AdExchanger News for February 7, 2019

[AdExchanger | Optimizing the News] Today from AdExchanger Thursday, February 7 Join Us [PROGRAMMATIC I/O San Francisco, April 29-30]( - "How To Unify Data Across Teams And Media Partners" - Data-driven marketers often struggle to integrate data from across products, CRM systems, media platforms and agencies, to the detriment of their personalization efforts. Session attendees will learn how to conduct the orchestra without dropping the baton. --------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Must Read [Spotify Buys Anchor And Gimlet In Major Foray Into Podcasting]( Spotify sees non-music content making up 20% of its listening over time, CEO Daniel Ek said on the company’s Q4 earnings call Wednesday. Podcast listeners engage twice as much with the platform and listen to more music. [More.]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( --------------------------------------------------------------- More from AdExchanger [Brian Wieser Leaps From Pivotal Research To Global Role At GroupM]( It might seem like an odd time to jump to an agency, given the volatility of the industry and the epic amount of consolidation happening across the holding companies. But Wieser said that, independent of those challenges, agencies are among the most durable parts of the business. [More.]( [The Influencer Threat And Promise Of Paywalls: Magazine CEOs Reflect On Challenges In Year Ahead]( Advertisers want performance, not premium context. Magazines can’t fall back on being upper-funnel or brand advertising vehicles anymore. [More.]( [What Would The Media Plan Look Like Without Facebook?]( The reality is that Facebook really performs. And there aren’t many alternatives that can replace the scale and engagement of its 2.7 billion users across Instagram, WhatsApp and the core Facebook app. [More.]( [Marketers Should Treat Data As A Pre-Tangible Asset]( Companies must approach data as a pre-tangible, or unrealized, asset. By “pre-tangible,” I mean that data holds much value for companies that can be leveraged for product development and increased revenue, but the lack of proper management leaves this data as yet not meeting its full potential for companies. [More.]( [Diverse And Diversified: Blavity CEO On Building A Media Company For Black Millennials]( For all its growth and connection with its readers, CEO Morgan DeBaun knows she’s building a media brand as competitors are crumbling around her – like the 2,000-plus layoffs experienced by media companies this winter, including BuzzFeed, Verizon Media, Vice and Gannett. She shared with AdExchanger how she’s building a sustainable media brand and community for black millennials. [More.]( [Map. Target. Measure.]( [The Offline Consumer Journey with Location Intelligence]( [( News Round Up Gray Lady Rising While digital media suffers a [blood bath](, The New York Times is reaping the rewards of a growing digital readership. The publisher brought in $709 million in digital revenue last year and is on track to pass its goal of $800 million in digital revenue by 2020, said CEO Mark Thompson on the company’s earnings call. The Times has more than 3.3 million digital subscribers, up 27% from 2017. And digital ad revenue grew 18% to $259 million in 2018, surpassing print for the first time in Q4. With sound financials, the leading paper will grow its newsroom while many rivals are cutting back (and many reporters are looking for a gig). “Our appeal to subscribers – and to the world’s leading advertisers – depends more than anything on the quality of our journalism,” Thompson said in a statement. [More at NYT](. DTCing Is Believing Consolidation of DTC startups appears to be gaining steam, almost three years after Unilever made a splash in the category with its $1 billion deal for Dollar Shave Club. The big CPGs are looking for value buys or specific audiences, and aren’t breaking the bank for a trendy brand. Unilever bought the DTC snack box company Graze for almost $200 million, half the original asking price for the startup, which struggled outside the United Kingdom, [Sky News]( reports. In December 2018, Procter & Gamble acquired the DTC company Walker & Company, which specializes in hair and beauty products for people of color, and this week it announced a deal for the subscription feminine care brand This is L. “The P&G acquisition is a harbinger of things to come,” [TechCrunch]( writes. “The combination of a non-technical, female founder operating in the consumer packaged goods market with a mission-driven company was an anomaly in the Silicon Valley of four years ago.” Publicis Stumbles Publicis Groupe dragged down holding company stocks across the board Thursday when it reported organic sales fell 0.3% to $2.85 billion in Q4. Analysts had forecast 2.5% growth. The revenue figure accounts for the divestitures Publicis made in its healthcare business in January. The soft quarter was due to a larger than expected pull back on spend from consumer goods clients, which have been cutting back on agency fees for the past two to three years, and make up 25% of Publicis’ revenue. North America was particularly weak. The holding company is still targeting 4% organic growth by 2020 but warned in an earnings release that it will be a “bumpy ride.” Stocks were down as much as 7% upon the news. [Read it](. But Wait, There’s More! - [Gun Safety Devices Caught In Online Advertising Bans]( - WSJ - [Regulators Are Figuring Out How To Make Google And Facebook Sweat]( - Medium - [Target Expands Loyalty Program (To Get More Data)]( - CNN - [YouTube In 2019: Looking Back And Moving Forward]( - blog - [Small Agencies Seek Independence From Holding Companies]( - Ad Age - [Programmatic Opens Up B2B Account-Based Marketing Opportunities]( - eMarketer - [Bloomberg Media Develops Tech To Connect TV And Digital Inventory]( - Digiday You’re Hired! - [Jutta Horstmann Promoted To eyeo COO]( - release - [Magnolia Appoints Tim Brown as CEO]( - release [MoPub Advanced Bidding]( [Are you ready for innovation in monetization?]( [( Podcasts [The Big Story Episode 28:]( Must See TV [The Big Story Episode 27:]( A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To France [The Big Story Episode 26:]( This Episode Brought To You By The Letters CES And PMP [The Big Story Episode 25:]( The Data Deluge At CES [The Big Story Episode 24:]( All Hail 2019! [The Big Story Episode 23:]( Closing Out The Year With OpenX And Google [The Big Story Episode 22:]( WPP’s Big Plan [The Big Story Episode 21:]( Sir Martin Sorrell’s Botanical Curiosity [The Big Story Episode 20:]( Fuel For The Holidays [The Big Story Episode 19:]( DTC Disrupts The Competition [The Big Story Episode 18:]( Thus Spoke The Electorate [Check out all episodes of The Big Story >>]( [AdExchanger Talks Episode 113:]( Nextdoor's Lauren Nemeth [AdExchanger Talks Episode 112:]( Conviva's Bill Demas [AdExchanger Talks Episode 111:]( Sovrn's Walter Knapp [AdExchanger Talks Episode 110:]( eMarketer's Lauren Fisher [AdExchanger Talks Episode 109:]( Twitter's Matt Derella [AdExchanger Talks Episode 108:]( Centro's Shawn Riegsecker [AdExchanger Talks Episode 107:]( Sparrow Advisers' Ana Milicevic [AdExchanger Talks Episode 106:]( LinkedIn's Penry Price [AdExchanger Talks Episode 105:]( Vistar Media's Michael Provenzano [AdExchanger Talks Episode 104:]( GCA Advisors' Josh Wepman [AdExchanger Talks Episode 103:]( Dotdash's Neil Vogel [Get More AdExchanger Talks Episodes >>]( Events [PROGRAMMATIC I/O + AdExchanger Awards](, San Francisco, April 29-30, 2019 [PROGRAMMATIC I/O](, New York, October 15-16, 2019 [Industry Preview 2020](, New York, TBD Share This Email: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( [Google+]( | [Forward To A Friend]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [View in web browser]( This message was sent to {EMAIL} To ensure delivery to your inbox, [add us to your address book](. 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