Beet.TV’s Coverage of Progress Connect, presented by Simpli.fi

BOSTON — If data is “the new oil”, it pays not to spill any. But publishers are too readily emptying the can over to middlemen who are taking its value for themselves. That’s according to one boss whose position at the top of a programmatic video ad platform has led him to conclude publishers need to […]

BOSTON — We’ve had pre-roll, post-roll, mid-roll, in- and out-stream. But what if the future of video advertising lay more closely at the heart of the media that carry it? That is what’s on the mind of Alex Drosin, President, North America, of Massive Interactive, a tech company helping build mobile and TV apps for TV operators […]

BOSTON — If you think paying $100 a month for a mega suite of 500 channels, most of which you never watch, is overkill, you’re not alone. That’s why we are seeing the rise of the so-called “skinny bundle”, a cut-down cable package which operators hope can reduce cord cutting. But Tom Morgan sees the […]

BOSTON – First it was “Reach out and touch someone” for AT&T and now the ubiquitous “Green Line” for Fidelity Investments. Jim Speros had a hand in both creative endeavors, along the way refining his definition of creativity. “To create disruption, you have to start by being a curious person,” Speros, EVP of Corporate Communications […]

BOSTON – Not that long ago, the biggest challenge with apps used to be getting people to download them. Now churn is “the single biggest problem in mobile,” according to Raj Aggarwal of Localytics. The company uses machine learning and predictive analytics to help app publishers better understand their users via its software development kit, […]

BOSTON – To the uninitiated, Media Access Control could sound like something they’d like to be able to do during political campaigns. But as television content and advertising continue to go over-the-top, the household set-top box identifier known as MAC is slowly giving way to IP addresses and other alternatives. MAC identifiers and cable TV […]

BOSTON – Being able to touch more than seven billion mobile devices around the world isn’t difficult when you are telecom company Syniverse. It’s making sure you’re touching the right person that is a big focus these days, according to CMO Mary Clark. “The challenge I think right now that we’re getting a lot of […]

BOSTON – In the media business, being in the television is like being in the kitchen—to the 100th power. Which is one of the reasons Dan Ackerman joined Samba.tv from a long stint at AOL Like many others, he was frustrated about trying to make sense out of all the disparate data sources that might […]

BOSTON – Despite the prevalence of binge viewing, as recently as 2015 marketers and media companies weren’t overly concerned about a shift to over-the-top viewing. “What we’re seeing is more of a sense of urgency in terms of trying to figure out how to measure, segment and do attribution as marketing dollars are starting to […]

BOSTON – When Ashley Swartz discusses the nuts and bolts of digital media, it’s reflective of her background in manufacturing systems. Hence her view that connecting disparate data and systems is “not sexy” and that media company content management systems “are dirty and messy.” They’re also the main reasons why she started Furious Corp., an […]

BOSTON – To bring the power of programmatic advertising to marketers with localized targeting needs, unstructured data beats pre-packaged audience segments, says Frost Prioleau, CEO of demand-side platform Simpli.fi. It’s a mantra that is fueling Simpli.fi’s expansion into more precise measurement of mobile foot traffic and, very shortly, localized native advertising. Within the realm of […]

BOSTON – Akin to what Pandora has done with streaming music, IRIS.TV brings adapted machine learning to video viewing preferences. Its white-label solution, licensed to digital publishers, uses artificial intelligence to create a “personalized viewing experience for every viewer,” according to CEO and Co-Founder Field Garthwaite. “We ingest the archive from a publisher, look at […]

BOSTON – When placing video ads inside walled digital gardens, should you engage those gardens directly or through an intermediary? The direct route, according to Pixability’s Bettina Hein, comes with a fox and a henhouse. The Pixability story is concise: Many advertisers don’t want the lion’s share of their video ad dollars going to Facebook, […]

BOSTON – As digital media collide with traditional TV, the result is a tectonic shift that provides opportunities for companies with data, software and other workflow solutions. Playing matchmaker between large incumbents and tech entrepreneurs is Progress Partners, which recently gathered some 275 participants to “talk about the unusual suspects,” according to Davis Rosborough, Investment […]

BOSTON – Shereta Williams is hoping that 2017 will mark the tipping point for scaled advertising inventory from local television stations, whose power has been diminished by competing and often more efficient media. Although it’s not the only player in the local-sales automation space, Videa, of which Williams is President, has the imprimatur of owner […]