I had the chance to speak with PointRoll CEO Mario Diez the other day about a McDonald's case study which involved turning big data into real-time intelligence. PointRoll worked with McDonald's agency H&L Partners to deploy "dynamic" creative messaging in real-time. By using real-time data, creatives have a much better chance of delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. You already knew this, but it was funny hearing Diez explain it. "[Marketers] wake up every morning and they realize, 'Holy #%! my creative might be out of date. I just learned something this morning. I …

Siemer Ventures points to the high number of "point solutions" - ad tech companies that serve a very specific purpose - as the reason for the "unsustainable number of players" not just in digital, but also in mobile, search, video, and social. Looking at the past 10 quarters, the number of venture capital investments in ad tech businesses have declined. The average number of deals between and including Q1 2011 - Q1 2012 was 98 per quarter. The average number of deals between and including Q2 2012 - Q2 2013 was just under 60. However, the number of mergers and …