ExchangeWire rounds up some of the biggest stories in the US/Canadian digital advertising space. In this week’s edition: Taptica buys Tremor Video’s DSP; Kepler partners with LiveRamp; Videology and Tru Optik parter; Cuebiq launches new IoT Audiences; inMarket integrates with trading desks; Placecast partners with Pinsight Media; and Amobee new hires and unifies brand.

Taptica buys Tremor Video’s DSP

Consolidation in the ad tech space continues with mobile advertising platform, Taptica, purchasing video ad tech company, Tremor Video’s demand-side platform (DSP) for USD$50m (£38.4m). While Taptica has a global presence in the DSP space, this acquisition will give them a stronger US foothold in the space, access to an established Tremor Video DSP client base, and lead the way to a more comprehensive marketing platform. Tremor Video DSP will be led by Lauren Wiener, Tremor’s president of buyer platforms and will operate as an independent division of Taptica.

Hagai Tal, CEO, Taptica

ExchangeWire asked Hagai Tal, CEO, Taptica, about the strategy behind the acquisition: "We’re extremely excited about this deal, which demonstrates where our focus is: growth around real data differentiation, expanding our international business and presence, and a continuing emphasis on the demand side of the ecosystem. Taptica’s goal is to create a unique end-to-end offering in the marketplace around innovative, next-generation technology and data capabilities. This is a strategic alignment of synergy, the complementary talent and expertise in both companies will create a powerful market force that, as a group, can achieve more than the individual businesses can.”

This purchase will allow Tremor to focus more on the sell-side of the business going forward. “It was a challenge to manage two sides of the business with the kind of scale we had, so we decided to focus on the sell side, where we had solid technology”, Mr. Zagorski told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Tremor Video will have access to about $80m in capital after the sale, allowing it to continue to invest in its technology, particularly in the area of connected-TV video advertising.

Kepler partners with LiveRamp to integrate IdentityLink

Digital marketing agency, Kepler Group, has partnered with Acxiom’s LiveRamp, an identity resolution provider, to integrate IdentityLink into the Kepler Intelligence Platform (KIP). Kepler is the first independent agency to incorporate IdentityLink, which will enable clients to unify IDs across channels and platforms with the goal to improve cross-platform targeting, measurement, and campaign management. Kepler also plans to utilise the integration with LiveRamp for quicker development and activation of customer segmentations, cross-channel personalisation, and addressable and programmatic TV initiatives.

Garrett Dale, SVP of Optimisation & Innovation, Kepler

"We envision a future when all marketing is dynamically personalised to each consumer's needs, and KIP's open architecture is specifically geared to enable these types of integrations", Garrett Dale, Kepler's SVP of optimisation and innovation, tells ExchangeWire. "With IdentityLink, we've onboarded the industry leader for people-based identity management and taken a huge step forward towards achieving that vision."

"Kepler's technology and data-driven approach to marketing make Kepler an ideal LiveRamp partner", said Travis May, president and general manager of LiveRamp. "Kepler's use of IdentityLink to enhance KIP's capabilities creates new opportunities for people-based, omnichannel targeting and measurement. We're excited to partner with them to bring innovative use cases to life for their clients."

Videology & Tru Optik integrate for connected TV

TV and video advertising company, Videology, has partnered with Tru Optik, an audience measurement and data-management platform compatible with Connected TV (CTV). With this integration, advertisers can use Videology’s platform to target nearly 100 million households with messaging based on first- and third-party data. And like PC and mobile devices where users can opt-out of receiving digital advertising, the integration with Tru Optik also ensures that households will be able to opt-out of behaviourally targeted advertisements on CTV.

Aleck Schleider, SVP, Client & Data Strategy, Videology

“CTV is becoming an increasingly important part of the viewing landscape. In fact, we saw 500% growth in the number of CTV campaigns running on the Videology platform in just two years, and I predict that number will continue to skyrocket", Aleck Schleider, SVP, client and data strategy, Videology, tells ExchangeWire. “Given this, CTV is becoming more important for advertisers looking to reach the right audiences, wherever they may be viewing content. Our partnership with Tru Optik now allows them to apply the same precise data sets available on other screens to CTV platforms.”

"Videology was one of the first companies to have the vision and foresight to recognise and prepare for the growing importance of CTV", said Andre Swanston, CEO and co-founder, Tru Optik. "Videology is currently the only platform that has mastered the necessary requirements to do scalable, privacy-compliant, audience-driven advertising across all screens, including CTV. I'm proud of the work we have done together over the past year to bring the necessary rigour to their CTV advertising workflow. As a result of this collaboration, their cross-screen offering to clients is truly unique in the marketplace."

Cuebiq introduces new IoT Audiences

New York-based Cuebiq, a location intelligence company, is launching new IoT Audiences for marketers to utilise IoT data across connected devices. With the growth of consumer IoT devices reaching an estimated 13 devices per US consumer, Cuebiq’s IoT

Antonio Tomarchio, CEO, Cuebiq

audience data will be able to give marketers more insight into which IoT devices consumers are using for cross-platform audience targeting, or with Cuebiq’s location data for insights into consumer behaviour.

"Our new IoT Audiences help marketers identify, understand, and capitalise on consumer and tech trends. Tapping into IoT connected devices, like fitness trackers or smartphones connected to smart home devices via Bluetooth, allows marketers to gain deeper insights into consumer behaviour, such as their purchase intent and brand affinities. By pairing IoT data with location intelligence, the ability to connect with consumers in a meaningful way increases, helping marketers create powerful experiences that better match consumers' interests", Antonio Tomarchio, CEO, Cuebiq, tells ExchangeWire.

Cuebiq’s technology can identify when an anonymous user’s mobile device is paired with an IoT-connected device, and matched with their anonymous user base of 61 million US smartphone owners. This can give marketers the ability to reach consumers on specific IoT devices that are paired with the user’s smartphone.

inMarket brings first-party location data to trading desks

Venice, CA-based digital marketing company, inMarket, is bringing first-party location data to the programmatic ecosystem by extending their Audiences segmenting solution to trading desks. Trading desks will now be able to use inMarket’s opt-in

Cameron V. Peebles, CMO, inMarket

consumer location data, along with their point-of-interest marketing platform, to understand the customer journey between points of interest, and allow brands to precisely target consumers based on location data points.

Cameron V. Peebles, CMO, inMarket, tells ExhcnageWire: "We work with top advertising agencies every day; and the general consensus is that programmatic location data simply isn't good enough right now. We see tons of vendors in the space that are substituting quantity for quality or relying on subpar collection methods or stale data. The inMarket location platform is built from the ground up with accuracy in mind. Our location waterfall leverages full-cycle GPS, WiFi, and the largest deployment of beacons in concert to constantly verify real-time data. Extending Audiences to trading desks is our response to intense demand from our agency partners who have seen the power of our managed campaigns firsthand. Advertisers that use our audience segments will achieve better campaign efficiency and higher ROI, thanks to quality location data.”

Placecast & Pinsight Media partner

Placecast, a location-based mobile data management platform (DMP) based in San Francisco, has launched an ad-verification product that validates location accuracy of geotargeted mobile ad campaigns, called 'Location Verification'. As the amount of

Alistair Goodman, CEO, Placecast

advertising dollars continue to increase on targeted mobile ads, the quality of location data, as well as the concern around wasted media spend, also increases. Location Verification will use carrier data from Sprint’s Pinsight Media to confirm the location accuracy of mobile ads and help alleviate wasted mobile ad dollars by more effectively reaching target audiences.

“It’s staggering to see how many millions of dollars are wasted every year based on old or inaccurate data”, said Kevin McGinnis, CEO of Pinsight Media, a wholly owned data and insights subsidiary of Sprint. “We are proud to support solutions like Location Verification that help raise the performance bar in the mobile advertising industry.”

"Companies like Moat and IAS have made great strides in giving marketers confidence that their campaigns are viewed. After viewability, verifying location is the next logical frontier. Location data quality, and knowing where ads are actually being delivered, have been top concerns for marketers – but until Location Verification, they have not had a solution. The availability of carrier data at scale that can be used as a truth set to measure accuracy is changing the game", Alistair Goodman, CEO, Placecast, tells ExchangeWire.

Amobee & Turn unify brand; Appoint new CCO and CTO

After the acquisition of ad-tech platform, Turn, the marketing technology company, Amobee, is unifying both companies under the Amobee brand and expanding their management team with two new hires. Katie Ford has been appointed chief client officer to drive the adoption of the Amobee Marketing Platform with brand agency clients, and Shouvick Mukherjee as chief technology officer to lead the data science, engineering, and technology teams for the company.

Kim Perell, CEO, Amobee, tells ExchangeWire: “With the acquisition of Turn, and appointment of Shouvick and Katie, Amobee has created one of the largest end-to-end technology platforms globally. The combined assets across Amobee, Turn, and Singtel form a robust and flexible end-to-end technology stack that is enhanced with proprietary Brand Intelligence, reach across 640 million mobile subscribers, and creates exciting new ways to understand and engage audiences worldwide. For our clients, this means they are gaining access to more resources and technical capabilities, deeper consumer insights and media strategy, and all of the benefits of a unified buying platform, including lossless data activation and fluid budget optimisation across a unified workflow.”