Andy Plesser

Facebook’s Instagram unit has announced a range of new advertising units including a 30-second video ad unit and a premium product called “Marquee” which allows brand to “own” a prime position in the Instagram feed, explains Patrick Harris Global Agency Development lead at Facebook,  in this video interview. He says that advertising on Instagram is launching in […]

SpotX, a leading video inventory management, widely known as an SSP for premium publishers, has launched an “in-content” ad unit. Unlike in-stream ads, which appear in a publisher’s video player, these units appear in the text of the articles on desktop and on mobile. We spoke with SpotX SVP Sean Buckley about the new unit […]

The industry lost one of its true visionaries this week with the passing of Curt Hecht, 47, to lung cancer. A veteran digital advertising and publishing executive, Hecht was a pioneer in addressable TV.  He created experimental programs, including one of the first in 2006 with GM and Comcast. As Chief Revenue Officer of The […]

Arun Kumar, global president of IPG’s Cadreon unit, sees AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV as a watershed moment in a new era of television.  He says that the merger will mean more intelligent targeting of consumers with data on the household level. He says that inevitable evolution of the new medium will bring new muscle to an […]

Integral Ad Science, the New York-based tech company that describes itself as  “the leader in quantifying digital media quality” has raised $67 million: $27 million in venture funding from Sapphire Ventures and $40 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank. In this previously published video, company CEO Scott Knoll talks about  how the company […]

The Jun Group, a New York-based video ad platform that places ads in custom video players on publisher sites and within mobile apps, has taken its first venture round since being formed in 2005, the company announced today. The company, founded in 205, has taken some debt financing and is profitable, CEO Mitchell Reichgut tells […]

Less than 10 percent of e-commerce and advertising is powered digitally —  but that will inevitably change. And the looming transformation will provides a twenty to thirty-year “tailwind” for the entire adtech and media industry which will mean vast opportunities for young people entering the industry, says Tim Armstrong, CEO and Chairman of AOL Inc in this video. Also […]

In the past 10 years, since the WPP-owned global brand consultancy Millward Brown has tracked the value of brands with its BRANDZ 100 rankings, there have been many changes.  Over that period, nearly half of the companies have changed.  This upheaval  has been powered by two major factors:  geography and technology innovation observes Sir Martin […]

CANNES – As addressable TV advertising emerges, so are a number of companies including Visible World (recently bought by Comcast), Clypd, Simulmedia and others.  For the new medium to succeed, one essential will be companies that focus on yield management around addressable TV, says investment banker Terence Kawaja. Kawaja is CEO of LUMA partners, a boutique […]

CANNES – Comcast’s data from its twenty millions set-top boxes, coupled with marketers’ first party data, will create a “whole new world” for NBC Universal, for both advertising and content creation, explains Linda Yaccarino, Chairman, Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships in this this interview with Beet.TV Comcast has been expanding its addressable technology via acquisitions including […]

CANNES – We are living in the “golden age” of television which is being populated by an unprecedented amount of premium programming, says Liz Dolan CMO of Fox International Channels.   For advertisers, this represents new opportunities – including powerful brand association with shows via social media, she explains. She cites the “Walking Dead” as an […]

“Uninterrupted,” a video site of videos by prominent athletes had its official launch in Los Angeles this week.   In Cannes last month, we interviewed James’ longtime business partner and childhood friend Maverick Carter about their new venture which is being published in partnership with the Bleacher Report.  The series initially launched last December. We […]

CANNES – Teads, the video platform that powers video advertising into the text articles of many of the world’s top publishers including Forbes, the Guardian, the Washington Post and Le Monde, has grown quickly from its origins in Paris to be a global company which is now booking most of its revenue in the U.S. […]

Historically, video ads that start automatically on the desktop has been seen as an annoyance.  On mobile device, in the Facebook news feed, it is a “delight” says Facebook’s global ad sales chief Carolyn Everson in this interview with Beet.TV Everson says that new forms of advertising, which are generally under 10 seconds, are finding […]

CANNES – While agency clients want to have complete transparency over what they buy programmatically and prefer to buy in a private exchange, there is room for buying in an open marketplace, explains Adam Shlachter, Chief Investment Officer of Digitas LBi i this interview. We spoke with him about the advertising industry transition to an automated marketplace during the […]

CANNES –  Native advertising was very much part of the conversation at Cannes Lions with the BBC and others announcing ambitious initiatives.  One of the most talked about was the announcement of a joint venture between WPP, Snapchat and the Daily Mail around a native advertising initiative called Truffle Pig. At Cannes, we spoke with Rob […]

CANNES – An app that allows women in Turkey to ask for help by simply shaking their phone, won the Media Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival last month. The use of technology and media by “NGO” like organizations for public good was one of the most creative and important trends at Cannes Lions […]

CANNES – Much has been said over the past year about the issue of advertising fraud and  the danger it poses to the ad tech industry.   This was a contentious topic of conversation at the recent Rubicon Project rooftop session during the Cannes Lions Festival. After the session, we spoke with moderator, Jay Sears, SVP […]

Facebook has launched an “alpha” version of a revenue share scenario with video producers.   The split is based on consumer interaction with the video, explains Carolyn Everson, VP of Global Marketing Solutions in this video interview with Beet.TV The arrangement is quite new and there is “no money changing hands” at moment.  Facebook will […]

CANNES –  Something dramatic happened to TV viewing about 18 months ago: Aggregate viewing dropped.  This has happened in large part as audiences moved  to video-on-demand and the measurement services which have not been up to the task, says Irwin Gotlieb, chairman of WPP’s GroupM unit. He says that some 70 percent of the drop in viewership is […]