Rocket Fuel closed on its acquisition of [x+1] Friday, transforming itself from what was primarily an ad network company into a credible platform play focused on the software-as-a-service opportunity in programmatic marketing. The new Rocket Fuel has far more of the attributes of a “programmatic marketing platform” than the old one, providing clients with the […]
Agencies and marketers are forcing change on ad networks. Rocket Fuel’s $230 million acquisition of [x+1], announced Tuesday, was about more than one ad tech platform’s attempts to add new capabilities. While Rocket Fuel will benefit from [x+1]’s strong data management, demand-side platform, and site-side optimization features, Rocket Fuel CEO George John said on the […]
Programmatic ad network Rocket Fuel will acquire [x+1], an older ad tech company with a dual demand-side platform (DSP) and data-management platform (DMP) offering. The estimated value of the deal is $230 million. The acquisition brings Rocket Fuel a strong direct-to-advertiser capability – an area where it is seen as lacking and where [x+1] has strength through client relationships with […]
Rocket Fuel intends to release a free anti-fraud product in June called Bot Or Not – available to advertisers regardless of whether they’re clients. (Update 5/27: The company has settled on the name Botfinder.) CTO Mark Torrance announced the product’s existence at the Rocket Fuel Summit in New York City on Tuesday and shined a little light into […]
Rocket Fuel, one of a growing pack of public ad tech companies, reported 95% growth in revenues and 107% margin acceleration during the first quarter. But it wasn’t enough for Wall Street, which punished the company’s stock after hours – perhaps in light of decelerating top-line revenues. Rocket Fuel’s active customers more than doubled year over year to 1,251, and the […]
Rocket Fuel’s stock closed at $31.04 Friday, near its lowest point since the ad tech company went public six months ago. The sell-off comes after a group of more than seven investors and senior executives cashed out to the tune of more than $150 million, as reported by InsiderTradingWire. Those transactions, which earned more than $14 […]
Conventional wisdom holds that real-time bidding (RTB) transactions should occur within 60-to- 100-milliseconds. As more bids compete for impressions in the open RTB ad auction environment, lower lag time between various computing outputs means higher bid completion rates. Consequently, reducing latency is a large consideration in developing RTB algorithms. Some RTB players like AppNexus address […]
With the rise of video and native ad formats, traditional display ads don’t get a lot of love in media buyer circles. But they do get plenty of money, as a new ZenithOptimedia forecast makes clear. Spending on standard display ads (i.e. desktop banners) will rise 16% in 2014, “boosted by the revolution in programmatic […]
Are programmatic media companies about to hit the wall? Ken Sena, managing director and Internet analyst at investment banking analyst firm Evercore Partners, is wary. Despite the exuberant expectations around companies like Criteo and Rocket Fuel, Sena sees a possible multifront threat on the horizon. In an Evercore report called “Questioning Competitive Barriers In Programmatic,” […]
If all goes according to plan, Rubicon Project’s public offering will raise about $108 million ($77 million after expenses) in cash and give it a market cap of $671 million. In an update to its January S-1 filing with the US Securities And Exchange Commission, the company said shareholders will offer 6.8 million shares of […]
The conventional wisdom on ad tech margins is that lucrative markups naturally compress over time due to a variety of factors, including competition for media impressions, which drives up the cost of impressions. But some companies, most notably Rocket Fuel, seem to have defied that logic. The programmatic ad platform, which went public last fall, […]
Media-buying platform Rocket Fuel’s growth continued to shoot up in the fourth quarter, driven by – according to CEO George John during the quarterly call – a high customer-retention rate, increased sales productivity and reputation. The company reported gross revenue of $85.6 million in Q4 2013, a 113% increase from the same period last year. […]
Rubicon Project’s Tuesday IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was a widely anticipated moment of financial transparency for the sell-side platform (SSP), but it wasn’t the first programmatic player to initiate a public offering. Rocket Fuel and Criteo both went public last fall, creating an interesting point of comparison for Rubicon […]
Since its IPO in September – in which its share price more than doubled from $29 to $62 – media buying platform provider Rocket Fuel has pretty much shot the moon. In November, during its premier quarterly earnings disclosure, it reported top-line revenue growth of 132% and customer expansion from 406 in Q3 2012 to […]
Rocket Fuel’s entry into Japan last year through a partnership with Dentsu subsidiary interactive unit cyber communications inc. (CCI) has helped the Japanese ad shop’s ability to expand its programmatic services, particularly its demand-side platform (DSP) business. Though its programmatic business was essentially nonexistent before teaming with Rocket Fuel, its DSP business has since risen […]
Rocket Fuel is sitting pretty in its first quarterly earnings report since going public in September. The company saw Q3 top-line revenue growth of 132%. Its customer base reached 938, up from 406 in the third quarter of 2012, and headcount grew to 552 – about on par with AppNexus. Press release. Impressive as those stats […]
French retargeter Criteo has officially gone public, and would seem to be riding the same wave of algorithmic enthusiasm that buoyed Rocket Fuel’s IPO last month. Within an hour of beginning trading on NASDAQ at $31 per share, CRTO jumped 33% to $41. The price puts its market cap is $2.26 billion — about on […]
Updated: Criteo went public Wednesday morning at $31, and is now trading at $41. On Monday we noted that Criteo’s underwriters had increased the target price for its upcoming IPO to $27-$29, exactly the range where Rocket Fuel debuted last month. Now comes word that the price has gone up again, this time to $31 […]
The second big “ad-tech IPO” in as many months is upon us. French retargeting firm Criteo is now expected to price its public offering tonight, a couple of days earlier than previously planned. And the deal’s underwriters have bumped the target price from $23-$26 to $27-$29, suggesting strong demand in the wake of senior management’s […]
Figuring out how to leverage the overwhelming amount of data they collect is a critical challenge for advertisers, and one that spans industries. To shed some light on big data issues, real-time ad platform Rocket Fuel invited Forrester Research analyst Mike Gualtieri, Visible Measures CEO Brian Shin, Morpheus CMO Shenan Reed, and Verizon marketing and […]
Depending on who you ask, Rocket Fuel’s stunning IPO is either a new dawn for programmatic media investment or a scary bubble indicator. In either case, it clearly went better than the company and investors planned. For comparison, we looked at how its nearly $2 billion market cap stacks up against other big companies in […]
AdExchanger asked industry leader and Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise his “take” on today’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) for real-time ad platform and services company, Rocket Fuel. The IPO netted Rocket Fuel $116 million and valued the company at approximately $1.8 billion at market close (stock quote). Bill Wise: On Rocket Fuel doubling and worth nearly […]
Rocket Fuel is living up to its name in its first hours as a public company. After going public at $29, the high end of its range, the share price more than doubled to $62 by late morning. Since then it has fallen back to $55.50, as of noon EST, a 91% gain. The running […]
By Kelly Liyakasa, John Ebbert, and Zach Rodgers It’s a big week for the “programmatic IPO.” Rocket Fuel begins trading publicly tomorrow on NASDAQ under the ticker FUEL. French retargeter Criteo meanwhile has filed its F-1, with detailed information about its financials. Since the performance of these two IPOs could set the tone for ad tech […]
Rocket Fuel is expected to begin trading this week and has raised the target price for its upcoming IPO to a range of $27 to $29 per share, up from $24 to $27. The late boost may be due to heightened interest from investors in the programmatic ad story — versus the broader ad-tech category. […]
Real-time ad platform Rocket Fuel amended its S-1 Registration statement (see it) to go public and revealed how much it will raise and how much it will be worth should all go according to plan. The answer according to NASDAQ: “$102 million by offering 4.0 million shares at a price range of $24 to $27. […]
“Data Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Mark Torrance, Chief Technology Officer of Rocket Fuel Inc. In May 2010, the Dow plunged more than 900 points when algorithms began a high-speed selling spree — based on […]
Last week AdExchanger looked at the dynamic between ROI DNA, a performance-driven agency, and its preferred display-trading partner, Run DSP. (Read the story.) There are many such relationships in ad tech, where a mid-sized agency relies on a key network or platform partner to drive ROI and provide hand-holding to its planners and buyers. You […]
2012 was good to Rocket Fuel, as the company benefitted from rising advertiser interest in retargeting and real time bidding. Oh, and it probably didn’t hurt that the company was named an early partner on the Facebook Exchange, which has rapidly grown to a rumored 7 billion daily impressions. During the year just ended Redwood […]
Compared to the U.S., Japan’s programmatic buying space is in its infancy. But to Rocket Fuel, this is the perfect time to stake a claim for its demand-side platform in that country, as the ad tech firm has been working on building a bigger global presence this year. But instead of just opening up its […]
