reported its Q3 revenues for 2012 on Monday. The release tells the tale: “For the third quarter of 2012, revenue was $47.4 million, an 88.0% year-over-year increase from revenue of $25.2 million for the third quarter of 2011.” Read it. From the earnings call with Wall Street analysts, CEO Paul Palmieri said, “Since our IPO in March, we have doubled the number of anonymous user profiles we maintain to more than 300 million.” More profiles, better scale in mobile. Read the entire call transcript.

One Billion Incentives?

That’s the milestone that games-focused ad net Tapjoy says it has reached, as the company introduced its latest SDK (the 9th version to date). Read the release. The company’s CEO Mihir Shah tells VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi that the company attempts to reach users with “incentivized” messages – wait, scratch that. Shah prefers to call it a “value exchange.” What’s the difference? “Users request the advertising. They request it because they get some value in exchange. In my opinion, it’s no different from Google advertising or TV advertising, where you’re fully aware that you’re watching The X Factor for free because the advertisers sponsor it.” Read more

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