ExchangeWire round up some of the biggest stories in the European digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: New owner for Teads; Hootsuite invests in analytics; Adyoulike tackles US expansion; Growing digital ad spend in France; Better Ads Standards to improve online ad experience; and Adobe unveils Advertising Cloud.

Teads acquired by Altice

Telco provider Altice is bumping up their portfolio with ad tech. The French multinational has just agreed to buy video ad marketplace Teads. The surprise announcement comes after a year in which Teads’ revenue grew by 44% to an estimated €187.7m (£161.73).

Speaking to ExchangeWire, Teads’ founder and executive chairman, Pierre Chappaz, says that Teads was not specifically looking to be acquired: “Since we appeared on top of comScore’s Video Metrix ranking one year ago, we have attracted the attention of some of the biggest players in the industry, including Altice. We decided to partner with them because they will help us considerably in building a true alternative to Google and Facebook, a global programmatic advertising marketplace capable of managing not only mobile or desktop but also addressable TV.”

Chappaz will continue to be on board after Teads’ transition into the Altice organisation: “Teads will continue to operate as an independent company within the Group. Personally, I will join Altice’s management board, and be in charge of our global advertising strategy.”

As for strategic changes after the acquisition, Chappaz says: “We will leverage Optimum, Suddenlink, and Audience Partners’ unique data to offer sophisticated targeting capabilities, and true multiscreen distribution, simultaneously on TV, mobile, and online, with integrated analytics.”

The purchase price is subject to Teads achieving certain revenue targets in 2017, according to the press release, with 75% of the price due at closing and the remaining 25% earn-out subject to Teads’ 2017 revenue performance. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2017, with Teads’ leadership including CEO Bertrand Quesada continuing to lead the business.

For the purpose of the acquisition, Teads has been valued at €285m (£246m).

Hootsuite acquires Snapchat Analytics

Hootsuite wants to have their own analytics solution for Snapchat. To that end, the social media management platform has just acquired the Snapchat analytics platform made by Los Angeles start-up Naritiv. The analytics solution tracks marketing activities on Snapchat.

While the purchase price has not been disclosed, Hootsuite says that members of the Naritiv product team will transition into Hootsuite’s new Los Angeles office.

“Brands are turning to video-centric networks like Snapchat to engage with their audiences”, explains Ryan Holmes, CEO, Hootsuite, the motivation behind the acquisition. “Naritiv has been at the forefront of connecting brands and agencies with Snapchat influencers and their audiences. We’re thrilled to integrate Snapchat functionality into the Hootsuite platform to help our customers take full advantage of this dynamic video network. Snapchat is the new TV.”

Hootsuite is investing heavily into ad tech: recently the social media aggregator also acquired ad tech provider AdEspresso and analytics company LiftMetrix.

Adyoulike expand to US

With investments in native ever increasing in the US, native experts Adyoulike tackle expansion to the US market. Heading up the US operations is Francis Turner, who is vacating his position as MD and CRO for Adyoulike UK. The new US-General Manager will be joined in the US office by CEO Julien Verdier.

Turner is aware of the challenges of entering the US market: “Competition in the US is tougher not just in native, but in every sense”, he tells ExchangeWire. “In terms of comparison, Europe has many local differences spread across each country, while the US is one large, single market to take on. In addition to this, there are many different vendors in the US talking about how they can monetise and deliver results, whether that be through native or different elements. We are looking forward to joining this conversation and bringing a European perspective on open RTB specs and the best practice and governance for the industry.”

In the US, Turner will be responsible for the US profit & loss, and will focus on expanding US operations and team: “Overall, we’re looking to keep our momentum to date going into the US, whilst differentiating ourselves from the companies that are well established here.”

The role as Adyoulike MD (UK) will be filled by Dale Lovell. As CDO of Adyoulike, Lovell was responsible for the publishing and operational side of Adyoulike’s UK business. He is taking on his new role with immediate effect.

Mobile advertising boosts digital ad spend in France

Digital ad spend in France will reach €2.73bn (£2.35bn) this year. According to eMarketer, the investment in digital will rise by 5.2% in 2017, with digital receiving more than a quarter of total ad spend in the French market.

The reason for the growth of digital ad spend is the increasing focus on social, video, and mobile. Overall mobile ad spend in France will grow 40% to €1.09bn (£0.94bn) in 2017, eMarketer predicts. As early as Q4 2018, more than half (51.1%) of the total digital budget will be invested in mobile, worth an estimated €1.46bn (£1.26bn).

“Advertiser outlays on both search and display formats are growing strongly”, says Karin von Abrams, principal analyst, eMarketer. “Key drivers for search and display investment are rather different, however. Rapid expansion of ecommerce is helping to fuel search spending, while the boom in video viewing has a greater influence on display.”

Better ads standard released by IAB

Reacting to research results, the Coalition for Better Ads releases a first attempt at “Better Ads Standards” for desktop and mobile web reflecting users’ advertising preferences in the US and Europe. For the new ads standards, research was conducted for which more than 25,000 consumers comparatively ranked 104 different ad experiences for desktop web and mobile web.

Unsurprisingly, the Coalition’s research finds a link between particularly bad ad experiences and the use of ad blockers. The identified bad experiences were the starting point for creating the “Better Ads Standards”.
During the study, six desktop web ad experiences and twelve mobile web ad experiences fell beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability: pop-up ads, auto-play video ads with sound, prestitial ads with countdown, and large sticky ads on desktop, as well as pop-up ads, prestitial ads, ads with density greater than 30%, flashing animated ads, auto-play video ads with sound, poststitial ads with countdown, full-screen scrollover ads, and large sticky ads in mobile environments.

“We hope these initial standards will be a wake-up call to brands, retailers, agencies, publishers, and their technology suppliers, and that they will retire the ad formats that research proves annoy and abuse consumers", said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO, IAB. "If they don’t, ad blocking will rise, advertising will decline, and the marketplace of ideas and information that supports open societies and liberal economies will slide into oblivion.”

The Coalition wants to counter a further decline in consumer-advertiser relations by introducing educational opportunities for its members and others in the industry. Stakeholders in the industry are encouraged to incorporate the available research into their efforts to improve the online ad experience for consumers.

Adobe creates advertising one-stop-shop

After acquiring TubeMogul four months ago, Adobe has just revealed their new “Experience Cloud” which bundles their cloud services on one platform. Within the Experience Cloud, Adobe is now pairing their Media Optimizer tools with ad tech courtesy of TubeMogul under the umbrella of the so-called Advertising Cloud.

With the acquisition of TubeMogul – and the new structure – Adobe wants to join the competition with other big ad tech players, providing a full stack solution including the TubeMogul DSP, analytics, creative optimisation etc, and hoping to counteract the increasing fragmentation within the ad tech industry.

“With Adobe Advertising Cloud, brands can centralise all advertising planning and buying through one trusted platform with full transparency into exactly where their ads appear and how effective they are at driving business results”, says Brett Wilson, vice president and general manager, Advertising, Adobe. “We are bridging longstanding media gaps – not just between TV and digital, but also between brand and performance advertising.”