Robert Andrews

LONDON — 2014 looks like being an even bigger year in video for Group M’s Xaxis data targeting unit. Group M parent WPP last week announced it would merge stablemate 24/7 Media’s collection of publisher-side technologies in to Xaxis to cater to an ad market seeing publishers and advertisers dealing with each other, cutting out […]

LONDON — The rise of super-targeted “programmatic” online ad buying may be cast as the rise of “Maths Men” over “Mad Men” – but one ad exec says marketers should refocus on using the new wealth of numbers to tell traditional creative stories. “The language we’ve created for our industry is very difficult for most […]

LONDON — For all the talk about the collection of online ad buying processes come to be known as “programmatic”, two ad execs suggest the real definition of the method depends on pricing architecture, not technical approach. Videology global accounts SVP Jana Eisensten tells Beet.TV bidded, as opposed to fixed-price, sales embody a greater variant […]

LONDON — The new-wave automated decisioning for digital ad spending has come a long way in the last two years. But is the party about to end? “As programmatic increases in its success, as it really ramps up, it will become a slight victim of its success – some of those things that it’s subordinated […]

LONDON — In the rise of programmatic advertising’s “Maths Men“, the ad industry is overlooking the importance of creatives that turn on real emotions, says a viral video expert. Social media video agency Unruly Media has been building a data set quantifying the emotional response characteristics to video rather than categorizing responses by demographic fields, […]

LONDON — One medium has long relied on imprecise, demographic viewer measuring; the other boasts super-detailed data-driven insight. But TV and internet channels are learning to hybridize the ways they quantify advertising audiences, one exec says. Nielsen media client consulting VP Andrew Bradford tells Beet.TV how TV joint industry committees in Germany and the UK […]

LONDON — The proliferating number of media screens means advertising  campaigns now have to be conceived across channels – but technology vendors can help ease the pain, a panel of ad execs agrees. “We should be talking about the whole multi-screen element,” GroupM digital director Krishan Patel tells Beet.TV… “being able to target campaigns holistically […]

LONDON — The extent to which video advertising is sold using automated, “programmatic” method is booming. But one top ad exec tells Beet.TV of two key pieces that still need solving. “For the creative agencies, there’s a massive education piece to be done around programmatic,” GroupM digital media director Krishan Patel says. “The storytelling element is […]

LONDON — The rise of video-on-demand means ad networks must step up and create environments where brands feel safe advertising, says one video ad tech exec. “Ad networks have a need to stay abreast of what technology is requiring,” global accounts SVP Jana Eisenstein of Videology tells Beet.TV. “Advertisers’ primary concern for VOD is brand safety […]

LONDON —  Advertiser interest in programmatic is growing, but more work needs to be done to better describe and allay fears over the phenomenon, says an exec representing both buy- and sell-side. The make-up of attendees to an Internet Advertising Bureau UK conference on the topic has gone up from 10% advertisers last year to […]

LONDON — The industry is still not configured to easily producing online advertising that works across digital screens, a panel convened by Beet.TV agrees. Unlike Scandinavia, where 90 percent of pre-roll ads last a mobile-friendly 12 to 15 seconds, most UK pre-rolls are dumped from existing 30-second TV spots, sports video firm Perform Group’s UK […]

LONDON — The rise of automated, “programmatic” ad sales methods means premium publishers may not need to use conventional ad networks anymore, GroupM’s digital media director Krishan Patel. “The level of adoption in display is a lot more given we’re in an environment of oversupply,” Patel says. “In a scarce market such as VOD, do premium […]

LONDON — So-called “programmatic” buying and selling of online ads may super-target highly efficient inventory – but that doesn’t mean algorithms really understand consumers’ emotions, says one ad exec. “The programmatic landscape is very obsessed with ‘who’ and ‘what’; it’s not looking at ‘why’,” Phil Townend, EMEA MD of viral video monitor Unruly Media, tells beet.TV, […]

LONDON — For a medium so dependent on digital data, it is no wonder the internet has lately seen the rise of super-targeted, highly-efficient “programmatic” ad-buying. But that hasn’t stopped the re-emergence of old-style TV ad-measuring metrics like gross rating point. “When you’re in TV, you’re told ‘there’ll be no such thing as TV’,” sports […]

LONDON — We know that automated, so-called “programmatic” purchasing of online ad space is important and growing. But how important, and how fast is it growing? “We don’t have any independent figures at the moment,” the Internet Advertising Bureau UK‘s data and industry programmes head Steve Chester tells Beet.TV. “We will have that next year […]

LONDON –Videos is the fastest part of Xaxis, the data and technology of GroupM, media agency division of  WPP.  It has been a “watershed” year where the agency is using data to target about half of its video buying across the EMEA region, says Caspar Schlickum, MD of EMEA, in this interview with Beet.TV The […]

LONDON — Consumers are using many different digital devices to watch content and advertising. But ads are still being bought with an air of fragmentation, says one executive. “Mobile is still a very, very tiny fraction of advertising spend,” says Nicolas Bidon, UK MD of GroupM’s Xaxis data-handling unit in this interview with Beet.TV “The […]

LONDON — It’s barely a week since video distribution and monetization service Rightster became that rare beast – a technology floatation on London’s stock markets. But CEO Charlie Muirhead, whose company raised £22.4 million ($36 million), tells Beet.TV he is already talking with companies he wants to buy to grow his video business further. “We’re in […]

LONDON — While many news publishers have eyed the rise of so-called “programmatic” automated online ad trading with skepticism, Guardian News & Media has “embraced” the approach for four years, says revenue director Tim Gentry. The latest example is the deal Gentry signed with ad tech vendor MediaMath last month creating Response+, a trading desk which […]

LONDON — When it comes to content, digital media used to be seen as the poor relation to television. But, when it comes to measuring content, it’s TV that’s now imitating the web, says a Nielsen executive. “One of the most int trends we’re seeing at the moment in Europe is the extent to which […]