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DataView: The DataXu Blog

Category: digital media

  • The other meaning of “ROI”
    09/07/2010 | Categories: , , , , , ,

    Every advertiser seeks better “ROI” (return on investment).  Since we launched the first version of our platform — less than a year ago! – it’s been gratifying to see many big brands and agencies embrace our solution to drive better ROI from online display.

    But  “ROI” has another meaning, and it’s equally important:  “Rate Of Innovation”.  This kind of ROI is measured by how quickly a company can innovate in response to a new opportunity or problem.  And as digital transforms the media and advertising landscape, it’s increasingly apparent that the winners will be determined by Rate of Innovation.

    So today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of the industry’s first Mobile demand side platform (DSP).  This is a sort of homecoming for many at DataXu, who came to us from Enpocket, a trail- blazing mobile marketing company with a reputation for innovation and high customer satisfaction.

    Indeed, the DataXu “tribe” — employees, customers, partners, investors and friends – is formed by a shared belief in rapid and relentless innovation, in rejecting “good enough”, in solving hard problems for customers, in the power of technology to improve business, and more importantly, our lives.

    As a repeat winner in the business of growing digital media companies, I’m often asked “how do you tell the winners from the losers”?  it’s actually pretty simple: look to a company’s rate of innovation.  In times of disruption and change, “snapshots” are not meaningful; you need to see the “motion picture”.  So if you’re a brand or agency evaluating ad tech partners, dig into both kinds of ROI!  And stay tuned for a steady stream of innovations from DataXu …


  • DataXu Helps iCrossing Extend Search Services into Display Traded Media
    08/17/2010 | Categories: , , , , , , , ,

    Today we announced our partnership with Global Digital Marketing Agency iCrossing.

    DataXu was selected as iCrossing’s Demand Side Platform, helping extend iCrossing’s growing display services into the exchange-traded display media market.

    Already leaders in the search marketing space, this partnership will further develop iCrossing’s display offering, guiding clients’ media buying strategy with sophisticated decisioning and audience buying technology.  Mirroring iCrossing’s search-advertising efficiencies, DataXu’s machine-learning technology creates advertiser-specific algorithms as well as simple pricing and targeting controls to guide display campaigns and improve ad performance.

    “The convergence of search and display is all about data.  We’re pleased to be working with an industry leader to define the next generation of data driven marketing,” said Mike Baker, President & CEO, DataXu.

    Both DataXu and iCrossing will be speaking at SES San San Francisco this week.  Per our most recent post, DataXu’s CEO Mike Baker will be participating in a SES panel on the topic of “Crossing the Digital Divide: The Leap from Search to Display.”

    Today’s full press release is available at: http://www.dataxu.com/news/DataXuDSPforiCrossing.php


  • Mike Baker in 140 Characters
    07/23/2010 | Categories: , , , , , , , , , ,

    Per our recent blog post, DataXu CEO Mike Baker was a busy man this week. He was in L.A. Monday for an OMMA AdNets panel in the afternoon and Dapper panel in the evening. Then off to Chicago on Tuesday for a panel at the Right Media Open.

    With 3 panels in 2 days, Mike had plenty to say; in fact the Twittersphere did a great job of capturing some nuggets from each of Mike’s panels. But if you weren’t at the events, we thought these 140 character sound bites might be confusing, see the below for some additional context and detail from Mike Baker…

    • MB: This was part of a discussion regarding the increasing complexity of the media buying and ad technology space. Here I was making the point that instead of existing companies innovating to include new features, what seems to be happening is that entirely new companies are popping up with products that could have simply been rolled into existing technology platforms thus the space gets more complex and crowded.
    • MB: At the Right Media Open, I was on a panel about the evolution of agencies in the digital media world. I’ve always been of the mind that machine-learning technology, like that of DataXu, can handle the tactical execution of media buying and planning, allowing overburdened media buyers  to focus their energy and time on more strategic marketing initiatives.
    • MB: As I wrote about on Forbes.com a few months back, Google’s acquisition of Invite Media and expansion into the DSP (Demand Side Platform) space is exciting and validating for DSP technology, but there are still some concerns around Google’s neutrality.  Google is the largest digital media seller, yet they’re going to remain an impartial  buy- side advocate for OMG?  Seems unlikely.

    Stay tuned for more event news and updates and remember, you can always find us on Twitter at @dataxuinc!


  • Industry Leaders Collaborate to Make Digital Advertising More Efficient
    07/16/2010 | Categories: , , , , , , , ,

    Digital is the fastest growing and arguably most strategic sector of the advertising market, yet an agency executive recently told me that transaction costs are 300 percent greater than for television.

    As is often the case with rapidly innovating industries, marketers are struggling to master and manage the media planning and buying workflow.  With the recent launch of a coalition dedicated to developing industry standards, it seems that we may finally be able to make the business of digital advertising more efficient.

    The complicated display advertising ecosystem (see diagram here) exacerbates work flow issues for agencies and their clients.  Campaign data gets pushed through third party intermediaries, ad networks and exchanges, demand side platforms and more.  Reporting, tracking and reconciliation tends to be manual and thus very inefficient.

    Last week, Interpublic and Microsoft announced “MOMS” (Media Operations Management System), a program to overhaul the workflow involved in planning and buying digital media. The hope is that The American Association of Advertising Agencies will expand the initiative to a coalition of agencies, marketers, media and technology solution providers; developing standards for streamlining digital advertising with automated technology processes.

    Beyond removing needless cost, initiatives like this inevitably streamline the ecosystem, hopefully weeding out the low value middle men that populate the landscape today, and shining a light on what specific points of value each vendor is providing.  No doubt that these reform initiatives will become increasingly important to the industry’s survival much less growth over the next 5 years, with additional holding companies announcing similar efforts and embracing technology standards that will allow them to better leverage economies of scale in the age of digital data.

    In fact, we’ve seen similar reform efforts in other industries; from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems streamlining resource allocation in the enterprise, to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) making B2B transactions more standardized and efficient, and even recent efforts in the medical industry to address the security and privacy of health data with the Health Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

    Why is the advertising industry so late to the game?

    - Mike Baker, CEO, DataXu

    (**This piece was also posted on the MarketShare blog at Forbes.com: http://blogs.forbes.com/marketshare/2010/07/16/digital-advertising-efficiency-agencies-ad-networks/)


  • DataXu’s Mike Baker Makes the Rounds – 2 days, 3 Events
    07/12/2010 | Categories: , , , , , , , , ,

    They say you can’t be everything to everyone, but for DataXu CEO Mike Baker you CAN be everywhere with everyone.  Next week, Mike will be speaking at 3 different industry events.

    12:15 p.m. PT, Monday, July 19, 2010:

    OMMA AdNets – Los Angeles, CA

    An annual OMMA event, this year’s OMMA AdNets seeks to uncover the value in the many layers of the digital advertising ecosystem. Mike will be speaking on a pre-lunch panel, at 12:15 p.m. PT, titled “Simplify the Stack: Fighting the New Cost and Complexity of Media Buying.” Moderated by David Szetala, CEO, Clix Marketing and joined by panelists from Razorfish, Click Forensics and Catalyst, Mike will discuss strategies for improving the efficiency of the media buying process.

    7:00 p.m. PT, Monday July 19, 2010:

    Dapper Fixing Advertising Panel – Los Angeles, CA

    Co-hosted by the Rubicon Project, Fixing Advertising Los Angeles will explore the tremendous changes and opportunities in display advertising today as innovations in user data, intelligent media buying, and dynamic creative drive new efficiencies and performance gains – at a remarkable scale. The panel will also take a deep dive into the ways that the new data-driven ecosystem is affecting publishers, including insights into which data is owned by publishers, how well they are represented by supply-side platforms and whether or not they are capturing enough of the value chain. The panel will be moderated by Peter Kim, General Manager, Yahoo! Smart Ads, and joining Mike as panelists will be executives from The Rubicon Project, Triggit and more.

    2:30 p.m. CT, Tuesday, July 20, 2010:

    Right Media Open – Chicago, IL

    Yahoo’s Right Media Open is an annual event that brings together online advertising leaders to share insights and discuss industry challenges.  This year’s event will be keynoted by Terence Kawaja, Managing Director, GCA Savvian and Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Mike will be on a panel alongside executives from Cadreon, MEC and MediaBank to discuss the question, “How Are Agencies Evolving to Meet the Digital Future?”

    Stay tuned for additional insights, content and recaps from these events.


  • Agencies Grapple with Ad Technology and its Place in a Services Business
    06/25/2010 | Categories: , , , , , , , ,

    There’s been a wave of innovation in online advertising over the past year; new ad technology made just for ad buyers (DSPs) are quickly gaining traction as a way to improve media effectiveness and realize operational efficiencies.  DSP’s give agencies a powerful new tool, but the emergence of “buy side technology” is forcing them to grapple with a tricky new issue: how best to build a new technology core into an old services business model.

    Some agencies have decided that forming strategic partnerships with external technology providers is the way to go.  Others believe that the best strategy is to try to develop the technology themselves.  While it’s too early to conclude the winning approach, this is an issue that smart clients will monitor as the digital era marches on because it will affect not only agency performance, but also the basic economic structure of the agency-client relationship.

    In-house ad tech
    The in-house technology approach is probably best embodied by WPP, with its 2007 acquisition of ad network and technology firm 24/7 Real Media.  Since the acquisition, WPP has done a nice job of using these assets to grow an internal innovation engine known as MIG (Media Innovation Group).  In a recent interview, MIG’s Brian Lesser explained some of the reasons for their continued investment in proprietary ad technology:

    • More holistic media strategy – can alleviate issues that result from a fragmented media buying approach and result in a more efficient media spend.
    • Data-driven marketing – integration of client data throughout the agency’s decision-making process informs the marketing strategy and results in more valuable insights to guide the clients’ campaigns.
    • Less data exposure – with in-house ad technology, proprietary data is pushed solely through an agency’s platform and is thus able to be leveraged exclusively by the agency.

    Third party ad tech
    Alternatively, Publicis and Omnicom have weighed in as favoring partnerships with external ad technology providers.  Curt Hecht of Publicis’ Vivaki business unit recently discussed with AdExchanger their partnership with Internet giant Google, which includes use of Google’s new “house DSP” Invite Media (acquired by Google last month).  And  Omnicom’s Randall Weisenburger explained to ClickZ that they have opted against building an in-house DSP because of the vast benefits technology partners can provide to clients:

    • Greater access to innovation – when agencies partner with outside technology vendors, they can innovate more quickly and better align with client needs.
    • Focus on core competence – agency resources can be focused on larger strategic considerations that are core to the agency.
    • Less risk of agency bias in media buying decisions – advertisers can be confident that an agency’s recommended technology strategy will not be influenced by an in-house proprietary service.

    Ultimately, these different approaches are still very new and only time will tell what truly makes the most sense for the agency and for its clients.  But just as advertisers want to know about an agency’s creative approach, it’s now best practice to dig into their technology roadmap.

    - Mike Baker, CEO, DataXu

    (**This piece was also posted on the MarketShare blog at Forbes.com: http://bit.ly/d0hEX3)


  • DataXu is the Online Advertising Winner in the 2010 MITX Technology Awards
    06/10/2010 | Categories: , , , ,

    We won! Last Wednesday evening, a group of DataXu’ers including 2 of our founders, Sandro Catanzaro and Bill Simmons, attended the ceremony for the MITX (Massachusetts Interactive Technology Exchange) Technology Awards. We were finalists in the ‘Online Advertising” category alongside strong competitors Nexage, BuySellAds.com and Searchandise Commerce.  And we won!

    Co-founder Bill Simmons said it best “Since our public launch just last September, our team has been working nonstop to continue innovating our platform and growing our company; this recognition from MITX, New England’s leading interactive business and digital media association, makes all the hard work more than worth it.”

    The full press release is available here: http://www.dataxu.com/news/MITX_award_win.php

    We’re absolutely ecstatic about this honor, as the picture below from http://www.facebook.com/MITX.ORG shows.

    Sandro Catanzaro, VP of Products, and Bill Simmons, VP of Technology, show off their shiny new MITX award.


  • DataXu MarketPulse: Ad Price Volatility Is Opportunity for Advertisers
    05/21/2010 | Categories: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Yesterday, we distributed what we hope will be the first of many “DataXu MarketPulse” newsletters. Designed to highlight compelling trends in the digital advertising space, the DataXu MarketPulse was created in response to our customers’ requests for visibility and insights into the rapidly evolving world of biddable digital media.

    DataXu MarketPulse, May 2010

    Extreme Price Volatility Across Ad Exchanges Presents Opportunities for Buyers

    DataXu analyzed the price paid for ad impressions across ad exchanges over the past 30 days, and discovered that the average daily price varied by over 100% during the period.

    This analysis is drawn from our leading cross-exchange advertising optimization platform, which evaluated over 175M unique user visits and hundreds of billions of ad impressions from all of the major suppliers of biddable display advertising during the measurement period.

    “With the tremendous growth of exchanges for bidding on digital display ads, we are seeing a persistent price volatility across all points of supply,” said Mike Baker, CEO of DataXu. “This presents innovative advertisers with a huge opportunity to boost media effectiveness and efficiency. But to do so, they have to move beyond static media buying to dynamic decision systems that keep pace with the volatility.”

    Advertisers know that exchange-traded inventory varies in value, but this significant volatility in prices for fungible placement opportunities may serve as a wake-up call. When it comes to display ads, are you confident that you are getting what you pay for?

    Over time, across large campaigns, such price variances can have a significant impact on ROI, if an advertiser is not employing the right analysis and tools to ensure that their higher cost impressions are also the highest value impressions for their specific goals.

    The Average Daily CPM Price for Display Ads Across Exchanges Varies by Over 100%

    The fluctuation of ad CPM prices outpaced other dynamic values — even during a period that included the stock market’s “flash crash” and the Goldman Sachs’ investigation.

    DataXu’s MarketPulse explores the data that defines today’s digital advertising marketplace. Stay tuned for future insights from DataXu.  For a pdf of this report see DataXu MarketPulse: Ad Price Volatility, May 2010 and to sign up for future MarketPulse newsletters, send an email to marketpulse@dataxu.com.


  • Advertising Industry Icons Join DataXu Advisory Board
    04/26/2010 | Categories:

    Today we announced the addition of four new members to our advisory board.  Each of these new members has a distinguished reputation in their respective disciplines – representing agencies, brands, publishers and data companies – and their collective insight will be a tremendous asset as we continue to expand our offerings across the digital media landscape.

    Our new advisory board members are:

    • Bernhard Glock – Former global head of media for Procter & Gamble
    • Jon Bond – Co-founder of agency Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners
    • Greg Stuart – Digital media entrepreneur, former IAB President & CEO
    • Michael Darviche – Chief Marketing Officer at Acxiom

    Learn more about our advisory board members by visiting our Advisory Board page and for more details from today’s announcement, see the full press release at http://www.dataxu.com/news/advisory_board.php.

    Q&A: Mike Baker & Bernhard Glock

    DataXu CEO Mike Baker had a chance to speak with one of our new advisory board members, Bernhard Glock, former President of the World Federation of Advertisers, about the evolving digital advertising landscape, his vision for the industry and his decision to join DataXu’s advisory board. The full discussion is available in pdf format here.

    Below is a preview of a few of the questions.

    1.    [MB] You were the President of the World Federation of Advertisers for the past 4 years.  What issues are keeping CMOs up at night?

    [BG] CMOs of today are often struggling with ways to adapt to the evolving digital landscape. They want to generate big game-changing ideas in the digital space with integrated and consumer-relevant communication, and are simultaneously trying to preserve resources to increase their ROI.

    2.    [MB] Where are the big brand advertisers on their transition to “native digital” ways of doing business?

    [BG] Many advertisers are still a ways away from becoming digital natives, but absolutely see the importance of embracing new technology opportunities.  Many are in a test-and learn period where they experience and pilot different activities to see what sticks. Educating advertisers and encouraging engagement through strategic digital partnerships will be fundamental in growing advertisers’ digital competency.

    3.    [MB] What prompted you to join DataXu as an advisor?

    [BG] DataXu’s mission is to improve the media world we live in – exactly where my passion is. Mike Baker and his team are driven in what they want to accomplish, and with such an innovative product, transformative vision and successful and strong management team, how can you say “no”?

    For a pdf of the complete Q&A, see: Bernhard Glock Q&A.