Newegg and Kellogg Co. are among marketers that have pulled ads from the Breitbart News Network, a conservative news site that has been accused of spreading hate-mongering among other things. A report by the Wall Street Journal reveals that marketers are increasingly finding themselves in sticky situations in part, because automated ad buying doesn't enable them to know on which sites their ads are running -- that is, unless they do private marketplace deals or some form of automated guaranteed deals. "The situation at Breitbart is bringing into sharp focus the complications of ad technology and the risks for marketers. …

Econsultancy speaks with Jeremy Hlavacek, VP of Global Automated Monetization at The Weather Company where he heads up programmatic ad sales. While Hlavacek says ad fraud is a big problem "the good news is that advertisers are getting a lot more serious about that issue to the benefit of companies like Weather, which can offer premium inventory at scale without any of the worries of fraud, viewability and non-human traffic. ...We want people to buy real legitimate impressions." For 2017, he says Weather's looking to apply its data "across all media. Display is great but social advertising, outdoor advertising and …

The Wall Street Journal's Mike Shields attempts to explain what AppNexus does and the overall function of ad tech, for that matter. Since AppNexus is poised for an IPO, it's a bit of education that's useful for Wall Street types and investors. The Journalprojects that the company could be valued as high as $2 billion if the IPO goes through next year. The report states that AppNexus' business offers a supply-side platform or in ad tech jargon a SSP which consists of software tools that help online publishers "manage ad space and make more money." AppNexus also has a demand-side …