IAS Makes Third Acquisition in 12 Months: A French Context Ad Company!
Context, a French contextual advertising business, has been acquired by Integral Ad Science (IAS). Following the acquisitions of programmatic payments auditing business Amino Payments in January 2021 and CTV ad server Publica during the summer, this is IAS’s third acquisition in the last 12 months.
Context is a Paris-based digital content classification organization. Context’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology classifies images and videos across a variety of digital channels, including social media platforms and Connected Television (CTV).
Interesting Read: IAS Acquires Publica For $220M To “Help Advertisers”
IAS and Context: A Golden Integration
IAS’s existing, market-leading media classification and contextual targeting abilities will be enhanced by the acquisition. IAS’ marketing partners will be able to discover brand-appropriate content beyond typical frameworks and contextually target with precision thanks to the integration of Context’s technology.
In addition, the transaction strengthens IAS’s dedication to innovation by adding engineering, data science, and data analyst teams in France and Poland.
Interesting Read: Taboola And IAS Partners To Launch Industry-First New Pre-Bid Brand Safety Solution
Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS said-
“Marketers require sophisticated contextual targeting and avoidance solutions that offer precision and flexibility, especially as the industry moves to a cookie-less world. The acquisition of Context builds on our existing capabilities and accelerates our product roadmap, particularly in video classification for social media and CTV applications. It also furthers our vision of offering tailored solutions to our customers.”
IAS’s Context Control suite of suitability and contextual targeting technologies will use Context’s technologies. Jack Habra, CEO of Context, said –
“We are delighted to join with IAS to advance their market leading contextual targeting and classification capabilities. Our technology is designed to deliver critical insights to help marketers optimize their campaigns, and we look forward to realizing Context’s full potential as part of IAS.”
Also Read: 5 Ad Industry Trends That Are Likely To Unveil in 2022!
5 Ad Industry Trends That Are Likely To Unveil in 2022!
In 2021, digital advertising spending has increased by approximately 20% despite the pandemic. The ad market is expected to grow in the upcoming years. The global pandemic forever altered consumer behavior. Mergers and acquisitions, privacy changes, the death of cookies, and the expansion of commerce-based business dominated the adtech industry in 2021.
What do adtech experts predict the future of advertising in 2022? More of the same as these trends of 2021 will continue echoing far beyond 2022.
#Trend 1: Privacy Regulations Continues – First-Party Data Is Priority!
Privacy and user data protection have become more prevalent than ever. Google is soon going to shut third-party cookies in Chrome, Apple restricted IDFA, and the international privacy regulations (such as CCPA, COPPA, GDPR.) changed advertising routines worldwide.
From 2022 onward, platforms with opted-in audiences will have the advantage of monetizing their first-party data. Additionally, publishers who have just begun to pivot to first-party data are scrambling to meet Google’s latest deadline to discontinue third-party cookies by the end of 2023.
Early adopters of cookie-less advertising can gain access to new audiences, more inventory, and more scaled advertising results. Publishers can also benefit from first-party data sets to create ads with more dynamic messaging tailored to different sections of their audience. However, since the deprecation of third-party data is still about two years away, third-party data-based businesses will continue to do business as usual until the lights go out.
Interesting Read: Impact of Delay in Deprecation Of Cookies By Google On Adtech
#Trend 2: Boom, CTV, Podcast or Video Content On-Demand
Research data suggests that global consumer spending in the top 100 non-game subscription applications climbed 34% to $13 billion in 2020.
A growing number of consumers are opting for subscription services, and that presents a good opportunity to gather first-party data. Companies who aren’t thinking about how they could make a subscription business out of their products should probably start. So, digital formats like Connected TV(CTV), Audio, or video formats are constantly rising. CTV’s immense viewership soon made it the shiny new toy all brands wanted to capture. Advertisers are actively investing their ad budgets into video, CTV, and audio – as the traffic is surging with people spending more time indoors. Publishers must meet changing audience demands and offer the best service possible- maybe a podcast or video content.
Interesting Read: Connected TV Explained: The Essential Glossary Of CTV
#Trend 3: eCommerce Ascendance continues
eCommerce’s influence is powerful and set to dominate the adtech industry. In the coming years, it will be difficult to differentiate between publishers and retailers.
Publishers are implementing e-commerce-based methods of tracking user behavior. They should harness the power of first-party data, always put the individual first, and foster collaboration with like-minded partners to connect data and generate insights that can help them survive a new age. As an example, Walmart, which has the most customer data, will hope to capture more of the supply chain, and it will dominate the advertising market as well.
Also, marketers are taking cues from media companies. Over the last few years, the boundaries between the sell-side and the buy-side have blurred. Identifying a marketer from a publisher is going to be very difficult. Reason- Both have the access to create content on platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
#Trend 4: And more IPO’s and consolidation in 2022
Mergers and acquisitions in adtech have picked up the pace in the last few years faster than Usain Bolt’s race. PitchBook data suggests that PE firms were highly active in adtech and have invested in 86 deals in 2021 compared to 43 deals in 2020.
A few examples of the performance marketing-minded deals in 2021 are:
-Dotdash’s purchases Meredith’s National Media Group
-Axel Springer buying Politico for $1 billion
-BuzzFeed’s acquisition of Complex before going public
–Group Nine and Vox Media acquisition
-Publicis Groupe buying Citrus Ad
Industry experts point out that the trend of consolidation will continue in 2022 as well. Viant’s successful IPO opened floodgates as investors realized high returns in the ad tech sector. Many tech giants like Vox Media, Forbes are planning to come up with IPO’s. Before a public offering, acquisitions offer a potential means of raising the valuation of a company. Consolidation also tends to turn publishing platforms into more profitable ones, making it easier for them to invest in improving content and ad-buying.
Consolidation will bring extraordinary change- set structural issues and enhance quality digital advertising. Quality digital advertising coexists with the best media environments. The latter refers to the finest content and user experience. Hence, to achieve it, media owners require to be self-sustainable.
#Trend 5: More acquisitions coming up
The majority of publishers want to maximize profits, so they may put pressure on middlemen in the advertising supply chain or buy or build their own customized solutions. Publishers have two options – to develop in-house ad serving technology or acquire an adtech firm. Building an in-house adtech stack gives an edge to the publisher to monetize user data. Publishers will no longer require to rely on a service provider to l link KPIs via soon-to-be obsolete third-party data. Although, history proves more success in developing customized in-house technology than acquisition. But the latter addresses a larger audience and has high scalability. For instance, In 2016, AT&T acquired Xandr’s content arm, WarnerMedia, which was never closely linked with Xandr, and ultimately, it was sold to Microsoft.
Brands need to establish a strong foothold in the future under two circumstances -Firstly, vast reach in a given country. Secondly, consistency in standards, processes, data, and business practices.
Lastly, as we look ahead to 2022 and continue at full throttle in the mergers and acquisitions space. Scalability and reliability matter, but in the end, growth dominates. Here’s to more and more companies putting their muscle in the areas in 2022.
Also Read: Clean Rooms Explained: How Marketers Can Prepare For Cookieless World
NBC Universal and RTL Join Forces for an International Inventory Agreement
NBCUniversal (NBCU) and RTL Group, two media and entertainment businesses, have formed an international agreement to provide access to their TV and digital ad inventory.
The partnership will run via RTL AdConnect, RTL Group’s international sales agency, which aims to reach over 165 million potential customers across Europe each day by providing advertisers with access to video inventory. Over 150 TV networks, including ITV, RTL, Videoland, and 6Play, as well as 300 digital platforms and 40 radio stations, are included in the arrangement, which spans 12 nations.
The agreement will strive to provide advertisers and agencies in the United States, Europe, and Asia with access to RTL’s Total Video European portfolio, while NBCU will represent RTL’s Total Video European portfolio to its Chinese and U.S. clients. RTL AdConnect’s European media partners include France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
KC Sullivan, President and Managing Director of NBCUniversal, said –
“We want NBCUniversal to be the number one choice for marketers globally. RTL strengthens our advertising offering in Continental Europe as we strive to deepen our presence across the region.”
NBCU Media’s EVP, Max Raven, and VP of international partnerships, Mark Rogers, will oversee the relationship, reporting to KC Sullivan, president of global advertising and partnerships. As marketers strive for worldwide expansion, it will also try to improve NBCU’s One Platform while expanding its advertising brand’s presence in important areas outside of the United States.
The effort will also strive to strengthen RTL AdConnect’s European offering while also expanding its inventory outside of Europe to assist advertisers looking to expand their brands in the United States and China.
Nazara Acquires 55% Shares in Global Adtech Firm, Datawrkz!
Nazara Technologies, a leading gaming company in India, has agreed to acquire a 55 percent share in Datawrkz, a programmatic advertising and monetization firm, for up to Rs 124 crore, putting the valuation of the company at Rs 225 crore (about $30 million) based on its CY22 EBITDA performance.
Nazara Technologies is a well-known mobile game developer and sports media platform, with offers spanning interactive gaming, eSports, and gamified early learning environments in growing and developed global markets such as Africa and North America.
Datawrkz is a worldwide advertising technology startup focusing on driving user and revenue development for customers through highly optimized digital advertising, launched in 2013 by Senthil Govindan, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus.
Interesting Read: US and India-Based ZEDO’s Assets Acquired By Discovery
Nazara and Datawrkz: What does this acquisition mean?
Nazara Technologies’ in-house capabilities for optimizing client acquisition expenses as well as increasing ad monetization yields will be enhanced by Datawrkz’s tech solutions. Many of the firms in the ‘Friends of Nazara’ network are anticipated to benefit from this ad-revenue monetization.
Furthermore, there is a growing organic link between gaming firms and ad tech companies throughout the world, since the two may add value to one other’s businesses.
Datawrkz hopes to position itself as a major participant in the gaming industry with this deal, which will cover both demand and supply-side solutions for the gaming ecosystem in the United States and India.
Also Read: Clean Rooms Explained: How Marketers Can Prepare For Cookieless World
Nielsen Launches TV Streaming Measurements in Alpha
Nielsen has begun alpha testing of its TV measuring system, which includes both streaming and linear tv. Nielsen ONE will track the reach, scale, and frequency of ad campaigns throughout platforms using deduplicated audiences. It claims to be the first firm to do this.
Nielsen’s ID resolution technology, which was deployed last year, serves as the backbone for deduplication in Nielsen ONE Alpha. The solution’s complete implementation, named Nielsen ONE, was revealed last year and is set to begin in December of this year.
Nielsen ONE Alpha is serving as version one of Nielsen ONE, rather than testing out new features and capabilities one by one.
Interesting Read: Connected TV Explained: The Essential Glossary Of CTV
Karthik Rao, chief operating officer at Nielsen said-
“This is not a test. This is not a pilot. This is the real thing. And we’re going to unveil what this will look like with clients that are part of the program.”
The first version of Nielsen ONE will be available to ten collaborating partners, including Disney and ad agency MAGNA, who cover the buy-and-sell spectrum of industry participants.
Rao added-
“This is just the first version. We will continue to build major enhancements and feature upgrades for the sell side, the agency side and the demand side”.
Interesting Read: A Look Ahead: Convergence Of Linear TV And Digital TV Advertising
Nielsen is launching the complete version with a few select partners in order to collect meaningful feedback from consumers early in the process. Over the following year, feedback and participation will shape subsequent editions of the program in 2022, leading up to Nielsen ONE’s ultimate industry-wide release in Q4 of next year.
In the next months, future versions of Nielsen ONE will focus on more precise content value and outcome measures, such as ROI. Nielsen plans to use audience identification technology to improve its linear TV ratings as well.
Nielsen is optimistic that it will fulfil its ultimate product delivery date of December 2022.
Also Read: All You Need To Know About Connected TV Advertising
Comscore Acquires Social Media Provider Shareablee, Calls it a Natural Fit!
Comscore, the TV, and digital measurement firm announced recently its acquisition of Shareablee, an intelligence platform targeting a social media-oriented audience. The deal has been closed for $45 million.
Comscore CEO Bill Livek said-
“The reason we did the deal is that the customers in our digital business told us they want Comscore to do a lot more in social and that they view Shareablee as the Comscore of social.”
Livek also shed light on the fact that two of Comscore’s former employees are Shareablee’s top leaders, namely Tania Yuki (CEO) and Gregory Dale (Chief Operating Officer). This is perhaps why Livek calls this arrangement a “natural fit.”
Interesting Read: Criteo Plans to Acquire IPONWEB In a Striking $380M Deal!
Comscore’s senior leadership team will include Yuki, Dale, and CTO Jonathan Lieberman. According to Livek, the objective is to draw into their knowledge and leverage Shareablee data to strengthen Comscore’s digital media measuring tools. Furthermore, following the merger, Comscore intends to keep Shareablee’s entire workforce.
According to Livek, one of the main reasons for the Shareablee acquisition is to enable Comscore to provide its digital customers with a more comprehensive view of their campaigns’ overall reach through a single measurement platform.
Interesting Read: US and India-Based ZEDO’s Assets Acquired By Discovery
According to him, the transaction cements Comscore’s position as a provider of cross-platform audience measurements, which is critical in the company’s continued attempts to compete with Nielsen. It’s a good moment to take market share right now. Today’s media ecosystem, where advertising is viewed in real-time and measurement is based on user-level impressions, challenges Nielsen’s conventional panel-driven methodology.
Livek commented –
“What customers want is a one-stop shop, [and] they want great measurement across all platforms. This is another brick in the never-ending building of us showing our customers that we’re committed to their content.”
For now, Shareablee will continue to function as a distinct company for the time being. In the new year, Comscore will outline its plans to integrate the firm.
Also Read: Clean Rooms Explained: How Marketers Can Prepare For Cookieless World
IAB Tech Lab Announces Delay In Assuming Administrator Role for Unified ID 2.0
Despite expressing interest in acting as an administrator for Unified ID 2.0 earlier this year, the IAB Tech Lab has yet to commit to the open-source project to replace third-party cookies with email-based IDs.
A vote on the subject was delayed for additional consideration at a Tech Lab board meeting recently.
What are the bottlenecks here?
Well, to begin with, one difficulty is that the Tech Lab does not feel comfortable taking on the position of admin as stated in The Trade Desk’s technical standards for Unified ID 2.0.
The administrator’s major responsibility is to regulate access to the UID2 network of stakeholders and to maintain a consolidated database. This entails giving UID2 operators encryption keys, issuing compliant members decryption keys, authorizing UID2 opt-out requests to operators and DSPs, and assessing participants for compliance.
Bad actors who abuse the ID must also be turned off by the administrator.
The IAB Tech Lab board is concerned about the last section, which involves yanking the plug if a partner violates UID2’s code of conduct. A spokesperson informed –
“Tech Lab assuming the administrator role for Unified ID 2.0 is being actively explored, but no decision has been made. We will provide an update when we have something to share with the industry.”
Interesting Read: A Look Ahead: Convergence Of Linear TV And Digital TV Advertising
Digital Powerhouse Deal: Vox Media Announces Merger With Group Nine
Vox Media is set to merge with Group Nine, the parent company of NowThis, PopSugar, and Thrillist brands. Vox Media and Group Nine Media will combine to form “the fastest-growing company of scale in media.”
Why this deal
The merger will create a digital media powerhouse. Before the merger, both companies acquired major digital brands to enhance their scale. This deal will officially take Group Nine out of the start-up mode.
Details
Jim Bankoff, who founded Vox Media, will be the CEO and chairman of the new combined company. CEO Ben Lerer, who built Group Nine Media from a newsletter to a leading digital publisher, will join the Board of Directors and advise on key strategic initiatives
The stock deal will grant Vox 75% of the company’s ownership, while Group Nine will retain 25%. The deal is on pace to close in early 2022, subject to regulatory approvals.
As quoted by Axios, Lerer said,
“I think that doing a stock deal like this signifies that we can be the acquirer of choice. My willingness and our willingness to do a stock deal speaks to a belief that there is real value in this stock.”
In a memo to the staff, CEO Jim Bankoff said,
The business rationale behind this merger is to grow revenue, increase scale, and combine these incredibly powerful and complementary portfolios.
– Together we will be an even stronger, more financially sustainable company that can invest more in our products and our people.
– Our combined company will be the clear leader in modern media, reaching audiences at scale everywhere, from podcasts to streaming services, from YouTube to TikTok, from websites to print.
– Group Nine Media does not have any paywalls and their revenue is largely driven by advertising, a studio operation, affiliate commerce, and licensing agreements.
– A team from both companies will start outlining a considerate plan to integrate functions where it is required. Also, none of the existing editorial offerings or services will change due to the acquisition.
The numbers
As reported by Axios, the companies are expected to bring in combined revenues north of $700 million in 2022. Earlier this year, it was reported Group Nine was expected to make at least $200 million in revenue this year.
The quick catch
Group Nine Media announced last year that it was forming a SPAC that could take another company public.
In his note, Bankoff said,
[W]e have no immediate plans to go public, although we’ll always continue to evaluate opportunities that are in the best interest of all of our stakeholders, including our employees.
The company’s official deal announcement states that the deal is not within the Group Nine SPAC (Group Nine Acquisition Corp.), “which is a completely separate entity”.
The Big picture
The transaction comes during a period of intense consolidation within the digital media sector as digital giants battle it out with internet giants like Google and Facebook.
Some of the recent deals include Dotdash acquiring Meredith Corp, BuzzFeed acquiring Complex, and Axel Springer purchasing Politico.
With third-party cookies deprecated, digital publishers have been rushing to consolidate to reach larger audiences. This will allow them to compete better for advertising budgets against social media platforms and increase the size of their first-party databases.
The Bottom Line
The combined company will include:
- Unrivaled Brand Portfolio- Award-winning, established, and popular brands can appeal to key demographics across all major consumer groups.
- Full suite of advertising solutions– The platform will offer clients comprehensive advertising solutions, including video, audio, branded content, social, events, newsletters, commerce, and programmatic.
- Commerce and licensing– Both companies are recognized for successfully bringing their brands to life through commercial licensing, affiliate partnerships, and collaborations.
- Audio- Vox Media Podcast Network offers the largest and most diverse collection of premium podcasts.
- Studios– Group Nine and Vox Media have established entertainment production studios, leveraging the popular brands of their companies with distribution partners
- Experiential– Crossing together the two companies will create a strong conference and event business known for Code Conference, Vulture Festival, PopSugar Play/Ground, NowThis Next, and Pivot MIA, the first-ever conference in the Midwest.
As Bankoff said in a statement to Axios,
Scale matters. Scale for scale’s sake is not what’s important but quality combined with scale, which is what this story is about, is going to be an advantage in the marketplace.
Outbrain Expands Video Offering With A Swiss Start-Up Acquisition
Open web recommendation platform Outbrain has strengthened its brand and video offering after entering a definitive agreement to acquire a Swiss contextual video start-up VI.
Video intelligence(VI) is a contextual video technology platform for digital and Connected TV media owners. It combines contextually matched content and in-stream video advertising for desktop, mobile, and CTV.
Interesting Read: Connected TV Explained: The Essential Glossary Of CTV
The Deal Makes Absolute Sense
Outbrain works with many publishers who are indexing more towards videos such as Rakuten TV, Pluto TV, and Samsung TV Plus. Media owners and advertisers benefit from Outbrain’s acquisition of the company.
-vi’s contextual and machine learning technologies enable media owners to add relevant video content to their articles to enhance user engagement and monetization.
-vi’s solution is cookieless by design and serves media owners ranging from IDG to Der Spiegel and Funke.
-Advertisers can leverage the high-impact, incredibly viewable, brand-safe video ad inventory that drives awareness and engagement.
Recently, vi partnered with Samsung TV+ to get into the connected TV space.
Outbrain will acquire vi for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $55 million and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.
Interesting Read: Why Did The Most Anticipated Taboola-Outbrain Deal Collapse After A Year?
And That’s What They Said
Yaron Galai, Co-Founder and Co-CEO said is excited to have the VI team on board and share significant synergies between both companies.
“The combination with vi will allow us to deepen our partnership with media owners, providing mid- and top-of-article video solutions. It will also expand our addressable market, introducing high-quality in-stream video inventory to support our brand advertisers.“
Kai Henniges, Co-Founder and CEO of VI said that both companies share the same vision of the future media.
“Our years of video expertise and unique offering for publishers and CTV providers are a perfect addition to Outbrain’s leading market position and premium global media owner partnerships. Together we will accelerate our mission to inspire, inform and entertain users by putting video in context.”
Interesting Read: At $1.25B Valuation For News Link Recommendations, Outbrain Raises $160M
Huawei Ads announces six new additions to Certified Partners Program
The programmatic advertising platform Huawei Ads announced six new partners to its Certified Partners program. A number of leading agencies such as LIVEmena in Saudi Arabia, Home of Performance in UAE, ARQQA in Egypt, VEVE by Affinity, Ventes Avenues in India, and OMD Pakistan have joined the alliance.
Adam Xiao, Managing Director of Huawei Mobile Services in the Middle East and Africa, Huawei Consumer Business Group, said,
“We consider our partner ecosystem as an extension of our own team, and we are delighted to announce that we are expanding the HUAWEI Ads Partner Program to on-board six more leading agencies as ‘Certified Partners’ from the Middle East, Africa and India region.”
He further added,
“This milestone underpins our commitment to enhance our services and provide our customers and partners with support to place advertisements in the HUAWEI Ads ecosystem effectively. We look forward to supporting our partners to scale new heights with their campaigns.”
Interesting Read: Trade Desk Partners With Choueiri Group For Better Programmatic Access In MENA
How Can It Help Brands?
Brands can reach Huawei’s vast untapped global user base through “Certified Partners” who can provide insight and advice to optimize their campaigns’ creative and performance aspects.
Moreover, HUAWEI Ads offers developers the ability to integrate multiple kits with AppGallery and monetize by displaying ads. The advertising platform supports many ad formats, including native, rewarded, banner, interstitial, splash, and roll, which increases revenue for developers.
With more than 1.2 billion daily advertising requests, HUAWEI Ads has introduced seven flagship apps and more than 30,000 third-party apps since the global inauguration. The advertising platform is available in 170 countries and has over 700 million monthly active users, allowing developers to increase in-app revenue and benefit from advertising through a fully connected world.
Huawei Ads is becoming an increasingly important consideration for brands as it continues to add new partners. As a result of the expansion of its partner program, HUAWEI Ads will be able to capitalize on that potential and become a key player in the adtech sector.
Interesting Read: JGroup and Blis To Partner For Exclusive Location-Based Advertising In MENA