• For Publishers, Is the Programmatic Wall Finally Crumbling?
    A marketplace is a system of buyers and sellers trading a commodity in a state of positive tension. Buyers are constantly looking to buy the most valuable inventory at the lowest possible price and sellers are looking to continue to differentiate their products to extract the most value. This positive tension gives rise to a need for innovation to, among other things, drive efficiency.
  • Reaching Affluent Audiences With Programmatic Premium: Talking With RUN's Hittman And Schwartz
    Programmatic may not be top of mind with most luxury advertisers, but it probably should be. As digital adoption grows across devices, the top 20% of earners are shopping and spending more online than average consumers. Programmatic premium should be a consideration for all these brands to reach those audiences at scale.
  • Premium Programmatic: Five Challenges Publishers Face
    While market players tend to associate automated bidding with unwanted remnant inventory, we're seeing an increased interest in real-time bidding (RTB) to sell premium ads. In theory, RTB for premium inventory should bring the same efficiency to the process as it does for ads on the lower end of the scale, helping both publishers and advertisers. But until the technology is honed that allows publishers to take advantage of this new market opportunity, publishers are sitting on the fence. Here are five challenges publishers still face with premium programmatic:
  • Audience Or Intent? A Talk With Vertical Data Guru Eric Roza
    Last week, I had a great talk with Eric Roza, CEO of Datalogix. He knows a thing or two about reaching verticalized audiences, which is always a hot topic in our fragmented marketplace. With multiple mobile devices and an influx of data available, audience buying has become increasing complex in recent years.
  • Nativize The Ad, Not The Page
    The current trend toward native advertising has introduced an academic forum on the topic. What is the true definition of native? How does one do it effectively? Is it a fad reserved only for very large publishers and exclusive advertisers?
  • Consolidated Demand: Here's How Europe Can Leapfrog The U.S. In RTB
    I wouldn't be writing this if I wasn't so confident in the European market's ability to obtain power and leverage in the online advertising ecosystem. It's close to mid-2013, and we've reached the point in the U.S. where real-time bidding is past critical mass. RTB stormed through its initial test phase in the U.S., and it passed with glowing reviews. Now, the sky's the limit. But I can't help but imagine what it would have been like to start all over equipped with the advantages that I know European companies have.
  • Why FBX Isn't Just Display Advertising Anymore
    Once upon a time, many people saw Facebook's Ad Exchange, FBX, as just another source of display inventory - analogous to the Google ad exchange. But if you're still thinking that way, think again. FBX is becoming so much more.
  • Another Ad Exchange? Sure, Why Not?
    It was recently reported that Twitter will launch its own ad exchange. This is another way of saying "I've arrived" and "I'm playing with the big boys now." At this point, virtually every major digital media company has an ad exchange. To illustrate the point, I looked up the market cap of the largest Internet/media companies and took note of their exchange strategy. Here's the list, sorted by company size with the biggest at the top:
  • Using Programmatic: Content Marketing Via Display Can Be As Effective As Social Media
    Gilad de Vries wrote something in a column last week that really resonated with me. Writing about distribution as part of an effective content marketing strategy, this is what the senior vice president of Outbrain had to say: "Another channel to keep in mind is display. While it may seem on the surface like content and display ads are on the opposite ends of the marketing spectrum, it turns out that integrating content into display ads increases reach, precision, relevance and engagement rates." Did he hit the nail on the head, or what? Display is the perfect vehicle for content …
  • Programmatic Direct As 'Interesting Compromise': A Talk With Yieldex's Tom Shields
    Tom Shields, the co-founder and chief strategy officer of Yieldex, is concerned about the huge misconception many in our industry have regarding programmatic. "Many people still assume programmatic equals RTB," Shields notes. Of course, it doesn't.
« Previous Entries