Advertising Technology

An industry that's evolving comes with it many other evolutions as well — how we think and talk about things, how solve new problems, how we solve old problems, and how sometimes it's preferred to just stick to what you do best. Here's a roundup of headlines from this week that covers changing terminology and strategies and a company changing its strategy and focus. There's also a bit on what we can learn from windows (the real ones, not the OS).

• The New Premium: How Programmatic Changes The Way Advertisers Value Inventory (AdExchanger) – As any industry grows and evolves, so does its terminology. In terms of the online advertising industry, one of those evolving terms is “premium inventory.” Previously tied to channel and content type, the term is more often being used in reference to the audience sitting in front of those impressions.

• How Rampant is Online Ad Fraud? (Wall Street Journal) – comScore released data this week that indicates a majority (but not all) of the online fraud is tied to the bottom 20 percent of ad campaigns. This would seem to support the theory of fraud being at least somewhat avoidable if you work with the right partners.

• Ad blocking software is on the rise, and that has major implications for digital media (Business Insider) – Users don't want to pay for all the content they consume online, and a growing percentage of them are taking steps to avoid the advertising that supports the content they consume at no cost. This has those on the buy and sell sides trying to figure it all out.

• SAY Media Unloads Its Websites to Focus on Tech (AdWeek) – Being a publisher isn't easy. Being a tech company isn't easy. Being both is proving to be pretty impossible. Focus on what you want to do, and work with trusted partners for the rest.

• What I Learned About Programmatic From Buying Windows (MediaPost) – We'll close off with a fun one. Here's a tale of how an off-the-clock experience taught an ad-tech executive a thing or two about what he does for a living.

Keeping it simple, it would seem that weeding out fraud is as easy as working with those you trust. Speaking of fraud, it's apparently staring publishers right in the face when it comes to fishy-looking desktop traffic. When it comes to maximizing end-of-article placements, publishers have options. Maybe it's time to put the mobile app vs. mobile web debate to bed, and taking a difference-angle look at cookies.

• Fixing online advertising: How to beat bots, scammers … and the invisibility problem (VentureBeat) – In a guest column in Venture Beat, Martini Media CEO Erik Pavelka tackled the issues of ad fraud and viewability. For viewability, we might be a way off. In terms of fraud, the points outlined by Pavelka, while somewhat oversimplified, are on target in that in order for buyers to reach a quality audience, they must work with trusted sellers.

• If Desktop Traffic Seems Suspicious, It Probably Is (eMarketer) – Fraudsters are almost always going to take the path of least resistance. Because of the ease of using infected (and often always connected) desktop PCs, those machines have been shown to create the highest amounts of fraud traffic. It is in knowing this, however, it makes spotting that fraud traffic easy.

• What The Shakeup Of Content Engines & Rise of Programmatic Mean For Publishers (MediaPost) – Here's a look at those end-of-article placements, which are usually content recommendations, and what publishers can do to maximize the revenue they create.

• It's time to stop debating mobile app vs. mobile web (Digiday) – The IAB last week said the mobile web was far from dead. This week, Daniel Meehan, CEO of PadSquad, argues that it's pointless anymore to talk mobile web vs. app, and that “mobile” as we now think of it should just become part of the norm.

• In defense of the cookie (AdExchanger) – Lou Montulli, co-founder and chief scientist at Zetta.net, offers an interesting look back at the history of the cookie, and explains why he still thinks the cookie was the way to go in the early days of online banner ads.

Social media and advertising had a meet-up at CES as Twitter announced plans to run ads on third-party apps. Poll results show just how important a brand safe environment are for the buy side. The mobile web is no where near “dying off,” says the IAB. There's a lot of needed education surrounding programmatic video. And do publishers need to also be tech companies?

• Do Publishers Have To Be Technology Companies? (AdExchanger) – Media executives give their take on the ever blurring line between publisher and technology company. It's our take that a publisher doesn't necessarily have to be a tech company, but they certainly need to respect the need for top-tier technology in the publishing game. If you don't do your own tech, have good partners who do.

• Fraud, Brand Safety Take Center Stage Among Ad Buyers (eMarketer) – Poll results recently released in this eMarketer article didn't tell us much we didn't already know — fraud, brand safety and viewable impressions are important to ad buyers and sellers. What's interesting is, speaking in terms of programmatic buying/selling, where those issues stand in terms of importance.

• Twitter Plans To Increase Revenue With Ads On Publisher's Apps (TechCrunch) – As Twitter seeks to increase its revenue, the social company is looking outside its network for that revenue. Next up for Twitter is reportedly the selling of advertising in third-party applications. Rumors around CES were that ESPN might be on board.

• The Mobile Web Isn't Dead, IAB Says (Wall Street Journal) – There's been a lot of talk about the mobile web being put out to pasture, especially as statistics such as that users spend 85 percent of their online mobile time using apps. But the IAB says it's not so clear cut as that. Much of the time users spend in apps, the IAB says, is within build-in browsers actually consuming mobile web content.

• Confusing Terminology Holds Back Programmatic Video (AdExchanger) – Greg Smith, AP of Programmatic at Tremor Video, runs through some of the buzzword terms surrounding programmatic video.