The world is now a hodgepodge of real-time information. We need to know what's happening when it's happening. It's not a bad thing. It's why Google bought Waze for real-time traffic data and it's why real-time local mobile advertising is starting to take off. One of the major purposes of today's ad tech is to reach the consumer with something relevant when it's relevant. Even when you don't care about the information, you'll still hear about it if it's important enough to enough people. To be honest, I'm indifferent when it comes to the birth of the royal baby. I …

It's amazing the difference a single letter can make. About a month ago, I wrote a RTBlog titled, "The Ruse Of Programmatic 'Direct.'" The post sparked some debates in the comments as to whether or not it really was a direct way to sell inventory. The purpose of that post was not to question what programmatic direct companies do, but to question whether or not the word "direct" belonged at all. Some of the big guys in the programmatic direct space tracked me down and made their cases. And I must say, it was pretty convincing.

I've done real-time online auctions myself at QuiBids (warning, you will spend too much time on that site), but that's still the human controlling 100% of their actions. What if, one day, today's programmatic ad tech was applied to things that regular consumers could buy? Will today's high tech advertising technology one day be sold at your local Walmart to help you personally bid your way to a cheap new TV?

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). …