Havas is second holding company to get on board AOL’s One platform
Havas’s trading desk Affiperf is the latest charter partner of AOL’s One platform, meaning they’ll use AOL’s end-to-end technology stack to buy display, mobile and video ads. The One platform is not yet publicly available, so Havas will be one of the first agencies to try it out — alongside IPG, which was announced as the first charter partner when One launched in the fall.
AOL’s One is one of the first platforms to comprehensively integrate all the technology between the buyer and the seller — including cross-screen DSP, exchange, publisher platform, analytics and attribution. Some, like TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson, have criticized that strategy, arguing that integrated demand and supply creates a conflict of interest between advertiser and publisher clients. On the other hand, at least two holding companies have decided that’s not a significant issue; IPG CEO Matt Seiler told AD-Vantage in a recent interview that as a tech platform, AOL occupies a neutral position in the market. “If we’d announced Microsoft was our tech provider, nobody would be surprised,” he said. “People don’t think of AOL as a tech provider, but they have every right to be in that space.”
Read about the Havas/AOL deal at the Wall Street Journal
IAB publishes monster native ad study
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has published what’s probably the largest consumer survey on native ads to date, with 5,000 respondents sharing their views about what makes sponsored content work and how it affects brand and publisher credibility. Consumers were shown real, in-market examples of different kinds of ads, and said that overall they found native ads were more interesting than other kinds of digital advertising (though slightly more intrusive/annoying than banners). The most important factors for successful sponsored content were that it was relevant, and the brand was perceived as trustworthy and an authority on the subject.
Read the full study at the IAB’s site
Microsoft shuts down Xbox originals, what will advertisers think?
It looks like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s new vision for the company doesn’t include original programming. Despite making a strong commitment to digital video content at this year’s NewFronts, Microsoft’s 18,000 layoffs will include the 200-staff Xbox Entertainment Studios. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, executives at Mediacom and Razorfish criticized the move, questioning Microsoft’s commitment to advertisers. Nadella’s 3,000-word epistle about the company’s new direction was curiously devoid of any mention of ads or advertisers (trust us, we used Ctrl+F) — which, together with the Xbox Studios shutdown, may well mark a significant shift away from advertising as an investment focus for the company.
Read more at Media Post
Adap.tv wins patent on attribution measurement for TV ads
Wouldn’t it be nice to measure which TV ads are driving ROI, just like digital marketers can do? Well, AOL’s Adap.tv thinks it can do it using machine learning. A patent granted to Adap.tv last week describes an algorithm that learns to recognize TV-driven conversions, and calculate the probability of future conversions. Paired with technology supplied by Convertro, another recent AOL acquisition, Adap.tv could well be able to build a multi-channel model of the purchase funnel, and measure the influence of each touchpoint in a campaign.
Read more at ClickZ
Big Deals
Acquisitions and partnerships shaping the ecosystem
- $1B Google acquisition of game streaming service Twitch.tv confirmed
- Broadcast media solutions company WideOrbit buys SSP Admeta
- Native ad analytics firm SimpleReach raises $9M
- Yahoo buys mobile publisher platform/ad exchange Flurry
- Twitter acquires digital coupon company CardSpring
- Smart AdServer partners with Casale Media to reach European audience
- IPG to buy ABC TV inventory programmatically through FreeWheel, Adap.tv
Around the Web
Must-read features and opinion
- Why advertisers are questioning how agency trading desks work (Wall Street Journal)
The WSJ tackles transparency in agency trading desk pricing models. - Flurry: What it is, where it stands and why Yahoo wants it (Ad Exchanger)
A great explanation of Flurry’s status as a mobile network with young but promising programmatic capabitilies - Why LinkedIn could be the de facto B2B data platform (Ad Exchanger)
LinkedIn’s Bizo acquisition shores up its databank on connected professionals and secures its seat at the B2B digital marketing table - Ad exchanges unclothed (Media Post)
We will look back on 2014 as the year this article was written. No really, just read it.
