» AOL and Rubicon have entered into a non-exclusive partnership in six different European markets that allows the yield optimiser to manage the non-premium display of AOL and operated inventory. The partnership covers all Ad.com inventory – with AOL recommending the Rubicon platform to its network partners. The deal extends to six countries in total, including Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain. Both parties were at pains to stress that the deal only applies to unsold ad inventory. Having shuttered a number of regional offices, AOL is clearly looking to refocus its efforts on stronger areas: AOL still has significant reach and share in Europe’s powerhouse display markets, namely France, Germany and the UK. There are no details of how much non-premium inventory AOL has in the six countries named above, but it would appear Rubicon has achieved a significant win here. The combined ad network market of these six countries has an estimated value of around 200 million euro – and growing. They have now got a foothold in markets, particularly Spain, that have been traditionally difficult to break into.
Adify is a vertical ad network platform that helps publishers build out their own network, augment their reach, and connects brands to highly targeted audiences. Nick Reid, Senior Director of Platform Development UK at Adify, took time to speak to ExchangeWire this week about the state of the UK ad network market, what ad nets will need to do to survive, and the potential disrupting effect of DSPs.
» With all the debate on the convergence between search and display, it was timely that SES London devoted a whole session to the very subject. The illustrious panel was made up of industry luminaries, including: Jonathan Mendez, Founder & CEO, RAMP Digital; James Sandoval, Founder & Managing Director, Invizua Limited; Dax Hamman, Vice President of Display Media, iCrossing; and Sacha Berlik, Founder and CEO, mexad. The majority of the panel agreed that some convergence was happening.
» The Rubicon Project believes the current ad server is a “legacy technology”, and must be put to the sword. In a blizzard of PR, hype, and typical Rubicon showmanship, the company set out its “manifesto” for content creators last week. The document lists the ways in which it intends to help publishers wrest more spend from the buy-side. I think there is a massive opportunity for the likes of Rubicon on the supply-side. Oversupply of ad inventory is driving prices into the ground. Future revenue growth for publishers now lies in extracting value from data: yield optimisers like Rubicon will have to equip publishers with the tools to better understand and build out audiences, so that they can sell at a higher price to media buyers. Rubicon is clearly positioning itself as a supply-side platform. If it’s to prosper, the new SSP will have to give publishers better technology, better inventory control, better yield management and better audience insight if the current decline in pricing is to be arrested. (The Rubicon Project Blog)
nugg.ad is one of Europe’s leading BT specialists, offering its predictive behavioural targeting platform to agencies and advertisers in multiple European markets. The company has been a strong player in the BT sector for a number of years. With the EU “cookie” directive hanging ominously over the online advertising industry, it is interesting to see how a company so utterly dependent on the existence of the cookie industry is engaging with legislators and privacy advocates. ExchangeWire caught up with Stephan Noller, Nugg.ad CEO & Founder, to discuss its BT platform in more detail, the growing issue of user privacy and the plans for growth in 2010.
The launch of the AdAudience last month was the first of its kind anywhere in Europe: a collaborative effort by some of the EU’s biggest sales houses (namely, G+J Electronic Media Sales, IP Germany, SevenOne Media and Tomorrow Focus) to leverage their own data and ad inventory in order to build out a premium audience-buying proposition for agencies and advertisers.
AudienceScience officially launched its audience-buying network in the UK last week. Its user profiling technology helps publishers segment premium audiences. These audience profiles are then packaged and sold into agencies and advertisers. There has been a move by agencies of late towards more audience-centric media buying, and AudeinceScience seem to be launching its premium offering at a very opportune time.
» Improve Digital and AOP are building up to their joint event next week. Improve Digital gives a full list of attendees and the agenda for the half-day conference. ExchangeWire will be on “the changing dynamics of buying and selling media” panel and looks forward to some lively debate on the subject. (IT Director)
» There does seem to be a lot of coverage on industry blogs and websites about DSPs. A lot of vendors are jockeying for a lead in the nascent DSP market. Today it’s the turn of LucidMedia to spell out why its DSP is better than the rest – and it’s a growing list. The article lists five key criteria for a successful DSP, all of which I might add LucidMedia’s platform fulfils: integrated RTB, intelligent bidding, retargeting, managed services, optimisation and inventory sources. (LucidMedia)
» Tagman the “universal tag company” raised $1.3 million in funding yesterday to expand its offering globally. Tagman is already working with a number high-profile ecommerce and agency clients (it recently inked a recent deal with Boden to track all of its online channels) as it seeks to rid the world of duplication. (TagMan Blog)
» Adweek published an extensive piece on the evolution of the exchange eco-system and the way it’s affecting display advertising. It is a thorough overview of how the display market is moving more towards automated platforms and how data is being leveraged to deliver better performance. (Adweek)
» According to the US & Trademark Office, there is an application to patent Real-Time Bidding. The patent was filed by David Roth (possibly the same David Roth who is Director, Search Marketing at Yahoo?) in October 29, 2007. (US & Trademark Office)
» Yahoo has announced a new partnership with Nectar. Yahoo will use Nectar’s data on shopping habits to target relevant ads at users. The new BT product, entitled Consumer Direct, will look to work with FMCG brands, which have traditionally not committed significant amounts of marketing budget to online display. (Guardian)
» AOL and Rubicon have entered into a non-exclusive partnership in six different European markets that allows the yield optimiser to manage the non-premium display of AOL and operated inventory. The partnership covers all Ad.com inventory – with AOL recommending the Rubicon platform to its network partners. The deal extends to six countries in total, including Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain. Both parties were at pains to stress that the deal only applies to unsold ad inventory. Having shuttered a number of regional offices, AOL is clearly looking to refocus its efforts on stronger areas: AOL still has significant reach and share in Europe’s powerhouse display markets, namely France, Germany and the UK. There are no details of how much non-premium inventory AOL has in the six countries named above, but it would appear Rubicon has achieved a significant win here. The combined ad network market of these six countries has an estimated value of around 200 million euro – and growing. They have now got a foothold in markets, particularly Spain, that have been traditionally difficult to break into.
» With all the debate on the convergence between search and display, it was timely that SES London devoted a whole session to the very subject. The illustrious panel was made up of industry luminaries, including: Jonathan Mendez, Founder & CEO, RAMP Digital; James Sandoval, Founder & Managing Director, Invizua Limited; Dax Hamman, Vice President of Display Media, iCrossing; and Sacha Berlik, Founder and CEO, mexad. The majority of the panel agreed that some convergence was happening.
» The Rubicon Project believes the current ad server is a “legacy technology”, and must be put to the sword. In a blizzard of PR, hype, and typical Rubicon showmanship, the company set out its “manifesto” for content creators last week. The document lists the ways in which it intends to help publishers wrest more spend from the buy-side. I think there is a massive opportunity for the likes of Rubicon on the supply-side. Oversupply of ad inventory is driving prices into the ground. Future revenue growth for publishers now lies in extracting value from data: yield optimisers like Rubicon will have to equip publishers with the tools to better understand and build out audiences, so that they can sell at a higher price to media buyers. Rubicon is clearly positioning itself as a supply-side platform. If it’s to prosper, the new SSP will have to give publishers better technology, better inventory control, better yield management and better audience insight if the current decline in pricing is to be arrested. (
