B&T's Madeleine Ross cuts through the jargon to offer a layperson's guide to RTB.

Marc Guldimann, founder and CEO of Enliken, picks up the debate of Big Data vs. "better algorithms" be championing the need for "better" data: "Maybe we should think about a solution that involves smaller amounts of higher quality data instead of more data or better algorithms."

Chinese search giant Baidu is preparing to launch its own RTB platform, according to unnamed sources cited by a Netease Tech report, according Morning Whistle. The platform is expected to be unveiled later this year.

In this post on HuffPost, venture capitalist Andrew Tweed provides a pretty good primer on RTB, comparing programmatic media-buying to Wall Street's "high frequency trading" systems.

"The combination of human editorial and algorithmic automation is still in its nascent stages," venture capitalist and former Facebook General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly tells Venture Beat as part of his reason for leading a new round of funding for online video curator Magnify.net. "When I saw Magnify.net, I was able for the first time to imagine a world of video content organization that could rival conventional television and cable by providing publishers and brands with the tools to create unique, targeted, contextual video."

Programmatic buying "will change the economics of journalism much the same way the desktop changed those economics," Forbes Media Chief Product Officer Lewis D'Vorkin predicts in a free-wheeling Q&A with 'The Guardian.' "It's compounded by the consumer move to mobile - advertisers dollars to reach a print audience, dimes to reach a desktop audience and now pennies to reach mobile users. To flourish in the mobile era, news organisations must find ways to create and produce quality content at scale and efficiently."

Havas Media U.K. has tapped former Starcom MediaVest Group exec Scott Moorhead as head of digital trading and operations. Moorhead, who will report to Havas Media Managing Partner-Digital Darren Goldie, will be responsible for all digital trading deals, including the French agency holding company's programmatic buying technology. The appointment follows Havas' recent consolidation of all its media operations -- including MPG and Media Contacts -- under a centralized Havas Media organization. Moorhead, who is based in London, previously was activation director and digital trading director at Publicis' SMG unit.

After launching a private ad exchange with "around ten advertisers" last September, eBay has added 90 advertisers to bump the total to 100, reports The Drum. In speaking on RTB in general, Guy Jones, head of programmatic advertising, eBay, told The Drum: "The conversation is still very much about the nuts and bolts and technical difficulties of plugging together systems, and there is still a lack of standardization. It is important to bear in mind how new this is, but I think we will see a lot of progress in this space in the next year."

The RTB marketplace for online video will exceed Forrester Research's projections ($667 million this year), according to SpotXchange chief Michael Shehan.

Rubicon Project Senior Vice President-General Manager Jay Stevens makes the case for increased sales-side automation, increasing margins, mobile RTB, and of course, the opportunities in the programmatic premium marketplace. "Trading directors really need to get out there, meet the agency trading desks and get a really clear picture of how these budgets are flowing now, all the way from client to publisher," he advises.