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Euro Round-Up: Data On European Web Usage; StrikeAd Partners With Cognitive Match; 24/7 Media Reps French Foodie Site To Enhance Lifestyle Proposition

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

comScore Releases Latest Report on Internet Usage Across 49 European Markets

comScore recently released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 381.5 million unique visitors went online in December 2011 for an average of 27.5 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets.

Two out of three internet users in the Netherlands accessed online banking sites, making it not only the top penetration market in Europe, but in all global markets, with France coming in second and Sweden coming in third for online banking access.

The growth of Russian social network Fotostrana.ru which belongs to the Hamborner Holdings property, made it the fastest growing property (up 52 per cent) from November to December, followed by software company Opera Software (up 36 per cent).

In terms of the most popular sites in Europe, Google Sites continued to rank first with 350.2 million unique visitors. Facebook, which ranked third in audience size with 258.1 million visitors, had the highest overall engagement at 93.3 billion minutes spent on the site in total. Interestingly, Vkontakte had the highest average user engagement at 7.9 hours per visitor during the month.

The Russian internet audience continued to be the largest audience by users in Europe with nearly 53.3 million users accessing the internet in December 2011. The UK continued to show the highest engagement, with users spending an average of 35.6 hours online during the month. Turkey overtook the Netherlands to rank second for engagement with users spending an average of 33.7 hours online during the month.

StrikeAd partners with Cognitive Match to Eliminate Generic Ads on Mobile

StrikeAd, the London and New York based mobile advertising specialist, and the developer of the industry’s first mobile-specific demand-side platform (DSP), announced this week it is to partner with Cognitive Match, developer of market-leading Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) solutions, to deliver powerful personalised mobile ad campaigns eliminating generic ads and creating content that is tailored to individuals.

The partnership will now enable StrikeAd to offer advertisers the opportunity to place real-time mobile-specific DCO ads in front of the right consumers with the goal of increasing engagement, reach and overall mobile ad campaign ROI. StrikeAd Fusion is a proprietary mobile-specific platform, providing a single console through which agencies can plan, execute and evaluate hundreds of mobile campaigns on a global basis in real-time.

Alex Rahaman, CEO of StrikeAd feels they are embarking on something unique. “This partnership is one of the first of its kind in the industry, and is going to dramatically change the way the mobile ad market develops. Using our platform, combined with Cognitive Match’s learning engine designed to deliver creatives that visually inspire the individual to action, advertisers will be able to see the effectiveness of their mobile ad campaigns, all in real-time.”

The Cognitive Match software uses a blend of artificial intelligence, psychology and semantic technologies, to build hundreds of data points to make split-second decisions about what content to display at every impression. The partnership with Cognitive Match will enable StrikeAd to provide advertisers with increased acquisition and reach for mobile ad campaigns by matching elements of a campaign which appeal to individual consumers – based on consumer data collected in real-time – and deliver them on to their mobile.

“By optimising every stage of a mobile ad campaign with our DCO solution, advertisers can achieve much more from each individual campaign, and learn more about their audience as a result”, commented Alex Kelleher, CEO and Founder of Cognitive Match.

GaultMillau.fr Joins 24/7 Media’s “Lifestyle Pack”, Offering Advertisers a Lux Audience

Prominent French gastronomy and lifestyle website GaultMillau.fr, has selected 24/7 Real Media as their ad sales partner. With nearly 200,000 unique visitors each month, the site draws an audience interested in a lush lifestyle of travel, wine and fine dining. Gault Millau is a 40 year-old food and wine brand in which the French have confidence and is especially popular in Paris. This new partnership enables 24/7 Real Media to expand its package of lifestyle sites already on offer, which include AtelierDesChefs.fr and Gustave.com. The “Lifestyle Pack” curated by 24/7 Real Media has 2.2 million unique visitors.

Edward Dinichert, Director of Governance for 24/7 Real Media, welcomes the addition. “GaultMillaut.fr represents a real opportunity for advertisers to communicate on a very specific theme and in a positive environment : the art of living and pleasure. We aim to continue growing this package with the addition of many famous brands within this topic.”

Chérisey of Como, CEO of Gault Millau, is equally happy with the partnership. “We are very happy we chose 24/7 Real Media for our advertising. The pack of which we are a part is dedicated to the world of the art of living and is a digital solution to convince AB +.”

24/7 Media was bought by WPP for $649 million in 2007 and is used as its ad server technology within the WPP operation. 24/7 Media also works directly with a number of European publishers as their ad server partner – and in some markets still operates an ad net business.

Posted in Ad Exchange, Ad Network, Ad Server, Ad Trading, Mobile Display, Mobile RTB, Online Advertising, RTB | No Comments »

Euro Round Up: Opera Shores Up Mobile Ad Business; Vodafone Picks Tagman; Tribal Fusion Launches AdChoices; And OpenX In Profit

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Opera Acquires Mobile Theory and 4th Screen Advertising To Beef Up Mobile Ad Business

Norwegian-based browser powerhouse, Opera, announced it is acquiring Mobile Theory for $18m and 4th Screen for $8m, with potential earn-outs bringing in an additional $32m and $6.5m respectively in 2013 and 2014. The move comes at the same time Opera announced its latest quarterly earnings, in which revenues were up by 31 per cent to 253.1m Norwegian Kronor ($44m).

Mobile Theory and 4th Screen, which focus on rich-media advertising solutions, will help expand Opera’s existing mobile advertising business. Opera already offers a range of mobile ad services across many smartphone and feature-phone mobile platforms, which generated $200m in revenue for publisher partners last year. Opera reports 160 million monthly active users and 100 billion monthly page views, so it’s no surprise that it is making moves like this to better monetise that base.

The benefit of buying two ad networks instead of one lies in Mobile Theory being headquartered in San Francisco, with 4th Screen headquartered in London — thus giving Opera the option to span both the American and European markets.

Vodafone implements TagMan’s technology to create “unstoppable digital”

Vodafone UK has implemented real-time attribution and tag management technology from TagMan in what the mobile operator is calling its strategy for “unstoppable digital”. It says this will transform the company’s understanding of the digital marketing campaigns it runs, radically altering its approach to that investment as it expands activity in this area.

Vodafone online and telesales marketing manager Gareth Davies explains: “We truly know how paid search, natural search, email, display affiliates and such interact and support each other.” Davies added that using new providers would offer better value for money since TagMan will enable it to add new tags to its web pages in minutes rather than months.

TagMan announced a partnership with call-tracking specialist AdInsight in December 2011 that combines online with offline analytics. The companies said this would connect the dots between customers’ entire online journey, and any phone calls to a business, by housing AdInsight’s tracking inside the TagMan tag management system. 

At the time, the companies were investigating their client bases to develop a joint trial programme of the integration, for which Vodafone would seem to be a perfect candidate. With successful implementation of TagMan’s offering under its belt, it seems only a matter of time before the mobile operator joins the dots even further to include phone tracking as well.

Online Advertising Provider Tribal Fusion launches the AdChoices Icon in Europe

Tribal Fusion published a statement this week announcing their adoption of an AdChoices icon, acting as user assurance the company is only serving ads in accordance with IAB’s Good Practice Principles.

“We are big believers in providing people with transparency and choice in how we use their data for Online Behavioural Advertising (“OBA”, to use the regulatory jargon)”, states Doug Conely, Senior Director for Global Data and Targeting at Tribal Fusion. “We were early signatories to the UK IAB’s Good Practice Principles and have been vocal advocates of the self-regulation process. That’s why we were also immediate signatories to the EU Framework and now the EASA Best Practice Recommendation on Online Behavioural Advertising. A major component of this is the requirement for 80% of behaviourally targeted online display ads across the European Union to carry the AdChoices icon by June 2012.”

As of Monday 13th of Feburary 2012, all new ad creatives loaded onto their system to run within any country in the European Union will carry the AdChoices icon, whether that campaign is using OBA or not. Clicking on the icon will direct the user to their relevant site within youronlinechoices.eu, where they can get more information about cookies and OBA as well as choosing whether to opt-out or not.

Conely feels implementation of the AdChoices icon is just the beginning. “This is not the end of the story for the AdChoices icon. Over time, companies will need to add ‘metadata’, which is information on all the companies working the chain causing that ad to be served, e.g. advertiser, agency, exchange, data exchange, ad network, etc. The icon on its own is not sufficient. Users need to be aware of what it means as a broad symbol of transparency and choice when using the internet. Lastly, right now, the paradox of the opt-out cookie is that if you clear your cookies you clear your opt-out preferences. The industry needs to move fast on a sensible browser-based solution.”

OpenX first full quarter of profitability (Q4 2011)

OpenX’s advertising technology services (including OpenX Enterprise) saw profitability last year with a Q4 year-over-year growth rate of 100%, compared with the same period in 2010. While OpenX Market saw year-over-year growth rate of nearly 700%, the company announced earlier this week.

OpenX has now exceeded an annualised revenue run rate of more than $100m, with over 1 trillion ads served last year and this year opening with more than 200 billion ad transactions per month — a trend they hope to increase as the year progresses.

Tim Cadogan, OpenX CEO, expects continued profitability for 2012: “Our focus is on helping publishers make more money by optimising all their ad revenue streams in one comprehensive platform so they can maximise revenue. In 2012, we’re extending our core mission by making OpenX’s platform fully device-agnostic so we can deliver the benefits of revenue serving across all screens: Smartphone, tablet, laptop, PC & Smart TVs.”

So is an IPO in the works?

“It’s premature to commit to it at this point, but it’s definitely something we’ve been thinking about.”

Posted in Ad Exchange, Ad Network, Ad Server, Ad Trading, Analytics, Attribution, Mobile Ad Network, Mobile Display, Mobile RTB, Online Advertising | No Comments »

Euro Round Up: Criteo To Hit $400 Million In Revenue This Year; StrikeAd Informs On Mobile Ad Tracking; Hi-Media UK Inks New Deal With Thomas Cook

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Criteo To Hit $400 Million In Revenue This Year

Criteo has become a colossus in the European ad tech space. The French company, founded by Jean-Baptiste Rudelle in 2005, has a client list which includes some of the biggest names in e-commerce (Office.co.uk, Zoopla, Glasses Direct, Boden, among others).

Last year the company generated $200m in turnover, compared with $60m in 2010 and $9m in 2009. If the trend continues, Criteo could double its revenues in 2012. There are already plans to hire 250 people this year, bringing the workforce to 750 employees. At this rate, Criteo could possibly become the largest Internet company in France.

Criteo is committed to continuing its big innovation push. Gazagne Gregory, General Manager for France, Southern Europe and Latin America explains: “We have been profitable since July 2009 and reinvest all our profits in R&D. Our offices in Paris are the second largest algorithmic research centre on advertising in Europe behind Google in Zurich.” R&D doubled last year and engineers represent 40% of the total workforce. Criteo now has over 2,000 customers in 30 countries and has 15 offices around the world. More on the Criteo growth story here.

StrikeAd Releases White Paper On Conversion Tracking In Mobile Advertising

London and New York-based mobile advertising DSP, StrikeAd, released its new white paper on ad tracking in mobile. The white paper looks to provide a guide for agencies seeking to understand how to track mobile ads and conversions in a transparent and safe way.

The report examines in detail the problems surrounding device identifiers (UDIDs) when it comes to tracking mobile app downloads. It goes on to explain how cookies can be the key to tying an ad impression to a particular download and consequently yielding better results for agencies in mobile ad campaigns. Although it is necessary for the process to be adopted by the triumvirate of advertiser, agency and media in order to utilise them to best effect.

Alex Rahaman, CEO of StrikeAd, explains why they are releasing this report now: “Since StrikeAd launched we’ve had many agencies ask for help with their tracking across phone and tablet ad campaigns. In direct response to this, we wrote this white paper based on our tools to try to clear up any confusion and clarify for agencies how to track mobile ads and conversions in a privacy-safe way.”

You can download the white paper in full here.

Thomas Cook Joins Hi-Media’s Premium Network In The UK

Thomas Cook, one of the best-known names in travel, has partnered with Hi-Media in the UK to increase its online advertising revenues from the market, it announced in a press release last week. Hi-Media, a European leader in monetising Internet audiences, will work with leading advertisers and their agencies to develop bespoke advertising solutions to reach Thomas Cook’s audience of travel intenders.

ThomasCook.com has millions of unique visitors per month. Stuart Adamson, Head of Media Solutions, Europe at Thomas Cook Online, explains their value: “We have a large and loyal customer base across Europe visiting our sites to research and book their travel options. We know this is a highly valuable audience, so partnering with Hi-Media helps us gain traction with major brands looking to reach purchase decision-makers. We selected Hi-Media as a partner because of their understanding of quality brands and online consumer behavior.”

Mathieu Roche, Managing Director of Hi-Media UK, is equally happy with the partnership: “Thomas Cook is a brand with an incredible heritage, delivering a highly engaged audience who visit the site with purchase intent. We will work with advertisers and their agencies to offer them a wide variety of branding and performance advertising solutions to reach this premium audience.”

Posted in Ad Exchange, Ad Network, Ad Trading, Agency, Agency Trading Desk, Behavioral Targeting, Mobile Display, Mobile RTB, Online Advertising, Private Exchange, Publisher, RTB | No Comments »

Is Facebook About To Own The Mobile Channel With Sponsored Stories?

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Damian Routley is Director at Glow Digital Media Limited, a Facebook-buying solution based in London. Here he discusses the possible roll out of sponsored stories on Facebook’s mobile channel – and why with 400 million active mobile users FB will end up owning the mobile ad channel.

It seems only right to preface this piece with the following: the only people who know for sure what Facebook’s plans on mobile are, are themselves. And they’re not telling. Every request for confirmation or comment has been ignored, but through informal sources (internal and external) we can make a couple of assumptions.

Firstly, Facebook will monetise their mobile channel. Along the IPO path, the company will need to put in large building blocks of revenue. One of the easiest ways for them to do this is to activate this channel.

Facebook’s mobile audience is huge. In the UK they command over half of all mobile traffic by time and user numbers. In certain Asian markets, mobile penetration massively outweighs fixed internet. And globally, as the S-1 filing attests, they have 425m monthly active mobile users.

Over the past few months, Facebook has been placing a greater emphasis on Sponsored Stories – the ad types surfaced to your friends, triggered by your action (a check-in, like, comment, etc). This format is really effective because it’s not seen as a contrived effort to market to people. The introduction of these in the news feed this year introduced the concept to users so as not to surprise them when ads start appearing on their mobile.

What we know about Sponsored Stories within the news feed is that they’re manipulated to cause minimum intrusion by frequency capping to 1 per day. Because of this, and also because they’re more tuned to the social environment, the feedback is overwhelmingly positive.

As for how they will perform, it’s likely to be positive here too. They’ll come with the rich targeting that Facebook offers now: likes & interest, defined intent as well as demographic. Given the accuracy and portability, we will likely see time & location sensitive ad formats, special offers and coupons. Another extension with a powerful impact could be members getting member-incentivised special offers.

Yes, this method of targeting will likely bring an additional level of complexity to the already difficult ad channel. But in many ways, it’s easier – there’s no need for an ad server, you can buy it through the Facebook ads platform or one of the Ads API vendors. And because it’s likely that your conversion action will be based on Facebook you won’t need to worry about tracking cookies.

This is not a network play either – it’s designed to be a core part of the ecosystem and so performance will suffer if the rest of the ecosystem isn’t included in the plan. So if you’re just offering mobile, you’re missing out on the promoted actions that users will be seeing on Facebook.com.

Facebook ads on mobile will be a game changer. They’ll be one of the largest mobile ads offerings globally, will introduce compelling new formats at such scale that it will shift new and existing mobile dollars to their platform, and because of this they’ll work better than standard mobile display. And they’ll get to this position pretty much overnight. That is, if they do indeed decide to launch mobile as we all predict.

Posted in Facebook Display, Mobile Display, Online Advertising | No Comments »