Accordant Media is expected to release their Q2 report this morning, and the big story in the new report is the industry's apparent new focus on quality. To sum up their report, Accordant writes, "The programmatic media industry continues to evolve in a healthy manner. While the initial inventory growth spurt has flattened, there is arguably a more significant focus on quality and innovation across a broader range of advertising uses for programmatic media." I like Accordant's word choice of "healthy," because it means those involved understand that forgetting about quality while piling on the quantity is not (forgive the …

You can officially follow all of my thoughts in real-time. Or at least all of the thoughts I tweet. Yup, I've made a Twitter account (@mp_tyler) to converse on all things real-time in real-time. Real-time marketing, real-time bidding, programmatic trading, etc. etc. This isn't my first Twitter account (my fantasy football expert alter ego has been using Twitter regularly for several years), but I'm excited nonetheless.

Michael Tiffany, CEO and co-founder, WhiteOps, gave everyone at the IAB Advertising Technology Marketplace event a lesson on bot traffic. He said that current bot detection techniques are misleading because if you know how to detect fraud, then you're going to detect fraud. "So it looks and feels like you're winning, but you're missing the adapters," he said. "We're not dealing with casual criminals right now." Really, if you didn't know the context of this event, you'd think Tiffany was talking about the mafia.

The data is available. Media traded in June via real-time bidding (RTB) both globally and in the United States was...drumroll please... ...very average. According to new data from Rubicon Project's real-time marketplace app, the U.S. had a 1% drop in spend and a 3% drop in impressions last month (compared to May). The global market didn't fair much better, with a 1% increase in spend but a 1% decrease in impressions.

I had the chance to speak with Eric Bosco, the recently appointed CEO of ChoiceStream, about all things programmatic. Our conversation ranged from real-time bidding (RTB) and programmatic advertising in general, to what the actual differences are between the different exchanges. We also touched on the potential dishonesty of supply-side players, RTB in mobile, and more. RTM Daily: There are a lot of exchanges out there. Are they really all that different when it comes to prices, speed, competition, etc.? Bosco: There are a lot of differences but there are things that are very similar. I kind of feel that …

This is part two of a special edition RTBlog. Our guest RTBlogger - Rob Garner - conducted an email interview with Regis McKenna. Known as the father of real-time, McKenna weighs in on real-time marketing in digital, whether or not marketing is now inherently technical, and whether or not companies should be hiring C-level digital officers or marketing technologists. He says, "One important lesson I have learned - 'to be successful in marketing, follow the technology.'"

In the (about) half a year since RTM Daily started, one of the things that has impressed me most about the space is that it doesn't have too many limits. I get to cover news from online advertising, mobile, search, social, video, etc., etc. In today's RTM Daily alone, you'll find a commentary talking about using programmatic for content marketing via display and social. You'll find news of an ecommerce platform meant to aid in real-time customer relationship management (CRM). You'll find news of a company launching their own private ad exchange, which will be supported by real-time bidding (RTB). …

I recently met with Benjamin Christie, founder and president of Gourmet Ads, a food advertising network with their own exchange. The Australia-based company has been using real-time bidding (RTB) technology for about a year and a half now, and have settled into a nice niche with food, grocery, and CPG clients. Christie and I talked at length about RTB, new programmatic technologies, the role of search and mobile, different regions, and where a food network can thrive. The conversation was interesting and a follow-up Q&A was in order. Take a look below to see Christie's thoughts on some hot topics …

I was recently invited to Centro's office to get a demo of their software meant to speed up media planning, which Online Media Daily covered back in March. Essentially, the software helps automate the request for proposal (RFP) stage. Online Media Daily wrote of the software: "...it claims [it] will automate many of the worst labor-intensive tasks done by agency media planners." They claimed. I went and saw. Seeing really is believing.

A real estate auction brand is holding an auction for the Ouray hotel both on-site and online via real-time bidding. However, something tells me that people won't be bidding on the hotel by using algorithms. Using automation comes down to quality and scale, and while this probably isn't news to any of you, I thought it provided a nice argument against premium inventory being bid on by algorithms.