ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the European ad tech sector, and in this week's edition: Media owners unite to take on Google; AOL and Kenshoo ink social targeting deal; UK public service broadcaster begins trading programmatically; Speculation over Dunnhumby and WPP.

CNN, the Economist, Guardian & FT form Pangea to take on Google

This week it emerged that three of the top UK-based publishers were joining forces with broadcaster CNN International to form an international collective called Pangea that will let advertisers access their combined properties at scale.

The quartet have joined with Rubicon Project to let brands access their inventory at scale using the supply-side platform’s (SSP) technology in a bid to rival the industry’s internet behemoths when it comes to ad dollars.

Pangaea will offer display solutions, both as a standalone product and alongside existing publisher initiatives, including native advertising programmes and publisher trading desks, according to a release published by the quartet.

As part of the initiative, all members of the quartet will work together to offer brands bespoke automated advertising solutions which complement the individual publishers’ existing digital commercial propositions, sharing their first-party data and ad formats.

The four claim Pangaea creates a uniform, media-rich experience across one simple programmatic buy, with ads able to run seamlessly across all the publishers’ sites from a single point of contact.

One key point the Pangea members hope will prove a point of difference over players such as Facebook and Google, is that they don't provide a 'black box' solution, with the door seemingly open to other premium media owners.

Jay Stevens, Rubicon Project, general manager, international, commented: "As the industry consolidates with an increasing amount of advertising planned and bought by agency trading desks, publisher collectives such as Pangaea, enable media brands to collaborate and compete for a share of media plans against global digital competitors such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.”

Kenshoo named first social inventory provider for One by AOL

AOL this week announced that it has signed a global licensing agreement with Kenshoo that will let customers of its full-service ad stack One by AOL access inventory on two of the world's largest social networks.

The deal means that One by AOL clients will be able to use the platforms proprietary predictive and first-party audience segments to target users on both Facebook and Twitter.

The predictive analytics engine of One will provide immediate insights – including attribution – on metrics such as reach, frequency and performance across all screens and formats, according to the company.

Chad Gallagher, AOL, global director of mobile, said: “The more data and insights an advertiser can put through a single, holistic and open platform, the better the analysis and decision making will be. We will provide fully managed services to our clients and direct access to all desktop, native, and mobile inventory on the top social platforms.”

Gary Nafus, Kenshoo, managing director, added: “This partnership will help marketers who have had to manage multiple data sources and solutions in order to get a holistic and accurate picture of their customers and those showing intent. Now AOL can put this larger data set to work through one platform, provide deeper audience insight, and utilize Kenshoo to drive performance from social at scale.”

Shell calls for 5-second viewability standard

Earlier this week, ExchangeWire reported that one of the world’s most recognisable brands now wants five times the agreed industry standard on ad viewability before it pays for online ad space.

The IAB has attempted to lead the way, brokering an ‘industry-wide consensus’ that a viewable ad is one where 50% of the creative was served on screen for one second.

However, Americo Campos Silva, Shell International Petroleum Company, global media manager, used the trade body's real-time advertising conference to tell delegates he wanted to see significant improvements in the ad tech space, especially when it came to whether or not his brands’ ads were seen by a human being and where exactly his ads were seen.

He added: “What we see from the IAB [in terms of what is a viewable ad] is that the ad has to be seen for one second, but clearly this is not good enough, at least for us. For us, we want to be seen for at least five seconds. I prefer this to the IAB definition [of what is a viewable ad].

“What we have seen through tests with different programmatic suppliers is that there is a correlation with the use of programmatic and decreased levels of viewability. Maybe this is just in our case, but these are our findings.”

Campos Silva went on to say: “I don’t accept ‘one second’ any more in terms of viewability. We are now targeting five seconds for viewability, and that is our benchmark, and our goal.

Channel 4 to open up to trading VoD programmatically

It was revealed this week that the UK broadcaster will open up its inventory to be traded programmatically across Samsung-manufactured connected's TVs, YouView subscribers, as well as those watching the broadcaster's content via Microsoft Xbox consoles,

UK-based news site The Drum this week reported that the broadcaster has already signed up Dentsu Aegnis holding group as a launch partner to purchase ads programmatically from its online portal 4oD (soon to be rebranded as All4).

The Dentsu Aegis Network, whose media agencies include Carat and Vizeum, means brands including Adidas, BMW, British Airways, and Diageo could all be purchasing ads across the properties in such a fashion, according to the site.

WPP chief confirms interest in Dunnhumby

This week Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP, CEO, said his holding group was interested in making an offer for Tesco-owned dunnhumby at a conference in London, adding weight to months of rumours.

Speaking at the Enders Analysis conference this week, Sir Martin said WPP was "interested" in Dunnhumby, according to Business Insider, claiming that such an acquisition would fit well into its portfolio of data and analytics companies that provide insight to marketers.

Dunnhumby, the company behind Tesco's Club Card data, is the subject of rife speculation given the retailer's current woes, since it is not core to Tesco's core supermarket business.

Any such purchase would be in fitting with WPP's strategy of acquiring its way into emerging services. In the past year alone it has made over 60 acquisitions (or at least part of said companies), including the 15% purchase of AppNexus, and later in the year the holding group also took an equal stake in analytics firm comScore.