AUTHOR ARCHIVE FOR:

Tony Rifilato

Tony Rifilato

Associate Editor

Tony Rifilato is an associate editor at AdExchanger.com covering the linear and streaming TV space, ad tech and other topics. Previously, he was the Ops & Tech editor at Fund Intelligence, a leading daily news and data platform for the US mutual fund industry, where he covered D&I initiatives, the impact of Covid-19, the growing use of front-to-back automation, cloud technology, ETFs, large servicing/M&A deals and more. Tony is an award-winning journalist and was a senior editor at the Herald Community Newspapers on Long Island, where he wrote countless stories about politics, crime, local government, public corruption, business, education, the environment – and surfing in Long Beach, N.Y. He holds a B.A. in journalism from Hofstra University.

Articles By Tony

  • Creative

    Ad-Lib.io Expands Series A Financing To $12 Million

    BY //

    Ad-Lib.io, a company founded by a group of former Google execs in 2017 and which offers creative workflow tools, has clinched an additional $6 million in Series A financing. The latest round brings its total funding to $12 million in less than two years and will be used to accelerate the growth of the London-based […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    Disney Subscriber Counts Exceed Expectations, But COVID Impacts Parks Biz

    BY //

    Disney may have wowed investors in December when it unveiled a slew of new movie titles and an original content pipeline as part of a major shift to streaming, but the company is still feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During its Q1 earnings call Thursday, the company said that its Disney Parks, Experiences […]

  • TV

    Fox Betting Big On Tubi Becoming A Billion Dollar AVOD Business

    BY //

    Fox Corporation is aggressively pushing to make Tubi, the streaming ad-supported platform it picked up for $440 million last year, a billion-dollar AVOD business in just a few years. On the company’s Q2 earnings call, CEO Lachlan Murdoch laid out a bold agenda for the streaming platform, saying that Fox would continue to invest heavily […]

  • Data

    LiveRamp Acquires Privacy-Focused Tech Company DataFleets

    BY //

    LiveRamp has locked in a deal to acquire Silicon Valley-based tech startup DataFleets for $68 million. DataFleets has a cloud-based technology that allows businesses to securely merge and analyze data in a privacy-safe way. The acquisition is part of LiveRamp’s growing focus on data protection capabilities. As part of the deal, which includes some assumed equity […]

  • Data

    Marriott Adapts To The New Normal By Partnering With Verizon Media

    BY //

    Marriott hit the reset button on its media strategy last year as the COVID-19 pandemic brought the travel industry to a halt and forced the world’s largest hotel company to find dynamic ways to reach a new type of traveler. Marriott International saw its occupancy demand – and revenue per available room – plummet 90% at […]

  • OPINION: On TV & Video

    Measurement, Transparency And Accountability Are Big Themes in CTV This Year

    BY //

    “On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Much has been made about the shift to CTV during the pandemic, and as advertisers follow the eyeballs and companies race to capture a larger share of the streaming ad market dominated by established players such as Roku and Amazon, the big conversations this year […]

  • TV

    The Super Bowl Will Be Different This Year (Duh)

    BY //

    Super Bowl LV will look pretty different on and off the field when the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers square off Sunday. While 186.6 million people are expected to tune in this year, according to the National Retail Federation, the COVID-19 pandemic is also playing a big role in how advertisers are adjusting […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    DoubleVerify Uncovers Largest CTV Ad Fraud Scheme To Date

    BY //

    Ad verification company DoubleVerify has uncovered a massive CTV ad fraud scheme that was on track to bilk advertisers and publishers out of $30 million to $50 million in ad spend. The scam, dubbed “ParrotTerra,” used server-side ad insertion to generate fake CTV inventory across a large number of apps, IPs and devices, spoofing 3.7 […]

  • Data

    GroupM Launches New Data Ethics Tool To Mitigate Brand Risk

    BY //

    GroupM launched a tool in beta on Monday designed to help marketers determine the potential ethical risks associated with a data-driven campaign from a consumer perspective. Launched in partnership with Unilever, GroupM’s Data Ethics Compass claims it’s the industry’s first ever tool to incorporate ethical decision making into data-driven media tactics, and to help prioritize […]

  • Agencies

    In 2021, A Sense Of Optimism Post-Trump, Though Ad Pauses Are ‘The New Normal’

    BY //

    In the days after the Jan. 6 mob attack on the US Capitol – fueled in large part by former President Trump’s false claims of election fraud – advertisers quickly paused their ad spending amid the heightened sensitivity. By most accounts, the ads were pulled back for 24 to 48 hours by brands and agencies, […]

  • Platforms

    Comcast Beats Earnings Estimates And Peacock Hits 33 Million Subscribers

    BY //

    Six months after its nationwide launch, Comcast NBCUniveral’s premium ad supported streaming service Peacock has 33 million subscribers in the United States – up from 22 million in Q3 2020 – exceeding the company’s targets following a reorganization of its TV and streaming businesses last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. During Comcast’s Q4 earnings on […]

  • Platforms

    “Wonder Woman 1984” Helped Double HBO Max Activations, But Warner Revenues Drop

    BY //

    AT&T’s WarnerMedia saw the number of activations on its HBO Max streaming platform double in Q4 to 17.2 million from the third-quarter of 2020, thanks in large part to the success of “Wonder Woman 1984.” During its earnings call on Wednesday, AT&T said that the total number of domestic HBO Max and HBO subscribers topped 41 […]

  • Platforms

    Verizon Media Reports First YOY Growth In Q4 Since Yahoo Buy

    BY //

    Verizon revealed during its earnings call Tuesday morning Verizon Media Group had a solid Q4 – total revenues jumped 11.4% to $2.3 billion YOY – marking the first quarter of year-over-year growth since the wireless giant acquired Yahoo in 2017 for $4.48 billion. Growth in the quarter was fueled by strong advertising trends, with revenue […]

  • Social Media

    NBCU And Twitter Launch Digital Global Partnership In Multiyear Deal

    BY //

    NBCUniversal and Twitter announced a new global partnership on Monday that will make it easier for marketers to reach global audiences by expanding worldwide social inventory and integrating premium content into trending conversations. The multi-year deal expands a national partnership that began in 2013 and will deliver NBCU’s premium digital content to Twitter, allowing marketers […]

  • OPINION: On TV & Video

    Samsung Ads' Cathy Oh: 2021 Is All About Measurement And Attribution In Streaming

    BY //

    “On TV And Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. The rapid shift to streaming TV last year significantly disrupted the advertising industry, and was nothing short of transformational amidst the pandemic, social unrest and a divisive presidential election. But despite its vast potential as an emerging advertising platform for brands and marketers, streaming ad […]

  • Strategy

    Viant Technology Files S-1 Ahead Of IPO

    BY //

    Ad software provider Viant Technology Inc. filed an S-1 on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of an initial public offering as the company positions itself for future growth. The company anticipates a boom in the growing programmatic advertising market, particularly across linear TV, CTV and mobile. Viant, which was founded in […]

  • TV

    ViacomCBS And Dish Media Deliver Addressable Ads In Live National Broadcast TV

    BY //

    Could addressable ads for live nationally broadcast linear TV be coming soon? Incremental progress in that direction happened Thursday when ViacomCBS and DISH Media each said that they have successfully tested the first addressable campaign within a live national broadcast through an MVPD set-top box. The companies partnered with TV ad tech company Adcuratio to […]

  • Analytics

    iSpot.tv Buys Ad Scoring Firm Ace Metrix To Measure Brand Impact

    BY //

    TV ad measurement provider iSpot.tv has acquired Ace Metrix, a company that screens and scores video advertising using a survey-based methodology. The deal will help iSpot track both business outcomes and the brand impact of ad creative and media in real-time, including persuasion, likeability, watchability, purchase intent, brand recall and emotional factors. Advertisers can use […]

  • Featured

    OpenAP Launches SSP To Show Inventory Availability In Linear TV

    BY //

    OpenAP, a consortium of TV networks that allows advertisers to buy standardized audiences across their inventory, launched its first tech product on Monday, a supply-side platform (SSP). SSPs are a mainstay of digital publisher technology, and now they’re coming into the TV world to help improve the antiquated linear TV ad buying process by adding […]

  • Digital Marketing

    The Top 10 AdExchanger Stories of 2020

    BY //

    Despite a global pandemic, Google still managed to dominate the top three most trafficked AdExchanger stories in 2020. In December, Google faced its third government antitrust lawsuit in less than two months, and since the start of the year, readers were keeping eyes on the tech giant when it announced that it would eliminate third-party cookies […]

  • TV

    The Year in TV: A Major Shift To Streaming

    BY //

    At the start of 2020, video streaming giant Roku’s upfront deck predicted consumer time spent viewing streaming TV would surpass traditional linear over a period of five years. Instead they did so in a year, fueled in large part by the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is a fundamental shift in viewership,” said Alison Levin, Roku’s VP […]

  • Ad Exchange News

    Amazon Reclaims Top Spot For DSP In Latest Advertiser Perceptions Report

    BY //

    After slipping in the DSP rankings to Google earlier this year, Amazon has reasserted its no. 1 status as advertisers’ preferred platform. Bolstered by the last few months’ ecommerce surge, Amazon has reclaimed the top spot after having slipped behind Google and The Trade Desk in Q1 2020 – based on the Q4 2020 Advertiser Perceptions […]

  • Featured

    Oracle Uncovers Large CTV Ad Fraud Operation

    BY //

    Enterprise tech giant Oracle said it shut down the largest ad fraud scam in the connected TV space that bilked advertisers and publishers out of $14.5 million in ad spending. Oracle Moat – the company’s business that provides measurement and ad verification solutions across digital and TV – said the fraudsters exploited flaws in CTV […]

  • Featured

    Samsung Ads Launches Auto-Focused Measurement Tool For Linear And Streaming TV

    BY //

    Samsung Ads released Tuesday its new TV measurement solution designed to help advertisers to measure the combined impact of linear and streaming TV ad campaigns, as opposed to viewing the data in different silos. General Motors is the first advertiser to use the tool as part of a pilot program, which includes an integration with […]

  • Featured

    Disney Talks Subscriber Count, Ads On Streaming Services And Theatrical Release Strategy

    BY //

    The force is strong with Disney. The company is leveraging its movie franchises and original content pipeline to hyperdrive a major strategic shift into the DTC market, as it bets big on Disney Plus and its other streaming platforms, including Hulu and ESPN Plus, in the years ahead. Subscribers and content jump to hyperspace In […]

  • Strategy

    MeritDirect Pushes Into A New Era Of B2B Marketing With Recent Acquisitions

    BY //

    Ever since MeritDirect partnered with private equity firm Mountaingate Capital in 2019, it’s aggressively expanded its data and service offerings in the B2B space. In November, the Rye Brooke, NY-based company purchased 180byTwo – terms were undisclosed – marking its second acquisition deal this year; it bought Compass Marketing Solutions in January. “Putting these companies […]

  • Publishers

    DoubleVerify Chief Mark Zagorski On The Expansion Into The Sell Side

    BY //

    Ad verification company DoubleVerify has been busy. It followed up its $350 million investment deal last month with a new tool designed to help advertisers take a more nuanced approach to brand suitability. And last week, DoubleVerify – long associated with the buy side – launched the DV Publisher Suite, which aggregates data on one […]

  • Research

    Digital Buoys Global Ad Spend Big Time During The Pandemic

    BY //

    GroupM, Magna and Zenith released global ad spend forecasts on Monday, and all agree that 2020 was not the catastrophe many had predicted. Disaster was averted in large part due to the accelerated shift to digital during the pandemic. Global advertising fell by 5.8% in 2020, according to GroupM, which “could have been worse” and […]

  • Digital TV and Video

    NBCU Strengthens Partnership With FreeWheel To Power A Linear And Digital Convergence

    BY //

    As consumers increasingly use their living room TVs to watch streaming content via CTV and apps, NBCUniversal has pushed the needle forward with video ad server FreeWheel in what it described as a “landmark” move that will transform the way that NBCU clients buy linear TV advertising from the company. The company said Wednesday that […]

  • Platforms

    Wyclef Jean Teams With Google To Support Black-Owned Businesses

    BY //

    Wyclef Jean has seen up close the devastation that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on Black-owned businesses. The three-time Grammy Award–winning musician and founding member of acclaimed hip-hop group the Fugees said that his friends, Medjine and John “Jube” Altino, struggled to keep their business, Vibez Juice & Vegan Cafe in Jersey City, NJ afloat. […]

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