AdExchanger News for April 30, 2019

Today's Must Read - More Publishers Are Breaking Up With Resellers [AdExchanger | Optimizing the News] Today from AdExchanger Tuesday, April 30 Join Us [PROGRAMMATIC I/O San Francisco, April 29-30, 2019]( - Doors open at 8 am for Day 2 of our largest #PROGIO SF yet. Congratulations to all of last night's AdExchanger Awards winners! --------------------------------------------------------------- Today's Must Read [More Publishers Are Breaking Up With Resellers]( By working with fewer partners, publishers are prioritizing control over their ad setup and site experience over the lure of extra revenue. [More.]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( --------------------------------------------------------------- More from AdExchanger [Why DTC Brands Are Flocking To Television]( AdExchanger spoke with some top DTC brands about why they’re adding television to the media mix, and how a new data-driven perspective on TV campaigns is boosting TV advertising even as audience numbers diminish. [More.]( [After Years Of Chasing Clicks, Monster Doubles Down On Its Brand]( The company had stopped innovating on its core product and pumped all marketing spend into low-funnel media at the expense of its brand. At the same time, new competitors emerged with different approaches to the market. [More.]( [At The NewFronts, It’s More About The Buzz Than The Buy]( With another NewFronts upon us, there are, as always, a number of key trends, themes and questions that have emerged. [More.]( [Offline Brand Intelligence]( [Connecting the Dots for TV Attribution]( [www.cuebiq.com/tv]( News Round Up 360-Degree Shield Google is upping its brand protections in three key areas. First up, Ads.txt will become the default setting for new campaigns starting in August. Next, once App-ads.txt gains critical mass over the next few months, Google DV360 will stop buying unauthorized inventory and marketers will only be able to buy validated inventory. Last up, Google is improving its brand safety interface. “Brand safety is such a critical part of advertising that we felt it really needed to be brought to the forefront,” Google group product manager Roshan Khan said. The update makes it easier to see cross-campaign brand safety in areas such as content labels and keyword exclusions. Brands can also make changes across multiple campaigns at once. [Read more](. In The Right Context The New York Times introduced a slate of brand partnerships and ad targeting offers during its NewFronts presentation on Monday. The news company is going all-in on audio following the success of The Daily, which now has around 2 million daily listeners, MediaPost reports. Most of the new or beta ad products on NYT’s docket are refined versions of contextual targeting tech. One product, originally called “Project Feels,” matches story sentiment – “adventure,” “sadness” or “love,” for example – with an advertiser’s stated goal for a campaign. A “motivation” targeting offer expected to launch later this year will match ads with inventory based on the likelihood that a story will spur an action, like a click, sign-up or purchase. Allison Murphy, VP of ad innovation at The Times, noted that regulations and consumer privacy concerns will change the way readers and publishers share data, making these contextual offerings a strong alternative to direct audience targeting. [More](. Offers You Kantar Refuse? Bain Capital and Apollo Global Management are among several firms bidding for Kantar, the market research and data group owned by WPP. The holding company is seeking a $4.5 billion valuation for the data business and expects to complete a sale by the end of Q2. Investors have criticized slow-growing Kantar as a drag on WPP’s growth, but WPP wants to retain a 25% to 40% minority stake in the business and use the proceeds to pay down its debt. Kantar currently makes up about 17% of WPP’s sales, according to Bloomberg. [More](. WPP has been fielding offers for Kantar since last year, when Mark Read [told investors]( that despite plans to divest its data business, WPP would “like the opportunity to continue to integrate Kantar with our work.” Podcast Purse Strings Spotify has spent $400 million to buy its way into the podcasting business this year. The company revealed on Monday that it shelled out $56 million on a deal for Parcast, the podcast production studio it bought last month, VentureBeat reports. [Read it](. That’s on top of the combined $344 million it paid for [Gimlet and Anchor]( back in February. But Spotify’s podcast shopping spree might not be over yet. Spotify said on its earnings call Monday that it’s earmarking $500 million for similar acquisitions. Overall, Spotify’s Q1 2019 results were solid, with revenue growing 33% to roughly $1.7 billion, while the number of monthly active users went up 26% to 217 million. [Read the release](. Bye-Bye, Bing Bing Ads has a new name: Microsoft Advertising. But it’s more than just a rebrand. The Microsoft Advertising business unit will be home to new ad products launching in the coming months with built-in AI that is “more connected to your data and your business,” Rik van der Kooi, corporate VP of Microsoft Advertising, writes in a[blog post](. (Strangely, there is no mention of LinkedIn as part of the announcement.) Think of Microsoft Advertising as the company’s umbrella for all of its ad products as it creates solutions that go beyond search. This isn’t the first name change for Microsoft’s ad offerings, Search Engine Land writes. The last rebrand actually emerged from an initiative to specifically focus more on search advertising back in 2012 when Bing Ads replaced adCenter. So it goes.[More](. But Wait, There’s More! - [Marriott Takes On Airbnb In Booming Home Rental Market]( - WSJ - [Snapchat Is Making It Easier To Buy Video Ads]( - Axios - [GroupM: 19% Growth Gap Reflects Ad Tech Maturity, Importance Of Mar Tech]( - blog - [Why Tech’s Infighting Feeds Critics]( - The Information - [IAB: Video Advertising Spend Report 2019]( - release - [IAB: TV Buyers Expect To Spend More Online, Mostly For Original Content]( - release - [Facebook Opens Its Data To Academics]( - Financial Times - [How 5G Will Take Mobile Advertising To The Next Level]( - ExchangeWire - [Walmart Plans To Bankroll Original Programs For Vudu]( - Bloomberg - [Thanks To Amazon, More Retailer Sites Will Bombard You With Ads]( - CNET You’re Hired! - [Linda Dupree Named CEO Of NCS]( - release [Media Needs the Creative]( [Ad Serve from the Source — AdBridge™]( [( Podcasts [The Big Story Episode 39:]( Stack That Cash [The Big Story Episode 38:]( The Great Escapes [The Big Story Episode 37:]( Riding Eternal, Shiny And Chrome [The Big Story Episode 36:]( Agencies And The Supply Side [The Big Story Episode 35:]( Spring Forward, Fall Back [The Big Story Episode 34:]( Google’s On First [The Big Story Episode 33:]( Boiler Room [The Big Story Episode 32:]( Falling Down [The Big Story Episode 31:]( DTC Principles Come To Big Brands [The Big Story Episode 30:]( Is IAB DTC? [The Big Story Episode 29:]( Blood In The Water [Check out all episodes of The Big Story >>]( [AdExchanger Talks Episode 124:]( Dentsu Aegis’, Doug Ray [AdExchanger Talks Episode 123:]( Xaxis' Nicolas Bidon [AdExchanger Talks Episode 122:]( 614 Group's Rob Rasko [AdExchanger Talks Episode 121:]( National Public Media's Tutuwa Ahwoi [AdExchanger Talks Episode 120:]( MikMak's Rachel Tipograph [AdExchanger Talks Episode 119:]( Brian O'Kelley [AdExchanger Talks Episode 118:]( Adform's Julian Baring [AdExchanger Talks Episode 117:]( 360i's Jared Belsky [AdExchanger Talks Episode 116:]( Triad's Sherry Smith [AdExchanger Talks Episode 115:]( Heat's Jocelyn Lee [AdExchanger Talks Episode 114:]( Jivox's Diaz Nesamoney [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, January 28-29, 2020 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](. AdExchanger • Access Intelligence LLC • 9211 Corporate Blvd., 4th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850 | [Privacy Policy]( [Update My Preferences | Unsubscribe]( [spacer.gif](