By at least one measure, nearly half of all consumers say they are now connected all the time. The measure, which is based on on a recent online survey conducted by Respondi for Vivaldi Partners Group, asked consumers to self-report whether they were "always on" based on the following criteria: used at least three Internet-connected devices, at least three times daily from at least three different locations, from at least three different locations daily over the past seven days. Based on that definition, 48% of the 574 respondents now consider themselves to be "always-on consumers."

Programmatic has caught hold around the globe, which is why I'm always eager to hear new perspectives from people stationed in other countries. You'll hear that the programmatic market is at different stages of development in each country -- that Country X is where Country Y was one year ago -- but one thing everyone has in common is questions about transparency.

Neustar's Aggregate Knowledge on Wednesday released its Global Media Intelligence Report, 2013 Year In Review. The report breaks down 145 billion "ad events," 61 billion impressions, and 10.5 million conversions across social media, exchanges, networks and portals. So how do the exchanges stack up?

Two things you often hear in the ad tech industry are "we need to work together" and "we need to have standard measurements." Several companies follow these credos, but they often sound like fantasies written by starry-eyed panelists. They say one thing, then do another. There are still leaders in the space that walk the walk, however -- and two of them existed well before today's fancy ad tech.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column based on the fact that some estimates believe we currently have only six seconds to engage a consumer with digital content. Today, I'd like to focus on what engagement actually means. I was prompted by the the Interactive Advertising Bureau's release of a new report on the subject, and I was struck by the fact that it goes beyond things like cognition -- what we consciously think -- to include both emotional and physiological engagement. The announcement got my heart rate going for several reasons (some cognitive, but some no doubt …

To get people prepped for "tax season" -- or maybe to help them cope with bad bets made on the Super Bowl -- Financial Service brands took to online video in a big way following the big game. A group of approximately 85 Financial Service brands combined to spend 179% more on online video ads via real-time bidding (RTB) in the 24 hours following the Super Bowl compared to the 24 hours before the game.

With the news this week that Rubicon Project filed for an IPO worth up to $100 million, one has to wonder how their story will play out in the public marketplace. What's Rubicon's course? Rocket Fuel dominated out of the gate, but cooled off almost immediately (though the company has not lost the gains it saw in those first few days -- it's still trading at 78% more than its initial IPO price). However, we're only talking about a couple of month's worth of action from other public ad tech companies, so there's no real trends to go off yet. …

"RTM Daily" has proven its flexibility once again, as it today stands for "Right Time Mobile." Apparently, "real-time" died over the weekend. Joe Mandese wrote about it for our Weekend edition on Saturday. (Some marketers didn't get the memo in time for Super Bowl Sunday.)

Santa Monica-based merchant bank Siemer & Associates LLC on Tuesday released its Winter 2014 Online Advertising Report, which highlights ad technology companies, real-time bidding (RTB), and private marketplaces. David Siemer, co-founder of Siemer Ventures, the bank's investment arm, spoke with RTM Daily about the report. Citing a combination of reports, including Siemer's own data, Wall Street Research, and eMarketer, the report says RTB ad spend increased nearly 75% in 2013, which dwarfs the overall online ad growth rate of 17.1%.

As a football fan, I actually enjoyed watching a dominant performance, though I could have done with a closer finish. It turned into a blowout, and marketers attempting to make themselves relevant were no more successful than the Denver Broncos. Except for one.