With news yesterday that Turner Broadcasting is launching a data management platform (DMP), dubbed the Turner Data Cloud, the ad industry was once again reminded that data-driven buying and selling is knocking on television's worn doors. In fact, data-driven chatter has seeped through the cracks and made its way to one of TV's most traditional events: the upfronts.

The $4.4 billion mega AOL-Verizon deal is having a ripple effect on the stock exchange. AOL, while much more than just an ad tech player, has touted its programmatic success each and every earnings call for the past 18-plus months. It was to be expected, then, that following AOL's sale to Verizon, other ad tech companies would act accordingly.

The quality of digital advertising has been top of mind of late, but which key metrics -- such as viewability, click-rates and completion rates -- give marketers a better shot at buying quality video advertisements? TubeMogul, a programmatic video ad platform, teamed with media measurement and fraud detection firm Integral Ad Science to find out.

Google has released new data that says just over half (54%) of video advertisements across the Web -- excluding YouTube -- were viewable in April 2015. This suggests improvements are being made on the video viewability front, as last month Vindico released data saying 45% of digital video ads were viewable in 2014, up slightly from 43% in 2013. We'll have to wait for the year-end data to see if long-term improvements truly are being made, but Google's data indicates rates are slowly rising.

Screenvision, a cinema advertising company, this week announced a partnership with mobile engagement platform Sito Mobile to launch a new real-time ad targeting initiative dubbed Project Lynx. Project Lynx is meant to allow Screenvision advertisers reach moviegoers outside of the cinema shortly after they have left the theater.

Finding a "math man" of their own, digital ad fraud detection firm Forensiq on Thursday announced the appointment of Mike Andrews as chief scientist, a new position at the company. Andrews, former director of research at DoubleVerify, holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Physics from MIT.

Media buyers plan to spend nearly half (46%) of digital ad budgets via programmatic channels this year, and the remaining 54% through "traditional" means. This represents a continued shift toward programmatic spending, as 38% of media-buyers' digital ad budgets were programmatic last year. The data comes from Advertiser Perceptions' latest programmatic advertising report, released this week.

The Media Rating Council (MRC) on Monday issued its first guidance for a "mobile viewable" ad impression. Mobile viewable ads follow the same criterion as online desktop and display ads -- requiring at least 50% the ad's pixels to be in-view for at least one continuous second, or two for video -- but in the mobile realm, a new wrinkle has been added: 'Loaded Ads.'

Marketers are in the process of learning and perfecting mobile advertising, video advertising, and the art of using programmatic technologies -- all independent of one another. But there is also overlap between the three -- i.e., mobile video ads traded programmatically -- and it's a corner of the industry that appears to be getting its legs.

The rise of programmatic advertising sales was greeted with some trepidation on the part of human sales staff and media buyers alike, both understandably worried about encroaching automation -- in short, the fear that they would be replaced by computers. And while there is doubtless still some fear in the air, there are also some encouraging signs that programmatic sales by computers and human ad sellers can play nicely together, and indeed profit from each other.