• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 23, 2015

Programmatic ad-tech firm Rocket Fuel saw its stock price fall 27% on Friday, the lowest since the firm went public in 2013. The drop is being attributed to poor fourth quarter results.

Rocket Fuel CEO George John points to agency holding companies as a cause from the drop, saying, “Our experience is that agency holding companies are putting increased pressure on client-focused media teams to use their house-brand trading desks, and if not addressed this would reduce our revenue opportunity."

Rocket Fuel, of course, is working hard to retain its agency business with renewed efforts and preferred partnerships with holding companies. Clearly, Rocket Fuel has its work cut out. It's not like programmatic is going away but the ad-tech company is going to have to work hard to maintain its foothold.