Microsoft hasn’t given up on its ads business even though Facebook and Google are dominating

Microsoft | May 29, 2019

Microsoft doesn’t talk much about online advertising. That’s understandable considering the scrutiny Google and Facebook are under for relying on consumer data to generate their billions in revenue. But Microsoft has not abandoned it. On Tuesday, the company’s LinkedIn unit announced the acquisition of Drawbridge, which specializes in a type of digital advertising called identity resolution that involves identifying people across different devices and data sets. Microsoft has a mixed track record in advertising. Its once promising Bing search engine is tiny relative to market leader Google. In the most recent quarter, Microsoft had $1.91 billion in search ad revenue, up 7% from a year earlier, representing 6.3% of Microsoft’s total sales.

Spotlight

Combining Amazon Connected TV (CTV) ads with Programmatic Display ads is an exceptionally effective way to accelerate sales on Amazon.com. Here are some strategies for leveraging these platforms in tandem: Use CTV to drive awareness: Start by using Amazon CTV to create top-of-funnel brand awareness. Deliver high-quality, engaging video ads that showcase your brand and its unique selling points, and encourage viewers to visit your Amazon product page to learn more.

Spotlight

Combining Amazon Connected TV (CTV) ads with Programmatic Display ads is an exceptionally effective way to accelerate sales on Amazon.com. Here are some strategies for leveraging these platforms in tandem: Use CTV to drive awareness: Start by using Amazon CTV to create top-of-funnel brand awareness. Deliver high-quality, engaging video ads that showcase your brand and its unique selling points, and encourage viewers to visit your Amazon product page to learn more.

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AD NETWORKS

AdAdapted Partners with SideChef to Extend Advertising Reach for CPGs

Business Wire | April 12, 2023

AdAdapted, an advertising technology solution that gets brands onto shopping lists and into carts, has added a new shopping application partner to its roster, SideChef, bolstering its reach over recipe-driven apps and with Walmart.com. Through the new partnership, AdAdapted continues to increase how CPGs advertise across third-party networks, shopping lists, recipes and more. The partnership also strengthens AdAdapted’s e-commerce capabilities and adds additional users to the company’s extensive lineup of first-party app and media network partners. Available this month, consumer goods brands partnering with AdAdapted can target ads to consumers using SideChef and other apps under SideChef Group Limited, headquartered in San Jose, California. Market research shows the recipe apps market is expected to be valued at more than $1 billion in the next five years, driven by consumers looking to cook healthier meals at home. Additionally, a Morning Consult survey found that more than two-thirds of U.S. consumers say they cook with at least one recipe a day. Sitting at the intersection of these trends, SideChef delivers original recipe content while also partnering with influencers and food bloggers, helping consumers save money on home cooked meals, automate meal planning and shop for groceries through partnering retailers such as Walmart.com. “As consumers grow more engaged with online shopping and continue to cook at home, apps like SideChef and its ecosystem provide tremendous content that eases meal prep, shopping and cooking,” said Molly McFarland, co-founder and CRO, AdAdapted. “We are thrilled to be working with these solutions to offer our CPG partners an excellent way to get their brands in front of consumers, onto shopping lists and ultimately, into carts.” Brands that work with AdAdapted can serve native digital ads to the SideChef platform and app, enabling consumers to seamlessly add branded products to their Walmart.com digital cart. The partnership greatly enhances AdAdapted’s direct connection with Walmart.com and its e-commerce capabilities overall. “SideChef has meals for every season and moment throughout the day,” said Kevin Yu, founder and CEO, SideChef. “We strive to make cooking — and how users shop for ingredients and groceries — as easy and seamless as possible. By teaming with AdAdapted, we bring more convenience to our users while building a stronger relationship with the consumer goods community.” SideChef was founded in 2013 and is available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play. To learn more about AdAdapted and how it helps CPG brands, agencies and retailers reach shoppers in-store and online, visit adadapted.com. About AdAdapted AdAdapted is an advertising technology solution that increases purchase intent of shoppers by reaching the right consumers at the right time to get brands onto shopping lists and into carts. The company’s offerings for CPG brands, agencies and retailers range from managed-service to self-service and SaaS solutions, shopping list to eCommerce, video to display. With more than 110 million U.S. shoppers using mobile devices for their grocery lists, AdAdapted has built a distinct audience and ad offering that uses intent-based targeting, providing the easiest, most efficient way to reach active verified shoppers — exactly when they decide what to buy. About SideChef SideChef is an all-in-one home cooking platform that provides over 20,000 interactive smart recipes with dynamic recipe guidance featuring hands-free voice commands, step-by-step photos, how-to videos, and built-in timers. SideChef partners with the world’s largest retailers, publishers, CPG brands, and kitchen appliance companies to offer users a seamless cooking journey, enabling personalized meal planning, over 12,000 one-click shoppable recipes to enable grocery delivery or curbside pickup, and smart kitchen connectivity.

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ADVERTISER PLATFORMS

Identity Resolution and Contextual Targeting Rank Highest Priority in Newly Released Publisher Study from InMobi Publisher Insight Survey

Business Wire | March 30, 2023

InMobi, a leading provider of content, monetization and marketing technologies that help businesses fuel growth, released a Publisher Insights Study to better understand publishers’ priorities in the ever-evolving landscape with 65% of respondents saying their key focus area for 2023 is identity resolution and contextual targeting. With Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) in place and Google’s Android Privacy Sandbox on the horizon, the need for a ‘single view’ of the customer is paramount for publishers and advertisers alike. Publishers are seeking identity resolution functionalities to create targetable profiles that they can monetize. Publishers also prefer contextual targeting over behavioural targeting to offer advertisers relevant audiences without relying on an identifier. Closely tied to identity, audience insights and data enrichment are also key focus areas for publishers with more than 75% of respondents rating them their highest priority. As publishers now have greater control over first-party data, they are keen to monetize their audiences and unlock new audience segments by enriching their first-party data with the scale of third-party data to create a larger potential pool. Publishers also plan to prioritize user acquisition, cross-app promotions as well as new and unique formats in 2023, with over 50% of respondents rating those as their top focus areas. Unique ad formats include native ads and app-open ads (launched by Google). “Beyond ad monetization, publishers are looking for features to help them understand and unlock the potential of their user data in a privacy-first universe,” says Todd Rose, Senior Vice President of Addressability Solutions at InMobi. “This will help them better navigate the ever-changing ad tech and consumer privacy landscape.” About InMobi InMobi is a leading provider of marketing and monetization technologies. With deep expertise and unique reach in mobile, it is a trusted and transparent technology partner for marketers, content creators and businesses of all kinds. InMobi’s mission is to power its customers’ growth by helping them engage their audiences and build meaningful connections. Its affiliated businesses – Glance, an unconsolidated subsidiary that offers a lock screen-based content discovery platform, and video platform Roposo – help InMobi create new content and commerce experiences in a world of connected devices. InMobi is headquartered in Singapore, maintains a large presence in San Francisco and Bangalore and has operations in New York, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Delhi, Mumbai, Beijing, Shanghai, Jakarta, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Melbourne, Seoul, Tokyo, London and Dubai. To learn more, visit inmobi.com.

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AD TECH AND MARTECH

GumGum Announces Industry’s First 100% Brand Safe Ad Exchange

GumGum | March 20, 2023

GumGum, a contextual first, global advertising platform, announced that starting immediately, all impressions running on GumGum’s ad exchange will now have enhanced brand safety protection through Verity™, GumGum’s proprietary and accredited contextual intelligence platform. Verity is already integrated and applied across GumGum’s PMPs and media business. With this upgrade, GumGum becomes the first 100% brand-safe exchange and is the only direct marketplace that incorporates brand safety on every impression. Advertisers typically add brand safety layers on their own through a pre-bid solution or their own safety filters. However, GumGum believes it is their responsibility to ensure supply-side safety by integrating an additional layer of protection in its exchange with Verity. Verity is the first independent ad tech platform to have been granted content-level accreditation by the Media Rating Council (MRC) for contextual analysis, brand safety, and suitability across the web and CTV. This accreditation was granted due to Verity’s sophistication and ability to analyse all content signals within a digital environment, including text, images, videos, and audio, to ensure ads are not served against extreme and unsafe content. “We want brands and agencies to know that when they buy from GumGum’s ad exchange, they can always rely on brand safety and suitability protection, whether that’s through our exchange or PMP activity. Buyers can be assured that every ad we serve has been verified by Verity, creating a safe ad environment against extreme content,” said Adam Schenkel, EVP of global platform strategy & operations at GumGum. “Further, we want publishers to feel confident that we are an additional layer of support in ensuring their content is driving the greatest monetisation from our platform while protecting against brand safety violations.” In addition to standard display and video placements from top publishers, GumGum’s ad exchange quickly unlocks exclusive inventory using standard formats that are cost-efficient and can be easily scaled through GumGum’s DSP partners, such as The Trade Desk, Xandr, and Google Display & Video 360. Any media buyer has the ability to access unique, high-performing inventory that is exclusive to GumGum through a DSP without a managed deal or campaign by GumGum account teams. The exchange is one of the industry's highest concentrations of direct-to-publisher integrations, enabling the company to provide the most direct route to premium, high-quality inventory for media buyers. “Every brand has its own suitability thresholds but safety is more black and white. If we have the capability to remove unsafe inventory that advertisers don’t want to advertise against from the onset, why wouldn’t we do that?” said Phil Schraeder, CEO of GumGum. “We see a tremendous growth opportunity with our ad exchange and adding Verity to every ad impression is just one of many exciting things we will be doing with the exchange this year.” This solution offers higher-quality ads and increased scale across thousands of premium publisher sites that are third-party verified. To ensure quality inventory at scale and an efficient supply chain, GumGum has integrated MediaGuard by HUMAN into the exchange to remove nonhuman and fraud traffic. In addition, GumGum is integrated with NewsGuard who deploy real journalists to fact-check news publications to ensure content accuracy, reliability, and access to high-performing inventory. With a focus on inclusivity, the exchange will also allow advertisers to maximise their KPIs by targeting audiences through customised segments such as multicultural and sustainability with standard and nonstandard ad formats. GumGum will continue to develop partnerships to grow the scale of the exchange in 2023 and beyond. With a new team dedicated to the innovation and growth of the exchange, GumGum continues to commit to evolving the marketplace to suit the needs of the digital advertising industry. GumGum’s exchange is available now and accessible to agencies, advertisers and publishers across the globe interested in brand-safe and premium ad inventory. AboutGumGum GumGum is a contextual-first global digital advertising platform that captures people’s attention, without the use of personal data. We believe that a digital advertising ecosystem based on understanding a consumer’s active frame of mind rather than behaviour builds a more equitable and safer future for consumers, publishers and advertisers alike. Founded in 2008, GumGum is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and operates in 19 markets worldwide.

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