When AOL purchased Adap.tv for $405 million, they didn't just invest in programmatic video, Business Insider says. They write, "AOL just paid $405 million for a video ad business in which up to 80% of ads are bogus...."

The digital ad industry needs to stop confusing real-time bidding (RTB) with programmatic, iMedia Connection argues. They write, "The failure to distinguish the two could result in advertisers missing out on one of the biggest technological leaps in decades."

Robert Webster, MediaCom's data and technology director, has joined ad tech firm Crimtan as chief product officer, The Drum has reported. "The real-time bidding (RTB) environment has drawn criticism from experts, with many frustrated that the over-reliance on retargeting for the purposes of driving volume has meant the market has failed to capitalize on its full potential. Webster agrees, adding that retargeting has become 'commoditized,' with the result that not enough focus is on exploring the full capabilities of programmatic trading," The Drum wrote.

Rubicon Project's Jay Stevens wrote an article on The Drum and asked: Is now the time for mobile private marketplaces? He wrote, "...I believe that we are now [poised] to resolve many of the issues that have plagued mobile up to this point."

Adotas today published an article noting the "pitfalls of programmatic blindness," writing about the importance of transparency. The article says, "As advertising marketplaces begin to provide data transparency, publishers will put higher volumes and qualities of their inventory into these exchanges and buyers will respond with more dollars. Understandably, buyers and sellers will sometimes be unwilling to provide transparency. But they should be aware that in order to get transparency, they must also provide it."

ClickZ today published an article detailing the intersection of conversational marketing and programmatic. "By understanding the audience deliberately and specifically a publisher ought to amplify and extend campaigns using programmatic means to help themselves and their marketer partner. It's the audience, after all, that they both covet."

Business Insider wrote that real-time bidding (RTB) is the future of both digital and mobile advertising, and they explored the question: Who will be the winners and losers? It writes that RTB could make the different in mobile because it can help "solve the CPM problem" and tap into the full benefits out of location data.

Dachis Group, a social analytics company, is launching a new feature that CEO Jeff Dachis described as "real-time marketing in a box," according to TechCrunch. The new feature will allow other brands to "have their own Oreo-style moments," TechCrunch wrote. "Real-time is really the tip of the spear," Dachis told TechCrunch. "Marketing is moving so much faster now. ...[It] needs to be attuned to where people are and the trends and the activity that is actually happening, rather than hoping that you're at home watching CSI."

Brafton wrote an article about real-time social media marketing, and noted how companies have either won (Super Bowl) or lost (Royal Baby) in their attempts. They also make connections to brands trying to do "real-time marketing" in conjunction with Shark Week, and note that the attempts are not receiving any major negative feedback. "Perhaps real-time marketing is most effective when it speaks to entertainment events, rather than exploits celebrity activities. Could Americans draw the line when it comes to profiting off of other's actual lives? If so, maybe the world isn't so upside-down after all," Brafton wrote.

Fourth Source posted an article today calling real-time bidding (RTB) and rich media "a winning combination." The wrote, "The evidence is overwhelming: rich media and RTB work together astonishingly well, and together they outperform premium while ensuring brand safety."