• by Tobi Elkin  @tobielkin, Philip Rosenstein , April 14, 2017

Integral Ad Science Partners With Google To Ensure Brand Safety On YouTube

Brand-safety worries have prompted Google and Integral Ad Science to work together on improvements to reporting to help ensure ad requirements are being met on YouTube. Advertisers can now access reports on eight brand risk categories: adult content, alcohol content, gambling content, hate speech, illegal downloads, illegal drugs, offensive language and violence. The solution is accredited by the Media Rating Council.

"Our H2 2016 Media Quality Report show that brand risk continues to be a key area of concern for advertisers, especially as it pertains to politically charged, controversial, or offensive content,” stated Scott Knoll, CEO of IAS. “Content flagged for hate speech increased by 137% across U.S. display direct and for violence by 27% global video direct from H1 2016 alone."

MediaMath Launches Unified Curated Market

Ad-tech firm MediaMath announced the release of its Curated Market product, which seeks to unify marketers’ needs for high quality content, accurate targeting, and prospecting. The Curated Market, which supports over 7,000 advertisers and 500 publishers, has two main elements: cross-device audience reach and brand-safe, premium media.

Amobee Completes Turn Acquisition

Amobee, a subsidiary of telecom giant Singtel, completed its $310 million acquisition of demand-side and data-management platform firm Turn. Amobee said the acquisition will help strengthen its data, analytics, and media buying capabilities, and help marketers and agencies buy media for specific audiences in a more integrated fashion.

Location data firm NinthDecimal said it combined its Location Graph audiences and Location Conversion Index tools into one offering for marketers. NinthDecimal’s in-feed native advertising offering is available across the mobile Web, mobile apps, and desktop. The native-ad tool aims to help marketers easily deploy cross-device native ads.

Bidalgo Launches AI Agent To Automate Media Buying For App Marketers

Bidalgo, a provider of ad automation software and services for app marketers, launched an artificial intelligence (AI) agent that uses algorithms to manage the entire media buying cycle for app marketers including creative uploads, return on ad-spend optimization, real-time bid management, dynamic budget allocation, and A/B testing.

Taykey Bows ‘Virtual PMP’

Amid growing concerns over brand safety, real-time audience data firm Taykey opened programmatic access to its Trend Advertising product via The Trade Desk and AppNexus. Taykey said the integrations serve as a kind of “virtual” private exchange, allowing trading desks and other programmatic buyers to use Taykey’s real-time trend data to identify relevant and high-quality environments at scale.

Taykey said that while buyers have attempted to solve problems through private exchanges, these solutions lacked scale and the ability to adapt in real time due to a mostly manual approach. Taykey’s technology scans social networks and thousands of Web sites to understand what’s trending for specific audiences. Taykey’s Trend Advertising platform identifies hundreds of specific articles and videos directly related to trending content to increase relevance. The platform’s sentiment-detection capability allows the Taykey to exclude negative or controversial trends.

Ooyala Partners With OTT Provider Blink Now

Over-the-top (OTT) TV provider in the Philippines Blink Now has tapped Ooyala to help maximize its revenue across three OTT properties. Ooyala will support Blink Now’s video technology and analytics to understand audiences in the subscription-based, transaction-based and ad-supported video environments.

Blink Now will use Ooyala IQ for access to real-time analytics that show video performance. Ooyala Pulse will also be available to Blink Now, through which it can better understand the effect of ad loads on drop-off and completion rates.

Tapad Partners With Innovid For X-Device Video Personalization

Tapad announced a partnership with Innovid that enables the video marketing platform to bring cross-device personalization and a more unified viewer experience to its clients. Innovid will use Tapad’s Device Graph to help clients create a consistent and personalized consumer experience across all devices.

SpotX, OmniVirt Partner To Serve 360-Degree, VR Ads

OmniVirt, the 360-degree and VR advertising platform, has partnered with video ad tech firm SpotX to increase the reach of new video advertising creative. This partnership will provide all of SpotX’s clients with access to 360 and VR ad inventory.

“Our Demand Facilitation team will help buyers find the best media owners for 360° VR, and help them structure their buys to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of this innovative new format,” stated Jeremy Straight, SVP of strategic partnership at SpotX “The partnership reinforces SpotX’s commitment to media owners to explore innovative technologies that empower them to realize the full potential of their video ad inventory.”

Ranker Launches New Audience Data Platform

Online ranking firm Ranker announced the launch of its new audience insights platform Ranker Insights. Through the platform, clients access audience insights derived from polling data from the top 50 sites with over seven years of data. Ranker Insights will include a dedicated relationship-management service for B2B clients, while also offering a public service with entertainment-related insights.

Captivate Expands In Canada

Captivate, a location-based digital video network, has expanded in Canada to Ottawa with a presence in six buildings. The  company said its service is now in more than 30 markets including six of Canada’s biggest metropolitan areas: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. Captivate's network of elevator and lobby displays also appears in 1,800 offices in the U.S.