News & Views

Why Is the Digital Media Space Such a Mess?

By Adrian Tompsett, VP, Business Development, DataXu

Across pretty much every industry that you look at – consumer products, enterprise software, beverages, you name it – you almost always see the existence of a thriving ecosystem of well-supported, profitable, and revenue-driving indirect channels. The business construct is universally the same.

Uptick in mobile ads gives rise to exchange-traded media: panel

As mobile rich media placement grows, so does the volume of data, giving rise to mobile ad exchanges that offer a real-time bidding environment.

5 Tips for Mobile Advertising Success

According to the GSMA,the global mobile industry trade group, the number of mobile-connected devices will double from 6 billion in 2011 to 12 billion by 2020. Are you ready to take full advantage of this digital juggernaut? Here are five tips on how you can get the most out of your mobile advertising investments.

Sharpened Reflexes

One of marketing’s biggest problems has always been that, until recently, the very last stage in the buying process was out of the brand’s hands. A company could plan its campaign to the finest detail, but once media space was bought, it had very little say about which individuals ads were shown to and precisely when.

The Future of Advertising

This week, we look at the future of advertising. Once, advertising was clear and unmistakable, like the famous Dr. Pepper ads from the 1970s.The unmistakeable Dr. Pepper jingle from the 1970s.Then, product placement took over — and companies paid small fortunes to be featured in movies like Mission Impossible.

DataXu Goes Global – Q&A with VP of Marketing Julie Ginches

DataXu, provider of the industry’s no1 ranked DSP today (10 Jan 2012) announced that it had acquired Europe’s leading DSP platform Mexad. Read our Q&A on the thought process behind the decision and more with DataXu’s Vice President of Marketing Jule Ginches below.

DataXu Investors Urge 2012 IPO but CEO ’In No Rush’

DataXu, a digital marketing software company, has been urged by investors to target an IPO in 2012, according to CEO and founder Mike Baker. However, Baker told this news service he is in no rush as he looks to build through partnerships and acquisitions.

Mexad To Help Drive DataXu’s DX3 Platform And Global, Brand Advertising Aspirations Says CEO Baker

Today, DataXu announced that it has acquired demand-side platform (DSP) Mexad, which has its headquarters in Germany as well as offices in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, and Brazil. Data said in a press release that it hopes to globally expand the use of its DX3 platform with brand advertisers

Know Your DSPs: Forrester Issues New Ranking On Services, Volume and Revenue

More and more agencies and marketers are turning to so-called demand-side platforms, or DSPs, for real-time audience buying. It’s a nascent market dominated by venture-funded startups, holding company technologies, and Google, which bought Intive Media in 2010 for $70 million. But Forrester Research is attempting to shed some light on this market with a new report released today.

Read more or Download the Report

Analytics Optimizes Marketing Campaigns

As more and more applications migrate to the clouds, analytics providing real-time situational awareness are spreading to functions that have traditionally been managed after-the-fact. Management of media campaigns, for insurance, is usually done by making careful placements, tracking resultant sales, then reinvesting in the placements that provided the most return on investment.

Why Scripps Bets on the DMM

It might seem like a curious position for a content company, but Scripps Networks thinks finding audiences is more important now than ever. They are employing DataXu’s DX3 platform, which they call a “digital marketing management” platform (DMM), to facilitate that shift.

DataXu Welds Data Management Capabilities into DX3

ADOTAS – Guess you can’t call it just a DSP anymore – by incorporating data management capabilities into its DSP, DataXu’s upgraded DX3 platform is being hailed by the company as a “fully integrated digital marketing management platform.” A mouthful, yes, but a fair assessment of a melded media planning/buying and data management and circulation system.

Boston VC News in Brief – DataXu, Wicked Good Angels Fund

It’s all about the data, LinkedIn found Reid Hoffman recently told the New York Times. He was talking about the next iteration of the web, and the potential for startups – perhaps like Boston’s DataXu – to become big companies by working with data in novel ways.

DataXu Launches DX3 Platform Integrating Social, Video, Display, Mobile

DataXu will release the next generation of its digital marketing platform, DX3, to support advertisers through audience, inventory, campaign management, and analytics. The platform, which will launch Monday, allows marketers to optimize across profitable audience segments, media channels, and creative messages.

The Future of Advertising: How Technology is Transforming Consumer Engagement

The media business is undergoing a sea-change. The passive consumer of analog media has rapidly evolved into an active creator of content moving across multiple digital media channels. But the pace of change is much slower in the advertising industry.

DataXu Launches Straightforward Social Audience Targeting

ADOTAS – If only all things in the DSP realm — nah, make that digital ad tech in general — were as straightforward as DataXu’s new DX Social, an expansion of the DSP’s audience targeting solution into the social sphere (well, Facebook for now, but Twitter and Google+ capabilities are in development). In such an uncomplicated world, I imagine I would get fewer migraines trying to untangle just what the hell so-and-so company is actually offering…

Social Draws Big Ad Dollars, But Does It Really Work? Two new analytics tools hope the answer is ‘yes’

Social media has outgrown its experimental play-money stage. With marketers sinking up to $6 billion into social campaigns this year (according to eMarketer), the category has officially become a legitimate form of advertising. But with newfound legitimacy comes a whole new problem: How do we know it’s working?

DataXu Helps Marketers Target Facebook Ads

DataXu will unveil DX Social Monday, expanding the role of the demand-side platform, the technology link between brands and ad networks. The platform pulls in Facebook and display data to compare results and help advertisers more finely target ads in Facebook. The tool plugs into Facebook’s new ads application programming interface (API).

Demand-Side Platform DataXu Expands Into Europe

DataXu, a demand side platform (DSP) that handles display, video and mobile advertising, has expanded out of the US and into a London office led by former Yahoo agency group head Martin Brown.

DataXu Unveils Value Optimization Strategy With Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

For the first time, advertisers can run bidding through DSPs like DataXu to find profitable customers. The most profitable are identified through data models consisting of consumer segment, content and creative pieces. DataXu’s platform learns patterns, and along with analytics, can determine the most valuable customers for a specific client.

Will digital advertising work for you brand?

In the digital world, speed kills. Not the brands behind the wheel, but the ones on the side of the road debating whether to jump in.

Companies come together for first-ever community service day

Members of the local technology start-up scene will take a breather from their jobs for a day of community service June 9. The “Tech Gives Back” Citizenship Day is the first of what organizers hope will become an annual event

Big Data Takes on Detractors

There’s trouble brewing in the formerly cozy relationship between third-party data vendors, leading brands, and marketing agencies. The subtext of this discontent is born of far deeper issues than industry squeamishness towards outsourced data services. It is a question of the parameters of relationships, not only the practices within them.

Ditching the TV Ad and Taking the Google Road to Brand Promotion

Over the past two years advertising-as-auction has spread out beyond keywords to display advertising, video and mobile making for a far more complex advertising environment where ads are auctioned across these multiple platforms.

Ad Technology: An Engine for Growth of the Internet and Boston

As the “cradle of Modern America,” Boston was an important financial center credited with driving our country’s economic expansion. While old-timers bemoan the ever-shrinking footprint of Boston as a banking hub, Boston has quietly become an important center for underwriting the Internet economy. Entrepreneurs here are driving innovation in ad technology.

DataXu Helps Brands Follow Consumers as More Ads Go Digital

This week, the company has been touting its latest offering, called DX Brand, a software platform that helps advertisers measure things like brand awareness, recall, sentiment, and purchase intent among consumers online, which traditionally has been hard to do on the fly

Ad optimization with DataXu

DataXu is a Boston-based startup looking to change the way businesses advertise by helping businesses figure out where their ad dollars can be best spent so the proper consumers are being targeted and funneled through the sales funnel.

Team Detroit SVP John Gray Raising Brand Awareness With Programmatic Buying, DataXu

On Wednesday, demand-side platform DataXu announced its DX Brand product focused on increasing brand awareness in display advertising through what the company says is “an evidence-based approach to measuring brand metrics, such as awareness, recall, favorability, or purchase intent.”

DataXu Gives Attitude

DataXu on Wednesday will officially launch a multichannel demand-side platform dubbed DX Brand. The system measures brand metrics such as awareness, recall, favorability, or purchase intent. Using in-ad surveys, A/B testing and multivariate decision making processes, the system determines the placements and creative pieces most likely to generate a favorable response from consumers who see them.

DataXu Gets Brand-Friendly With Its DSP

ADOTAS – Does the ever-changing display ecosystem confuse, maybe even scare your little brand? Perhaps terms like trading desk, demand-side platform and real-time optimization haunt your brand’s dreams, making it tightly clutch to ad dollars that could be spent online?

DataXu Puts Your Ad Dollars to Work More Effectively with DX Brand

Boston based DataXu has just announced the release of a new product that will put brands themselves back in the drivers seat. DX Brand, which is built on the DX2 platform, takes an automated and scientific approach to optimizing budgets to invest in consumers most likely to be receptive to a brand’s message. Basically, continually putting your advertising dollars in front of the right consumers.

Will Brands Pour Money into Ad Exchanges?

The $64,000 question when it comes to the ad exchange landscape is: Will brands get on board? The only way the billions poured into these precise targeting systems pans out is if they move from the realm of direct-response, remnant banner campaigns and into the world of brand building.

MITX named DX Mobile a finalist in the “Best Ad Decision Making Tool” Innovation Award category

Finalists competed in two rounds of judging and were assessed on their product’s competitive positioning, value proposition, and ability to move the industry forward.

‘Adjust’ Your Video Strategies for Better Results

DataXu’s CEO Mike Baker sits down with Dave Martin, SVP of media at Ignited, to discuss how online video advertising is creating new opportunities – or challenges for the entertainment industry to reach and engage their audiences.

DataXu Offers DX Video Cross-Channel Advertising Platform

DX Video automatically optimizes results against the objectives dictated by the advertiser, including awareness, engagement, views, peer influence and sales.

Tips: Analyzing Engagement

Engagement is a term that has been overused like no other. True engagement always has a connection to a bottom-line result. Marketers seeking to define engagement for brands also need to develop a systematic method of looking for, and at, the data that reflects a healthy ROI.

Universal Studios Taps Video DSP DataXu For ‘Adjustment’

Marketers gained a demand-side platform to support video ads when DSP DataXu released DX Video. The tools range from real-time programmable buying and optimization to advanced targeting and new audience discovery.

DataXu Adds Mobile DSP As CEO Baker Discusses Demand-Side Platform Strategy

AdExchanger’s John Ebbert sits down for a Q&A with DataXu CEO Mike Baker to discuss what the DX Mobile announcement means for DataXu’s demand-side platform strategy

DataXu Unleashes First Mobile DSP

DIGIDAY discusses the launch of DX Mobile and why it means “no more rotten tomatoes” for mobile ad planners.

DSPs to Cement Prominent Position in Mobile Advertising this Year

Mobile Marketer sits down with DataXu CEO Mike Baker to discuss what opportunities DSPs can offer mobile advertisers.

DataXu Unveils Mobile DSP

MediaPost discusses the launch of the industry’s first mobile demand-side platform and what it means for the mobile advertising industry.

Ten Companies to Watch in 2011

VentureFizz lists DataXu as one of “Ten Companies to Watch in 2011.”

Moving Beyond the Click to Measure and Optimize Brand Lift

DataXu’s Business Development Executive Adrian Tompsett sits down with Dan Beltramo, CEO and co-founder of Vizu, to discuss what advertisers can do to better understand and optimize how their online ads impact viewer perceptions of key brand attributes.

Baker: Digital Marketers Need To Check Under The Hood

DataXu CEO Mike Baker addresses industry skepticism that the owners of ad exchanges can operate as neutral brokers given their ownership of most of the media offered for sale on the platforms.

RTB Finally Getting Some Standards

Adotas’s Gavin Dunaway discusses OpenRTB, the “brainchild of DataXu CTO and founder Bill Simmons”

Firms Working on Standards for Real-Time Bidding

ClickZ’s Jack Marshall discusses the formation of OpenRTB.

Industry Reaction To OpenRTB Standard

AdExchanger.com asked several executives from advertising technology companies about their reaction to the OpenRTB standard being developed by DataXu, Turn, MediaMath, AdMeld, PubMatic and Rubicon Project

In The Name Of Efficiency, Buy- And Sell-Side Companies Create OpenRTB Standard for Online Display Buying

DataXu’s CTO Bill Simmons discusses the new OpenRTB standard and what it means for the industry.

Ad Tech Companies Band Together to Form New Coalition

DataXu joins a group of advertising technology companies to form the OpenRTB coalition.

Survey Marks Seismic Shift to Digital in 2011

A look at the results of the recent “State of the Industry: Digital Advertising Study” sponsored by DataXu and DIGIDAY.

2011 Predictions

DataXu’s CEO Mike Baker and other industry professionals look at the biggest issues, challenges and trends facing the wireless industry in 2011.

Mobile and Video Muscle Onto AdExchanges

ClickZ’s Zach Rodgers explores how ad exchanges are barreling into the mobile and video arena, with DataXu’s DX2 in the lead.

Partnership Will Scale Non-Guaranteed Ad Inventory

DataXu partners with PointRoll and AdMeld to provide more scale to RTB, DSP, and SSP advertisers by better utilizing rich media throughout the non-guaranteed inventory space.

Five Boston Tech Companies Looking to Score Big in the New Marketing Game

DataXu tops BostInnovation’s list of marketing technology companies making waves in Boston.

The Future of Advertising: How Technology is Transforming Consumer Engagement

DataXu CEO Mike Baker speaks with Adam Cahill, EVP co-media director at Hill Holliday, and Jon Verna, managing director at Run Inc., about how technology is changing the advertising landscape.

DataXu CEO Mike Baker on the Online Advertising Startup’s Move Into Mobile and Video

Xconomy’s Greg Huang talks about the release of DX2, the industry’s first three-screen demand-side platform which allows buyers of online display ads to place ads across web, video, and mobile devices.

Are DSPs the Beginning of the Sunset for Mobile Ad Networks?

Mobile Marketer discusses how the launch of DataXu’s DX2 cross-channel platform could eliminate the need for ad networks altogether.

Buying Audience? Time to Forget the Cookies

DataXu CEO Mike Baker questions whether cookies are the best way for advertisers to understand and engage digital consumers.

DataXu Plots Real-Time Expansion

Mike Shields of MediaWeek discusses the announcement of DataXu’s DX2 platform and its ability to “go beyond targeting on the cookie level.”

DataXu CEO Baker Discusses Company’s Cross-Channel, Demand-Side Platform Update

A Q&A with DataXu CEO Mike Baker regarding the launch of the new DX2 platform and the implications it has on the media-buying world.

Enpocket Founder Adds Mobile and Video to DataXu DSP Platform

MediaPost provides an overview of DataXu’s new DX2 platform.

Demand-Side Platform Will Lead to Increase in Mobile Ad Spend: Joule CEO

Mobile Marketer covers the announcement of a demand-side platform for mobile media, thanks to a partnership between DataXu and GroupM.

GroupM Unveils Demand-Side Platform for Mobile Media Buys

DataXu teams up with GroupM to bring the ad-decisioning technology of Demand-Side Platforms to mobile marketing, an industry first.

Search and Display: Has Convergence Arrived?

DataXu CEO Mike Baker speaks with iCrossing’s VP of Display Media about the integration of search and display advertising.

VP Dax Hamman of Hearst’s iCrossing Discusses Display, DataXu Partnership and The Expression of Intent

Interview with iCrossing’s Dax Hamman about their partnership with DataXu and how DSP’s are being integrated into the search advertising model.

DataXu Created Digital Media Brain

Digiday explores DataXu’s Audience Optimization capabilities and how they help advertisers achieve greater scale for their campaigns. Mike Baker also discusses what sets DataXu apart from “first-generation” DSPs.

Marketing Faces More Data, More Demand for Analytics

DataXu is featured as an innovative company that is helping marketers make sense of the “expanding stream of data flowing from a wide variety of sources and platforms” — in what the article’s author dubs the Analytics Era.

DataXu Data Showing Creative Impacting Campaign Conversions More Than Audience, Context Says VP Catanzaro

VP of Analytics Sandro Catanzaro provides additional commentary on the latest MarketPulse research, which affirmed that a campaign’s performance drivers are varied and unpredictable—and best assessed with more dynamic tools and analysis.

In Boston-New York Venture Rivalry, There May Be No Clear Winner – Or Loser

Mike Baker and DataXu board member Jeffrey Bussgang earn some extra Amtrak Acela points, commenting on how the proximity of Boston and New York helps to keep business—and deal flow—thriving between players in the two cities.

Advances in Audience Buying: What’s Next?

Mike Baker interviews BlueKai CEO Omar Tawakol for the latest perspective on how advertisers can leverage audience data when working with a DSP provider, how to evaluate data quality, and what lies ahead for audience data in the current market and regulatory environment.

Is Boston the Next Hot City for Entrepreneurs?

DataXu is among the companies highlighted as standouts of the thriving entrepreneurial scene in Boston, defined by a critical mass of great companies and successful exits. The active Boston community of entrepreneurs — including Mike Baker — are also credited with keeping the momentum going.

DataXu Data Showing Wide Swings In CPM Prices For Display Advertising Says VP Simmons

In a Q & A, DataXu’s VP of Technology, Bill Simmons, discussed the topic of DataXu’s first MarketPulse — price volatility in ad exchanges — and the use of financial market constructs in digital advertising.

A 10-Step Guide to Evaluating Demand-Side Platforms

DataXu CEO Mike Baker offers his take on a “consideration framework” for marketers who are evaluating demand-side platforms for their advertising needs–a list of ten key topics and related questions.

DataXu Raises $11M to Serve the Right Ad, Right Now

“As the Internet is getting faster, with everything coming and going in real-time, advertising is playing catch-up. DataXu (said like “data zoo”), an advertising startup that optimizes ads in real time, today announced $11 million in funding to continue doing just that.”

Tap Into the Real Value of Consumer Data with Real-Time Bidding

Mike Baker explores how real-time bidding on ad impressions through a demand-side platform can help advertisers derive more value from their own customer data and third-party audience data.

How to Power Your 2010 Media Plan With Real-Time Bidding

In this installment of Mike Baker’s monthly column for ClickZ, he outlines how media planners can get started with real-time bidding ad inventory to achieve both conversion and branding objectives.

2010: A Watershed Year for Digital

The top ten innovations in digital media for the year ahead are reviewed, including demand-side platforms (DSPs) — like DataXu — that provide audience buying and optimization.

In Online Advertising Auctions, DataXu’s Rocket Science Turns the Tables in Buyers’ Favor

Xconomy’s chief correspondent shares his impressions from a recent visit to DataXu and notes, “DataXu’s system could mark the start of a major shift in power in the Web advertising world.”

What Demand-Side Platforms Can Mean for a Media Plan

Mike Baker outlines the key features and functionality of demand side platforms and how they can help advertisers make the most of real-time bidding for their display campaigns.

Sizing Up the Sources of Real-Time Ad Inventory

The suppliers of real-time ad inventory fall into three categories: ad exchanges, publisher yield optimizers, and ad networks. Mike Baker outlines the major providers, their key strengths, and how they vary.

Real-Time Bidding: What It Is and Why It Matters

This is Mike Baker’s first article in a series for ClickZ that will explore the business case for real-time bidding, how to integrate it into your broader media strategy, and how it will impact the current value chain among ad buyers and ad sellers.

Advertisers, Publishers Try to Benefit From the Changing Ad-Buying Marketplace

The marketplace for online advertising has become increasingly complex. DataXu’s Mike Baker shares insights on the abundance of media, consumer insights and ad-buying options.

DataXu Bringing Sophisticated Buying Strategies With Real-Time Bidding Says CEO Baker

An in-depth Q & A with DataXu CEO Mike Baker, in which he discusses DataXu, its technology, and recent industry developments.

Start-up DataXu: Optimization Really Is Rocket Science

DataXu, a Boston-based startup, has unveiled a new ad optimization platform and entered an agency partnership with Havas. Equipped with machine learning technology developed by an aerospace professor at MIT, the platform runs across major ad exchanges such as those run by Yahoo and Google.

Havas Preps for Real-Time Ad Bidding, French Holding Company Does Deal With Tech Firm DataXu

Havas is readying for the launch of real-time bidding exchanges by striking a deal with tech provider DataXu. Havas will use DataXu’s new technology to manage participation in the upcoming launch of the Google’s real-time bidding exchange.

DataXu Launches Media-Buying Platform

Startup DataXu has formally launched its real-time-bidding platform allowing agencies and advertisers to optimize ad buys across ad exchanges and ad networks.

TC50: DataXu Optimizes Campaigns in Real-Time

Online advertising took a beating in 2008, but the market continues to rebound. Advertising startup DataXu — pronounced “data zoo” — displayed a new technology at the TechCrunch50 event that optimizes online ad campaigns in real-time across several exchanges including Google and Yahoo’s marketplaces.