Originally posted on MediaPost, June 11, 2013

By Mukund Ramachandran, General Manager, Video

Online video consumption continues to skyrocket. Americans watched 38.8 billion online videos last month. On average, viewers spend 40 minutes a day doing it. Is it any wonder that Netflix just bowed Season 4 of “Arrested Development” in its entirety on the Web?

Are you surprised that Yahoo is in talks to buy Hulu? Anything shocking about Amazon announcing 5 web-first original series?  I spent time at this year’s New Fronts where 18 companies announced their video slate for the year. No one was surprised.

And yet online video advertising makes up a tiny fraction of marketer’s overall digital budgets. According to eMarketer, of the $37 billion spent online last year, only 6% (or $2.3B) was spent on digital video.

To see the rest of  Mukund’s thoughts, please read the full article here.

Originally posted on Business Insider, June 8, 2013

By Adam Markey, Senior Product Manager

New technology, consumer sentiment, and industry changes are all affecting the future of the third-party cookie (3PC). While the cookie-based revenue on retargeting and third party data is still strong, the golden age of the 3PC is at its end. This is causing great turmoil for some in the digital advertising industry, but some — like me — see it as a good thing. Before we get to the why I believe this, we need to understand the challenges, implications, and benefits of the cookie-less consumer.

To see the three challenges the cookie-less consumer presents, along with why Adam thinks the cookie-less consumer is a good thing, see the full article on Business Insider!

This week, the finalists for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards were announced—and DataXu CEO and co-founder Mike
Baker is a New England Region finalist!  The awards program recognizes “high-growth entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.”

2013 has already been a great year for DataXu—from a new round of funding, to other awards, to new product features like the Algorithm Marketplace and new initiatives like the Consumer Index, it’s a satisfying accomplishment to have our CEO recognized by such a well-respected organization like Ernst & Young.

The New England Region winners will be announced at a special gala event on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at the Renaissance Waterfront in Boston, and the annual Entrepreneur Of The Year awards will held in Palm Springs in November. The 2013 event takes place November 13–17 as part of the Strategic Growth Forum. Stay tuned for the winners of both the regional and national awards!

Originally

By Julie Ginches, Vice President of Marketing

Agencies, vendors, and service providers facing discontinuous change in the advertising industry can react in two ways. They can shake their heads at disruption as digital outpaces print and TV, and data and science replace “faith-based” models. Or they can seize the moment, reinvent themselves, and take advantage of the emerging opportunities offered by programmatic marketing – better insights, deeper engagement, and improved ROI. At stake? Continued relevancy and business growth; an estimated $14 billion in real-time buying spend forecasted by 2016; and the $66 billion estimated for programmatic marketing platforms – the intersection of digital media, data, and analytics.

BSSP, a thriving, award-winning agency with a top-shelf client list, is definitely in the second camp. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Keith Johnston and Lynda Richardson at BSSP about their move to transform their digital media buying and standardization with a programmatic marketing platform. Here’s what they had to say.

To see the full interview with Keith and Lynda, view the article here: Independent Agency BSSP Embraces the Future.