Digital Supply Chain Maturing Because ‘Marketers Want More’: Index Exchange’s Andrew Casale

COLOGNE – Could it be that the digital supply chain is finally growing up? It’s definitely maturing, with signs of consolidation, less innovation and indications that marketers’ calls for greater transparency are having an impact, according to Andrew Casale. If all of this were true, Casale would know. Back in 2003 he founded Casale Media […]

 
 

Spotify’s Benedik Wants To Educate Brands On Video Ads

COLOGNE — It is the leading unlimited-digital music subscription service, but Spotify is no longer an audio-only provider. In fact, Spotify introduced video advertising back in 2014. But, as it gears up to go public, the company is turning up the volume on an ad offering, video, that can likely command higher premiums than audio. […]

 
 

Buyers Want Automation, Digital Insights And Attribution From Programmatic TV: DataXu’s Mike Baker

COLOGNE – In the arms race that is automated or programmatic TV, there’s much realignment occurring among tech players. They know if they’re too slow on the drawing board an Amazon or Facebook or Google will swoop in and beat them to the launch pad. This is not lost on marketing analytics provider DataXu, which […]

 
 

After Spain, OTT Is Key to Sky’s International Expansion Plans

COLOGNE — Over-the-top (OTT) Internet delivery looks like becoming the Trojan Horse for an expansion of Sky’s pay-TV business in what is emerging as a post-satellite future beyond its traditional UK. This summer, Sky, the UK’s leading pay-TV company and combined telco and channel provider, announced it will launch in Spain. But, unlike its core offering […]

 
 

NBCU’s Krishan Bhatia Discusses The Growing Linear-Digital Viewing Divide

COLOGNE – With the proliferation of video platforms and devices has come a persistent call for a common method of viewer measurement. One simple statistic shows why: NBC hit “This Is Us” is watched evenly on linear networks and digital platforms. “What we’re seeing in terms of the impact of that on viewership is really […]

 
 

Sorrell Wants Less ‘Clunky’, More ‘Flexible’ From Tech’s ‘Fearsome Five’

COLOGNE — At last year’s DMEXCO, WPP Sir Martin Sorrell promised he would finally join Twitter – if CEO Jack Dorsey showed up at the next event. Well, at this week’s 2017 occurrence of the digital ad gathering in Germany, the pair graced the stage together, and Sorrell joined the social network live in front […]

 
 

Audience Buying Now ‘A Regular Part Of The Planning Process’: NBCUniversal’s Denise Colella

COLOGNE – It’s taken a few years, but NBCUniversal is seeing audience buying becoming a mainstream choice for more advertisers across product and service categories. This comes three years after the media company began offering its Audience Targeting Platform during the Upfront negotiating period and after the second Upfront with its Audience Studio suite of […]

 
 

On Heels Of Spotify Deal, Skinny Bundles Will Go Multidimensional: Hulu’s Peter Naylor

COLOGNE – While the present may seem like the heyday of skinny bundles, things are just getting started. Take Hulu’s recent partnering with Spotify for college students and the pairing of Netflix and T-Mobile. “We talk about bundling products and we talk about bundling video products together, but I think what’s interesting is the opportunity […]

 
 

4C, Mediaocean Integration Aligns Social & TV Ad Buying

They have traditionally been regarded as distinct channels for advertiser strategy, but the worlds of social media and TV are now coming closer together. 4C Insights, whose product suite already let advertisers buy ads on social media in sync with TV play-outs, has partnered with Mediaocean, the software platform for media buyers, to enable the […]

 
 

EU Policies Will Drive Consolidation & Collaboration: Videology’s Eisenstein

COLOGNE — To US media companies, the European market can often seem like, on the one hand, a fragmented morass of patchwork negotiations and, on the other, an overbearing harbinger of heavy-handed central legislation. Both of those things may be true – and both are going to drive digital advertising business over the next year, […]

 
 

Kargo’s Kargman Expects Big Mobile Year With NBC, Unilever

COLOGNE — If the fabled “year of mobile” has finally arrived, what about “the year of video”? Harry Kargman thinks that will be 2018, when deals the mobile ad company he founded has with two big partners kick in to high gear. Kargo, of which Kargman is CEO, earlier this year announced a deal with […]

 
 

DMEXCO Co-Founder Christian Muche: Big Growth Of Global Expo ‘Happened Naturally’

COLOGNE –Tens of thousands of attendees, one million square feet of floor space inhabited by 1,100 exhibitors and 18 different conference stages. Navigating DMEXCO 2017 efficiently in just two days can be a real challenge. “We’ve reached a level where we always wanted to be from the beginning on,” says Christian Muche, Co-Founder of the […]

 
 

IBM, MediaMath Craft Partnership For Futuristic Infrastructure And Cognitive Bidding

COLOGNE – Despite the many innovations birthed by the advent of digital marketing, there’s still much to be done to deliver ads to people that don’t annoy them. This is why IBM and its Watson artificial intelligence assets are teaming up with demand-side platform pioneer MediaMath to create an infrastructure that supports cognitive bidding. The […]

 
 

Sky’s Addressable TV Platform Aims To Be ‘Easy And Transparent’, says Group Director Jamie West

COLOGNE – Sky TV is developing a portal for advertisers to plan their addressable television campaigns. Just don’t say it’s about “biddable” inventory. To Jamie West, Group Director of Advanced Advertising at Sky, programmatic transactions in the broadcast world are about automation. The notion of biddable inventory is not “particularly relevant for a broadcast world,” […]

 
 

Bing’s Steve Sirich: Search Is A Key Component Of Microsoft’s Digital Transformation

COLOGNE – With the ad industry’s preoccupation with premium video and digital media transparency, things like search engines tend to fly beneath the radar. But considering how search has morphed into personal digital assistants, it’s still a key driver of growth and opportunity for advertisers. This is particularly resonant for Microsoft, which unveiled Bing in […]